The founding of America, as it’s taught in most public schools, says that one of the primary tenets of the immigrants travelling here was religious freedom, and that this has always been a land where everyone is free to practice their own faith. Of course anyone who’s been paying attention knows that this isn’t the case. Religion is more often used as a means of control rather than a choice freely made. Settlers pushed their Christian faith on the Natives already residing here and then did the same to the Africans brought here forcibly to work on plantations and in homes. Those Africans were prohibited from practicing their faiths not only because to be not Christian made one into a “heathen” but also because their new owners feared that access to this faith would unite them and make them more difficult to control. However, a brief look at the archaeological record makes it clear that telling someone to abandon their faith, even threatening them, does not always make it so.

At a number of different plantations there is ample evidence in the deposits found in the slave cabins that shows the Africans who lived there continuing to honor and practice their beliefs. At the Hume plantation, Hermitage plantation, Garrison plantation, and many others, deposits in and around around the slave dwellings show evidence of conjure bags intended for calling on protective spirits, items placed at doorways and under windowsills to keep the home safe, items representative of fire near the hearth and much more. There is even evidence of animal sacrifices at some of the sites. This continued following of the beliefs and religious practices they brought with them from their homeland shows a remarkable brand of persistence and subtle resistance even at times when the white slave owners appeared to have all the power. To me this information is extremely important to bring to light because it adds depth of character to the single story of African slave life in America. It’s a story of pride and strength even in the face of terrible adversity and it bears remembering.

I chose to research Native American tribal life before colonization for a few reasons. The first being I grew up in Massachusetts, and every year in school we would visit important historical sites, and a lot of time in the subject of history was spent on the Pilgrims and Puritans, the Salem Witch Trials, and anything relating to the Revolutionary War – such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord to name a few. The second being that later on in life as I picked up more history books, I was amazed at how much Native American history is overlooked in schools – especially the time period before colonization. The legacy of what the first few colonists recorded of Native Americans is strong, and unsurprisingly – a little inaccurate. Even today in many public schools – if not the majority, Native American history is taught as if it begins in 1492, or 1603, or 1620, and Native Americans are compared to Europeans and characterized as primitive.

This is not the case however. A lot of what we know about New England Native American daily life pre-colonization is from archaeology, and it has taught us a lot. For example I didn’t know that Paleo Natives arrived in what is now New England around 12,000 years ago, or that tribes in New England had trade routes that went all the way to Wisconsin and the Dakotas in the West, and Virginia to the south. What I also found interesting was how much Native American material culture evolved, especially from 5000 years ago to 300 AD, to 300 AD up to the arrival of the Europeans. Farming tools became more effective, as did the move from using soapstone for pots to using clay pottery. Native Americans in not only manages to survive, but thrive in the harsh temperamental climate of New England for thousands of years. They were not simple hunter gatherers, nor brutal ‘savages’ as many contemporaneous primary accounts would have you believe. They had advanced farming methods which yielded successful and bountiful crops, as well as exceptional knowledge of the land and the animals that inhabited it.

I felt it was relevant to include the recent struggle of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts. In 2015, they were approved to have 321 acres held in trust – which would become a reservation and they would gain the right to build a casino – which was not the main reason for the desire to re-acquire their land back. In October, this decision was reversed by the US government, despite them being a federally recognized tribe. I think if more people knew about the long and rich history of Native Americans in different regions of the United States, especially before colonization, movements such as the one in Mashpee would get more attention and more public support – perhaps even changing the outcome, and archaeology is a great tool for uncovering that deeper past and supporting a more truthful and accurate narrative.

Sources:

Barboza, Robert. “History: Wampanoag Artifacts Offer Clues to the past.” Southcoasttoday.com. July 26, 2016. Accessed November 16, 2018. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/special/20160726/history-wampanoag-artifacts-offer-clues-to-past.

Bradford, William. “History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647.” The American Historical Review18, no. 3 (1913). doi:10.2307/1835526.

Collins, Dave. “Archaeologists Dig Native American Fort Found in Connecticut (Update).” Phys.org – News and Articles on Science and Technology. August 28, 2018. Accessed November 02, 2018. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-archaeologists-native-american-fort-connecticut.html.

Fogarty, A. (2018, March 17). Native voices, accurate history forge deeper, better understanding of American Indians in nation’s schools. Retrieved from https://insider.si.edu/2018/01/genuine-article-native-knowledge-360-introduces-schoolchildren-authentic-native-americans/

Fox, J. (2018, October 6). Mashpee Wampanoag protest Trump administration land ruling. Retrieved from https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/news/2018/10/9/mashpee-wampanoag-protest-trump-administration-land-ruling

Mandell, Daniel R. King Philips War: Colonial Expansion, Native Resistance, and the End of Indian Sovereignty. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.

Russell, Howard S. Indian New England before the Mayflower. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1985.

Shuffelton, Frank. “Indian Devils and Pilgrim Fathers: Squanto, Hobomok, and the English Conception of Indian Religion.” The New England Quarterly 49, no. 1 (1976): 108-16. doi:10.2307/364560.

“The Pequot War.” The Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation. Accessed November 02, 2018. https://www.mptn-nsn.gov/pequotwar.aspx.

“Timeline.” Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Accessed November 02, 2018. https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/timeline/.

Wilbur, C. Keith. The New England Indians. 2nd Edition ed. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1996.

Winthrop, John.”What Warrant Have We to Take That Land?”England, 1629.

For my final project I did a neighborhood analysis on Five Points, New York. We did several readings for class that detailed prostitution in the area, but I wanted to get an in depth look at what this area was really like. Throughout my research, I kept coming back to the prostitutes and it finally dawned on me that there was a very large part of the community that took part in the industry. Young men who were interested in taking part in “sporting culture” would visit these lovely ladies and it was widely believed that if they focused their sexual energies on willing women, the men would be less likely to rape (insert eye roll here). I also found that a generous portion of the community were immigrants and African Americans. The African Americans would have their own community within the larger community of Five Points and it would be centralized around their church. The larges of which was St. Philips African Episcopal Church. During this time people were pouring in from Ireland to escape the potato famine and there was a clash of cultures, resulting in riots and drunken fights. It was difficult for people to get along, especially since everyone lived in extremely close quarters. With the influx of people moving into the neighborhood, the wooden houses that held single families were torn down and replaced with larger brick tenement buildings. These buildings were intended for a single family to use one apartment, but this wouldn’t necessarily be the case. Each apartment had two rooms, and if the family renting the apartment was smaller, say, two parents and one child, then they would sublease the extra space to other people. This resulted in extremely crowded and filthy living conditions. All in all, it was a very interesting subject to look into and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

For the capstone assignment this quarter, I chose to research the Erie County Poorhouse Cemetery. It seemed fitting to look into something close to home, and the site of the Erie County Poorhouse is actually within walking distance to my family home.

Figure 1: Erie County Poorhouse and Hospital 1896 (Tokasz 2017)

Today, social safety nets are taken as a given- unemployment, social security, and medicare are institutions millions of Americans rely on, but less than a century ago these services didn’t exist.

During the 19^thcentury, the United States population exploded and the nation’s urban centers ballooned. Buffalo was no exception, and the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal ushered in an era of unprecedented industrial and economic growth (Goldman 1983:34). With the growth of industry and population came a similar growth in the number of disabled, unemployed, and impoverished. Old systems of localized care (usually run by families or parishes) were unable to keep up, and the new system of poorhouses promised to rehabilitate those in need.

In its 97 years of operation, the Erie County Poorhouse treated over 180,000 individuals(Ledgers 1861-1952). During that time thousands died and were buried in the Erie County Poorhouse Cemetery.

Figure 2: Hayes Hall 2002 (LaChiusa 2002)

In 2008, an infrastructure update on the University at Buffalo’s South Campus revealed human remains from the Erie County Poorhouse Cemetery, and following a 2012 NY Supreme Court order, researchers were able to excavate and study the remains. What they found gives us insight into the lives of people who are not mentioned in history books- the blue-collared immigrants who worked hard to make a life in a new country- the backbreaking labor they undertook to earn a living, the things they ate to survive, and the struggles they faced on a daily basis.

Projects like these help us reflect on our current society and help us realize our progress and our shortcomings. It helps us connect to the past on an emotional level and it helps us care about the people around us.

Bibliography

Goldman, M.

1983    High Hopes: The Rise and Decline of Buffalo, NY. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.

LaChiusa, C.

2002    Buffalo Architecture and History: Hayes Hall.In University at Buffalo. Chuck LaChiusa with permission from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, Buffalo, NY.

Ledgers, E. C. P. H.

1861-1952       Erie County Poorhouse Ledgers. Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY.

Tokasz, J.

2017 372 nameless dead, exhumed in 2012, are headed back to the grave. The Buffalo News. Buffalo NY.