From Africa to the Americas: Archaeology of Transatlantic Slavery

Conference

Published on

21 May 2015

Updated on

14 June 2017

Colloquia

The archaeology of Migrations

International colloquium organized by Inrap, in partnership with the National Museum of Immigration History.
November 12 and 13, 2015 at the National Museum of Immigration History.

Archaeology of Migrations
by Theresa A. Singleton, Syracuse University

Transatlantic slavery involved a 400-year process of forced migration of diverse African peoples to the Americas. Archaeological research has examined various aspects of this diaspora from the study of the buildings where African captives were kept while they awaited the horrific middle passage to their resettlement on plantations and towns. This presentation discusses these findings from select sites throughout the Americas to demonstrate how archaeology contributes to understanding this major diaspora.

Theresa A. Singleton is on the faculty of the Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. She has been a pioneer in the archaeological study of slavery and the African Diaspora. The 2014 recipient of the J. C. Harrington Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology for her lifetime contributions to the field of historical archaeology, she is the editor of the Archaeology of Slavery and Plantation life, and I, Too, Am America:” Archaeological Studies of African-American Life. She is the author of Slavery Behind the Wall: An Archaeology of a Cuban Coffee Plantation published in 2015.

Bibliography

FENNELL Ch. (2011), « Early African America: Archaeological Studies of Significance and Diversity », Journal of Archaeological Research, 19, p. 1-49.
AKINWUMI O., FALOLA T. (dir.), Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora, Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
SINGLETON T. A. (2010), « Archaeology And Slavery », in PAQUETTE R., SMITH M. (dir.) Slavery in the Americas: Oxford History Handbooks, Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 702-724
SINGLETON T. A. (2010), « African Diaspora in Archaeology », in OLANIYAN T., SWEET J. (dir.), The African Diaspora and the Disciplines, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, p. 119-141.

Transition