Building an African American Community at Hot Springs

Drawing of downtown Hot Springs in 1873. Library of Congress.

Reconstruction was a time of hope and progress for African Americans in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Over 200,000 freedmen and freedwomen settled in Arkansas between 1870 and 1910. For most of them, it was the first time they could make their own decisions about where to live and what to do. Newspapers advertised Hot Springs as a quiet place with good jobs and available land. Between 1860 and 1880, the number of African Americans in Hot Springs more than doubled to 1,562 people, or 17.3% of the overall population. Joe Golden, a formerly enslaved man, summarized the city’s attraction: “Hot Springs was a good place to make money.” Archeology provides insights about African American community members during this time.

Peter and Fannie Henderson filed a land patent in 1882 to claim land from the federal government. They moved onto 40 acres of what is now Hot Springs National Park along with their adult son, Robert. Census records tell us that Peter was born in Arkansas circa 1818, while Fannie was born in Virginia in the early 1800s. Robert was born in Mississippi around 1850. Unfortunately, where the Henderson family lived prior to 1870, when they first appear on the Census by name, is not known. A letter written by the Hendersons’ neighbor to “Gleanings in Bee Culture” in 1883 describes a poor but hardworking family willing to find creative solutions, like raising bees, to care for their community. The writer shared, “If he [Henderson] gets it [a bee smoker], there will be joy in his black neighborhood. He is one among the few old slaves I ever saw that would try to keep bees.”

National Park Service archeologists conducted three different projects within the 40-acre parcel where the Hendersons and their community lived. These projects examined only what could be seen on the ground surface. One project looked for structures and artifacts left by former residents. Two projects focused on a cemetery. These projects help us learn about the Hendersons’ community specifically, as well as more broadly about African Americans who migrated to the area.

One of the stone foundations. NPS.

Archeologists identified the remains of six possible structures dating from the late 1800s to the 1940s. The earliest structures were unsubstantial. They were built from whatever was available; all that was left was a line of rocks used to support their bases.

Later structures had more permanence. They included remains of gardens, a stone fireplace, or electrical hookups and utilities. These structures track the story of people who started out with nothing but built a stable community.

A cosmetic jar embossed with "Harriet Hubbard Ayer Famous Toilet Preparations U.S.A." NPS.

Trash dumps provided archeologists with invaluable information about foodways, health, and daily life. Quinine bottles, for example, suggest that malaria was an issue. Men’s barbershop tonics, perfume and cologne bottles, and cosmetics show a high value placed on personal grooming. Skin lightening creams suggest that cosmetics were used to lessen the impacts of racism on the people using them.

Violence may also be reflected in the trash dumps. Racially motivated violence swept the south, striking close to the Hendersons’ community in 1913. A man accused of murder was pulled from a nearby home, brought to downtown Hot Springs, and brutally lynched. One dump dating to the 1920s shows signs of disruption that may reflect violence against African Americans. It held the broken contents of a kitchen, including a wide variety of dishes with enough pieces remaining to reassemble them. Further research is needed to understand how this concentration was formed and what links it has to broader issues.

Plotted conductivity data. NPS.

The community also left behind cemeteries. Most of the graves are unmarked or marked with natural, unengraved field stones. Grave depressions and non-invasive geophysical survey (ground penetrating radar, magnetometry, and resistivity) showed that 50-75 people were buried there between the 1890 and 1950. Unfortunately, only two names are known: Stephen Lawrence and Nancy Green.

A marble Civil War shield tablet inscribed "S. LAWRENCE/CO. H./1 U.S.C.H.A" at the Cedar Mountain (formerly Lawrence) Cemetery. NPS.

Private Stephen Lawrence served in the 1^st US Colored Heavy Artillery in the Civil War. Mr. Lawrence lived until 1893, but his service was important enough to the community that they took the time to apply for and get a military headstone. His military records and pension applications reveal that he was born in North Carolina in 1839. His eyes were injured by smallpox while serving, but he recovered and served another 2 years. Mr. Lawrence patented his own land in 1890 in the nearby community of Buckville, which is now under Lake Ouachita. Rather than be buried there, he was laid to rest with the Hendersons’ community.

Nancy Green's burial marker. NPS photo.

Nancy Green was buried in 1949. She was identified by a small metal marker from a funeral home that survived at her grave. Her death certificate calls this cemetery Cedar Mountain Cemetery. A local resident mentioned Ms. Green to National Park Service staff in 1988, saying “a black nanny used to live in the area. She was well respected by the white community and her name was ‘Aunt Nancy’ (Green).” Little is known about her. Ms. Green does not appear on any local census record. Her death certificate includes shockingly little information regarding her age, marital status, occupation, place of birth, parents, or even her middle name. Each of those blanks includes solely the word “unknown.” Ms. Green was likely the last person who lived in the community established by the Hendersons.

Examples of 19th-century ceramics found at the dumps. NPS photo.

The people interred at Cedar Mountain Cemetery were Christian, but objects recovered at their graves suggest that some African traditions persevered through the 19th century. Similar traditions are seen in African American cemeteries throughout the south, and are decoded by anthropological and historical articles and works of fiction from the late 1800s. White items or items associated with water, like the white enamel cup or pitcher fragments found on two graves, are associated with cleansing and purification. Cough bottles and other medicine bottles were left upside down on the graves of people taking the treatments when they died. Metal pipes were used as grave markers to create passages.

Glass sherds from a pitcher. NPS.

Four trash dumps directly around the cemetery were likely made during a Decoration Day or Homecoming gathering, where people with loved ones buried in a cemetery get together and spend a day cleaning up the cemetery and eating together. The dumps contained food related items and serving dishes, as well as bottles, containers and other objects. Some of these objects were found in dumps and at grave sites. Two pieces of a very distinctive pitcher were found in the dumps while a third was found on a grave, suggesting a link between the two. The contents of these dumps show that family and community ties here were strong.

The archeological record in the Hendersons’ patented area reveals a community with deep traditions who built themselves up after starting with very little. Archeology reveals some of their day-to-day concerns and some of the troubles they may have faced, but also their creativity, successes, and pride in themselves and their community. Without archeology, we would know nothing like this, because the documentary record is so sparse. The Hendersons likely came to Hot Springs in search of opportunity. They created a place for it not only for themselves, but for everyone who lived on their 40 acres over the next 60 years.

Please note that archeological resources are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Archeological resources include any sites and artifacts discussed in this article. Unpermitted disturbance or removal of archeological resources from federal lands is illegal. Help the National Park Service to preserve and protect stories like the Hendersons’ community’s, by not disturbing cultural materials if you come across them.