Black History Month is a time to honor the contributions African Americans have made to the United States and the world at large, both in the past and present. This February at the Joukowsky Institute, we are highlighting resources created by and for African American scholars of archaeology and anthropology. This will be a three part series with each blog post focusing on different aspects of contemporary African American archaeology: Associations and Archives, Resources and Funding for Black Students, and Field School Opportunities. This week’s post will highlight field schools centered around African American heritage sites, and that emphasize collaboration with descendant communities.
2024 Summer Field Schools of African American Archaeology
Montpelier Field School | The Montpelier Field School is open for applications for their 2024 Summer season. This year they will be documenting the Montpelier Burial Ground of the Enslaved to support the Montpelier Descendants Committee’s efforts in building a memorial adjacent to the burial ground. Students will be trained in foundational excavation methods, as well as get hands-on experience working with descendant communities. Applications may be accessed here.
Slave House Exploration and Evidence Tracing Field School (SHEET) | SHEET is an initiative of Saving Slave Houses’ Pharsalia Plantation Co-Stewardship Project aimed at preserving the histories of slave houses and their descendant communities. Interns will practice oral histories documentation and interpretation, as well as how to collect spatial data in the field. Applications open soon.
Black Life in Bellevue Field School | Washington College’s Center for Environment and Society is sponsoring an archaeological field school entitled “Black Life in Bellevue: Documenting African American Cultural Landscape Along the Chesapeake Bay.” Students will learn how to document cultural landscapes—measuring, drawing, and photography—as well as how to employ geographic information system mapping to digitize the Bellevue village. Contact co-directors Michael Chiarappa and Janet Sheridan to get involved.
Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest Field School | The University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest is hosting a Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology. Students will excavate sites of enslavement at the Poplar Forest plantation, including a stable, slave quarter, and other features associated with Jefferson’s plantation. Students will gain practical skills in survey, excavation, and mapping. Applications currently available.
If you are interested in discovering more field schools centered around African American or African Diaspora archaeology, please see resources available on the Society for Black Archaeologists and the African Diaspora Archaeology Network‘s websites. The Institute wishes you a happy Black History Month!
Black History Month is a time to honor the contributions African Americans have made to the United States and the world at large, both in the past and present. This February at the Joukowsky Institute, we are highlighting resources created by and for African American scholars of archaeology and anthropology. This will be a three part series with each blog post focusing on different aspects of contemporary African American archaeology: Associations and Archives, Resources and Funding for Black Students, and Field School Opportunities. This week’s post will highlight resources and funding available for African American/Black students to help them achieve their academic and career goals, both in the field of archaeology and beyond.
Funding and Resources for African American/Black Students
Student Excellence in Archaeology Scholarships (SEAS) | The SEAS is sponsored by the Society for American Archaeology. It aims to support students of historically underrepresented backgrounds in archaeology. Two scholarships are awarded each year to two undergraduates for training or research in archaeology, with an award up to $1,000. They award up to $3,000 for graduate students to help pay for tuition, books, travel costs, supplies, and equipment.
BIPOC Scholarships for Fieldwork Participation | This grant is sponsored by the American Society for Overseas Research. They award six scholarships of $2,000 to African American or Indigenous students of color that are participating in an ASOR-affiliated archaeological summer project.
The Sportula Micro-grants for Classics Students | The Sportula is a mutual aid group dedicated to providing funding for working class and underrepresented scholars in the field of Classics. They provide $5-$300 micro grants as well as non-monetary support for those in need, no questions asked. Supplies and funds are limited, so please be mindful.
Black Trowel Collective Micro-grants | The Black Trowel Collective provies micro-grants for African American/Black students of archaeology. Similar to Sportula, they are a mutual aid group made up of underrepresented professionals in the field of archaeology. They provide up to $300 in funding; they are not currently accepting funding requests, but will in the future. Supplies and funds are limited, so please be mindful.
Agnes Jones Johnson Scholarship | Sponsored by the NAACP, this scholarship awards $2,000 to any Black or African American student under the age of 25 currently pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree from an accredited institution. Financial need requirements and GPA requirements apply. Applicants must be members of the NAACP.
Frank M. Snowden Jr. Undergraduate Scholarship | This scholarship is sponsored by the Committee on Diversity in the Profession of the Society for Classical Studies. It provides up to $4,500 in funding for undergraduate students who are participating in in a classical summer program or field school within the Mediterranean. It is aimed at students of underrepresented ethnic and racial groups.
The resources highlighted in this list are not exhaustive, and we encourage you to seek out more opportunities that support African American and Black students in their academic pursuits. Please stay tuned for next week’s post: Field School Opportunities.
Black History Month is a time to honor the contributions African Americans have made to the United States and the world at large, both in the past and present. This February at the Joukowsky Institute, we are highlighting resources created by and for African American scholars of archaeology and anthropology. This will be a three part series with each blog post focusing on different aspects of contemporary African American archaeology: Associations and Archives, Resources and Funding for Black Students, and Field School Opportunities. This week’s post will focus on the intellectual spaces Black and African American scholars have made for themselves within the field, as well as the archives of invaluable knowledge they have maintained and preserved.
Associations and Archives
African Diaspora Archaeology Network (ADAN) | ADAN is an online platform that hosts current news on archaeological studies of the African diaspora. They have archived hundreds of texts relating to the material culture and heritage of the African Diaspora, as well as publish a quarterly online Newsletter. ADAN’s goal is to build an intellectual community for researchers of the African Diaspora, including interdisciplinary studies of African-diasporic material culture.
Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage | This journal publishes peer-reviewed articles on the archaeology, history, material culture, and heritage of African descendant populations. Work published in this article spans across the globe, and features topics ranging from the foodways of the African Diaspora to urban archaeology, and more. They publish a compiled volume of work three times a year, including special issues. Their archive of all past issues may be found here.
The World Wide Web of African Archaeology | This site is an archive of archaeological studies and projects pertaining to the heritage of Africans. The website includes a bibliography of work done in Central Africa, a list of institutions and universities pioneering studies of African archaeology, and a list of ancient maps/documents important to studying African archaeology.
Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA) | The SBA was founded in 2011 with the goal to uplift Black and African communities related to the field of archaeology, as well as build a network for Black and African scholars. They host webinar series related to racial equity, community archaeology, and socially-responsible archaeology, and send out a monthly newsletter highlighting opportunities for Black and African archaeologists.
The Association for Black Anthropologists (ABA) | The ABA is a flagship society founded in the 1970s with the intention of making space for Black/African American scholars to enter the field of anthropology. Their members include sociocultural anthropologists, medical anthropologists, biological/physical anthropologists, and archaeologists of various disciplines. They publish work that critically engages with how the discipline of anthropology can better serve Black communities around the world. This year, they are hosting a conference in Senegal entitled “Anthropology and the Black Experience.”
We encourage you to explore more of the amazing work Black and African American archaeologists pioneering today. Please stay tuned for next week’s post: Resources and Funding for Black Students.
February is Black History Month and the 2024 theme is “African Americans and the Arts.” One of the most popular Choices Teaching with the News lessons, An Interactive Timeline: Black Activism and the Long Fight for Racial Justice, utilizes an interactive, multimedia timeline to provide an overview of many individuals, organizations, and movements that have advanced the push for racial equality in the United States, from the 1950s into the twenty-first century. The timeline includes information on the Black Arts Movement; songs by James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and Tupac; the Roots TV miniseries; Spike Lee’s debut film; and the poetry of Maya Angelou, along with many other important events.
In the free lesson, students review the timeline to identify themes and patterns during different eras of activism and collaborate to consider accomplishments of civil rights activists and the enduring obstacles to racial equality. Explore this lesson, along with the materials below, as you consider ways to incorporate the contributions of Black Americans in your history classes throughout the year.
Racial Slavery in the Americas: Resistance, Freedom, and LegaciesThis unit provides a wide-ranging overview of racial slavery. It examines the slave trade and life in America as well as the Black abolition movement, the legacies of slavery, and racial justice movements’ responses to these legacies.
The Civil War and the Meaning of LibertyThe readings in this unit explore antebellum American, abolitionist movements and their key actors, and legacies of the war. Lessons include Who Were the Abolitionists?; The Black National Conventions, Abolition, and the Constitution; and Letters from Black Soldiers and Their Families.
Civil Rights Now: The Freedom Movement in Mississippi This unit traces the history of the Black freedom struggle from Reconstruction through the 1960s and explores the roles of everyday people in the fight for justice and equality. Lessons cover Ida B. Wells, oral histories, nonviolence, and more.
Read this article by Anna Wichmann about Brown-alumni and first African American to receive an advanced degree from Brown University, John Gilbert. More information about this groundbreaking figure in Greek Archaeology can also be found here.
The Joukowsky Institute recognizes the invaluable contribution that Black and African American archaeologist have made to the field, and the world at large. This February, we highlighted the work of six Black anthropologists, archaeologists, and explorers that have revolutionized how we study and practice archaeology.
The display can be found in the alcove nearest to the East entrance, surrounding the portrait of John Wesley Gilbert, known as the first Black anthropologist and the first African American to graduate with advanced degree from Brown University. It was created by Christina Miles (`25) with contributions from Erynn Bentley (Ph.D, expected May 2025).
John Wesley Gilbert (1864-1923) John Wesley Gilbert is considered the first African American archaeologist. He earned a BA (1888) and an MA (1891) from Brown University. The topic of his MA thesis was “The Demes of Attica”. He was the first African American to earn an MA from Brown. He also conducted fieldwork in Eretria, Greece, and spent the 1890-91 academic year at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, on a scholarship awarded by Brown. He subsequently became a Professor of Greek and English at Paine Institute, Augusta, Georgia, a historically black, liberal arts college.
Dr. William Montague Cobb (1904-1990) Born in October of 1902 in Washington D.C., Cobb was the first ever African American to receive a PhD in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University, becoming a renowned physical and medical anthropologist. He spent much of his career dispelling myths of racial pseudo-science, as well as highlighting the medical racism that Black Americans faced. He was one of the first “activist scholars” of anthropology who used the tools of the field to dismantle white supremacy, and became the first African American President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Over his career he would publish thousands of articles in academic journals and teach over 6,000 African American anatomy students at Howard University, changing the face of medical anthropology and medicine.
Matthew Henson (1866 – 1955) Born in Maryland one year after the end of the Civil War to two freeborn sharecroppers, Henson would become one of America’s most famous Arctic explorers, totaling 7 expeditions over the course of 23 years. In 1909, he and Robert Peary worked alongside Inuit men, women, and children in an attempt to reach the Geographic North Pole. While later explorers would reveal that they had missed their mark by 10 miles, it was still an impressive feat, and Henson was rewarded with a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1936. In 1912 he would publish the book A Negro Explorer at the North Pole, chronicling his expedition as well as the moment he, a Black man, placed the American flag down on what was widely thought as the top of the Earth.
Zora Neale Hurston (1891 – 1960) Born in Notasulga Alabama in 1891, Hurston was an anthropologist, filmmaker, and author. Her anthropological research started at Barnard College in New York (where she was the only Black student), conducting ethnographic research on African American and Caribbean folklore. She studied under famed linguistic anthropologist Franz Boas, whom she would later study with as a graduate student at Columbia. Her work explored themes of racial identity, sexual violence against Black women in north Flordia lumber camps, and Jamaican and Haitian folk culture. She was also a famous literary author during the Harlem Renaissance, publishing revolutionary work such as the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her literary and anthropological talents combined in the nonfiction book Barracoon: The Story of the Last black Cargo, where she chronicled the life of Oluale Kossola (later named Cudjoe Lewis) from the Middle Passage to freedom.
Alicia Odewale Dr. Alicia Odewale is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. As the first person to graduate from the University of Tulsa with a PhD in anthropology, her work specializes in African Diaspora archaeology as it appears throughout the Afro-Caribbean and Southeastern United States. Her most recent project discusses resilience of the Greenwood community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she analyzes historical evidence excavated from the 1921 Tulsa Race massacre. She continues to advocate for increased diversity and accessibility in the field, leading her to co-found the Estate Little Princes Archaeological Field School in St. Croix, which gives students the opportunity to train in archaeological methods for free.
Pearl Primus (1919 – 1994) Born in Trinidad in November 1919, she emigrated with her parents to New York City in 1921. Originally having a passion for the sciences, she received a BA in biology and pre-medical sciences in 1940, only to be unable to find lab technician work due to racial discrimination. This led her to work backstage in the wardrobing department for America Dances, where she found her love for dance as well as her natural talent. She studied formally at the New Dance School in New York City, where she was the first Black student to do so—it was here that she ignited her love for artistic activism that would eventually lead to a career in anthropology. Having received her PhD in anthropology in 1978, she would go on to meld ethnographic research and dance to interpret the lives of African Americans and Liberians. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Arts for her contribution to American dance.
Theresa A. Singleton (1952) Born in April of 1952 in Charleston, South Carolina, Singleton is currently a professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University, where she focuses on historical archaeology and museology. Her debut into the field of archaeology was groundbreaking, with a complex study on the Gullah-Geechee people of Coastal Georgia, who are descendants of enslaved Africans. A trailblazer, Singleton was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in historical archaeology and African American history and culture from the University of Florida. She is currently a curator for the National Museum of Natural History.
Mark Hanna Watkins (1903 – 1976) Born in Huntsville, Texas as the youngest of fourteen children, Watkins quickly found a love for language. As there were no linguistic departments at the time, he would pursue a Masters in anthropology from the University of Chicago under Edward Sapir, writing about language exchange across indigenous Mexican language groups such as Zapotecan and Tarascan. For his PhD he turned his attention to African languages, writing A Grammar of Chichewa: A Bantu Language of British Central Africa between 1930-1932, one of the only complete grammars of the language, and the first grammar of an African language written by an American. He would later become a professor of anthropology at Fisk University, a Historically Black College, where he was one of 6 faculty members in the first ever African Studies program in the United States. Prior to his retirement in 1972, he worked at Howard University promoting language exchange programs between African and American students.
