Urban Archeology Corps at Petersburg National Battlefield
The Urban Archeology Corp (UAC) is a National Park Service program for young people aged 15-26. The paid interns learn about urban national parks and NPS employment. The UAC seeks to use archeology as a vehicle for civic engagement and park stewardship.
Petersburg National Battlefield hosted its first (UAC) internship program with partners Historicorps and the IBé Arts Institute. The four interns used book making and storytelling to interpret the enslaved community at Whitehill Plantation. Participants enhanced existing knowledge by using excavation, oral history, and historical records. Participants took field trips to historic sites for research and conducted interviews. They attended an archeological field school at James Madison’s Montpelier. Participants created art pieces using various media to connect with the local communities. The program's culmination was an art exhibition at Resist Booksellers in Petersburg, VA..
Introduction at Don't Cry For Me Exhibit
Speakers Alexis Morris and IBé Crawley opening comments at the Don't Cry For Me art exhibit at Resist Booksellers.
Speaking -- Alexis Morris ..See everyone here tonight. My name is Alexis Morris, and I'm the Archeologists at Petersburg National Battlefield. And before I actually get into what I wanted to say, I'm already going to go off script. But I want to just kind of point out to the interns who created the art here today. I want you to look out into this room. And when I told you, they were important. This is exactly what I meant. You see how everyone here has come to see you? Okay. So, I just want you to take a moment. Just look around this room and take in that there are people here who are excited to see what you created. I'm very proud of you. Okay. Not going to cry yet. Tighten up - as I always say, tighten up Lex. All right. So. Welcome to the Don't Cry for the art exhibit. My name is Alexis Morris; I am the Archeologist at Petersburg National Battlefield. I'm also the supervisor of the Urban Archeology Corps and project director of the Enslaved Field Laborers Project. I'm glad to see you all in attendance this evening. Tonight, we are at Resist Booksellers, the first bookstore in downtown Petersburg in over 50 years. I would like to thank Demetrius and Sylvia Frazier, the owners of this business, for allowing us to host the event here tonight. Demetrius, please raise your hand. Everyone say, "Hi, Demetrius." If you have any questions about this space or are interested in purchasing books, the store is open. Please see Demetrius if you would like to purchase anything. Throughout the night, I would like you all to also please help yourself to the refreshments that are located behind us on the right. In addition to that, if you need to use the restrooms, there are some behind me on the left. Okay. This evening, we'll proceed with the introduction of what this exhibit is, the Enslaved Field Laborers Project and the Urban Archeology Corps program. We'll then have some words from our partner and artist, IBé Crawley. IBé, where did you go? Okay. I couldn't see you. I couldn't see. We will then move into a gallery walk. So, I know that you all had kind of looked around the room and started to already engage with some of the pieces of art that we have here. But at the end of this, I'm going to give you some instructions, because what I really want is for you all to get to know these products of this pieces. Art pieces that the interns have put together from their perspectives. I know. I'm just a little excited. And then, towards the end of this evening, we will have a naming ceremony. This will call out the names of the enslaved people that we know who lived at Whitehill. And then, we'll end with final words and acknowledgments. The Urban Archeology Corps is a National Park Service program that seeks to use archeology as a vehicle of civic engagement, park stewardship, to provide leadership, practical work experience, and training opportunities for young adults pursuing, pursuing careers in cultural conservation and natural conservation. This program is special to me as I was a member of the inaugural Urban Archeology Program in Washington, D.C. Ten years later, after my first season at the Urban Archeology Corps, I created my own, my own program. So, this is really a full circle moment for me to have my own. [Clapping] This summer, Petersburg National Battlefield hosted its own ... its first UAC internship, which partnered with HistoriCorps and IBé Arts Institute to provide four college-aged interns with the opportunity to utilize book-making and other art forms to engage with storytelling about the enslaved community that lived at Whitehill Plantation. The UAC's work is a continuation of the enslaved field laborers projects, efforts to learn, better understand, and interpret the 19th-century experiences of African-American men, women, and families who lived at the field quarters at Whitehill Plantation, which was located on the Eastern Front unit of Petersburg National Battlefield. The archeology is funded by the Civil Rights Initiative, which is internal park funding dedicated to sites ranging from the colonial era to the early 20th century and National Park Service sites. In the spring of 2020, the Northeast Regional Archeological Program, PETE staff, and volunteers conducted the first season of fieldwork, and over the next two years, we directed three seasons of archeology to locate the quarters of the enslaved community. Our last season was completed in August 2022. We are currently engaging in community discussions, writing up our findings, and applying for additional funding for continued archeology as well as engagement opportunities. If you are interested in participating in our community meetings, here's a sign-up sheet at the entrance. We would love to have you at our next meeting in October. Over the summer, interns learned several historical archeology techniques, including oral history, document analysis, and public interpretation. They also include a weeklong field swap at Montpelier, the home of James Madison, where they learned the basics of excavation and learned how me how to meaningfully apply archeology, historical documentation, and descendant history to support a multifaceted understanding of the enslaved communities at Mount Montpelier. The outcome of the internship was just to use the skills they developed to produce art pieces as well as an art show to achieve the Enslaved Field Labors project goals: to share historical and archeological information in a variety of ways to the local community. IBé, I, and the interns produced over 12 art pieces that focused on the enslaved community with an emphasis on her story. I'll let IBé talk about her story. I want to be clear about the program's intentionality in using art as a tool for community engagement. But also, we sought to answer the question: How can our projects contribute to preserving memory and building our lives for the community and the participants in the research process? It is no mistake tonight or coincidence us holding tonight's event here at Resist Booksellers. The choice to record the stories of the enslaved community at Whitehill through book-making is an attempt to disrupt the erasure of black histories, as well as purposely interject in the memory-making process by contributing to the archive imagery that has used has been created using historic documents, oral histories, and archeology and a whole couple of black book appearances. That's what I do. There is a choice to acknowledge, to remember, and to report. Ralph Ellison writes in his book Invisible Man. "I am invisible. Understand? Simply because people refused to see me. When they approach me, they only see my surroundings themselves or figments of their imagination. Indeed, everything and anything except me." In creating these pieces, we sometimes sat in the markets that are often thought of as unwanted, problematic, and discriminatory. However, while we were there, we experienced transformation. Each question, debate, and revision was an attempt to see the enslaved community. Bell Hooks, my favorite author, encourages us to "Embrace the margin as the possibility of radical perspective for which to see and to create. To imagine alternative new worlds rather than identifying marginality as a space of deprivation. She insists that it's better understood as a sign of resistance. It is that this place, black Americans, individually and collectively, despite their struggle, oppose dominant culture." It is from sitting and viewing our characters those that you learn about the night. In this space, we resisted against our own preconceived notions of enslavement. I hope you tonight, resist. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and introduce our interns featured in tonight's show: Rory Dickson (clapping), a native of Petersburg. He is a senior at Clark College, majoring in geography with a minor in history. During the summer program, he was accepted into the college, the college's Geographic Information Systems program for his master's. We're proud of you, Rory. (Clapping) Syan Moore. (clapping) Syan is a rising senior at Virginia State University. (clapping) All right. She is majoring in agriculture with a concentration in animal science and a minor in education. She is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Kaitlyn Holms: (clapping) I feel like I'm announcing graduation. Kaitlyn is from Suffolk County. Kaitlyn is a rising senior at Columbia State Community College, majoring in Archeology (clapping) with a focus in Egyptology. (clapping) Erin Lovato. (clapping) Erin is from Chesterfield County and Erin is a rising sophomore at Loyola University New Orleans, majoring in history. (clapping) I would like to provide context on the exhibit experience tonight. Each artist has a table with their book, with their book, and we will circulate them from the exhibit or the installation that is in the middle of the room in front of the. Oh, we don't have that. Actually, that right next to the exhibit, the clothing line exhibit, you will see that there are some fences. These fences have the names of 120 known people who were enslaved at Whitehill. The fences intend to represent the boundary of the plantation. This piece was created by the UAC, as well as members of the public, as a community art piece. And so, as I had said at the farmer's market, we did a little bit of community engagement. This is, please come out. This is either your first art show, so congratulations, or maybe it's your 30th. I don't know you. But we will have some art and a show on Friday, so I would like to thank Courtney Morris, my great sister but also loyal researcher and volunteer, for finding over fifty additional names. The names of enslaved people to supplement the 1851 and 1857 inventories. I ask that you respect the artist's wishes to not touch pieces that have been identified. You will see on the table there will be a "do not touch placard. So, follow those instructions, or I'll have to come see you. (laughter) I don't play, so please ask the artist questions about their pieces as well as their experience pieces that influence their creation of them. We are ready to engage in conversation as our intention is to explore the spaces of conflict we encounter. So, with that, I will hand the mic over to IBé. Oh, I'm supposed to do something else I don't think I want to do right now. I kind of just want to get into the pieces. IBé. (Clapping) Speaking -- IBé Crawley I'm going to be brief. I want to say this has been a phenomenal experience. These young people right here have done what so many of us are afraid to do. That is, with our eyes wide open walk backwards. They walked backwards and trusted the ancestors to catch them. Hold them up and teach them how to see where you're standing and where we come from. They have done some of the rough, difficult lifting for us. I am reminded of a conversation that Erin and I participated [inaudible] a long period of time about language that we find in historical writing. And how do we own it? How do we show it? And how do we transform it so that you can seen, understood, accepted, and related to by everyone? I said to Syan - who is a poet. You want poetry to be pretty, you want to poetry to be easy, and Syan lay on the gallery floor, she said, "This is hard," and I said then we are successful. Because it is through the difficult, it is through the wrestling with how to tell the story that we are the most strong. I said to Rory - his approach to looking from the big house to the quarters and from the quarters to the big house allows him to take all of those quotes that he added to the story it and make it make sense no matter what the rush to understand. And then, of course, Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn, I worked all the way to the minute. And what was so beautiful about our relationship is that Kaitlyn knew what she wanted to do, but I had something else in mind. I said Kaitlyn, don't you agree with me that the boat should go on the front? Kaitlyn has been going along with me all the last six weeks. [inaudible] Don't you think the boat should go on the front? And she stood there, and she said no. I just got my idea. And I said, "Oh, well, speak up, tell me what your idea of how this should be laid out. Because if you leave it up to me, it is going to be laid out how I tell a story." And that's the story telling us about each of us brings our own perspective. We bring a unique place from where we stand to look past, to look at the present, to look at the future. So, I want to applaud you all for being risk-takers for your willingness to stand up and walk backwards. Struggle with the difficult questions. And is still come out of this story that now speaks up for the 120 people that we have listed and the individual people that you have worked with. But you have demonstrated your own strength, your own tenacity, your own willingness to be education from the past to the present. [inaudible] I applaud you all and I thank you for coming to celebrate them, and I think it is going to be a great show for you. Please enjoy. I'm IBé Crawley and I'm the curator and I'm so happy to have you here tonight. (Clapping) Speaking -- Alexis Morris All right, with that, please, please, please enjoy these pieces. I will be moving around agitating. But please, I really do want us to have a space open for discussion tonight. Thank you for coming in. We will come back together for the naming and ceremony, and we allow some time for everybody to see the pieces. All right. Thank you. (Clapping)
Four interns from the Urban Archeology Corps used insight and skills developed over ten weeks to produce art pieces and handmade books. Art is a creative and innovative way to share historical and archeological information about the enslaved community at the Whitehill Plantation.
Duration:
6 minutes, 41 seconds
The Fence
NPS
The Fence
The clothing line and fence installation features several paper bag garments painted black. The garments are hanging from two ladders on a string. They are bounded by a fence with the names of 120 formerly enslaved people who lived at Whitehill Plantation. The interns created the clothing and accessory pieces. However, the fence was created in collaboration with local community members. Participants at an educational event painted the names of the enslaved on the fence. Charles Friend included these names in the 1850 and 1857 inventories and his commonplace book. The fence represents the white fence surrounding the plantation. It bounded the enslaved community and most of their experiences within the plantation landscape.
Rory Dickinson
NPS
Rory Dickinson
Rory is a rising senior at Clark University majoring in geography with a minor in history. Having grown up in Petersburg and visiting the battlefield throughout my life, I was excited by the opportunity to do an internship there and connect with the community work in my field of study; in doing this program, I hope to gain hands-on experience in the field of history and geography while at the same time contributing and enriching the environment of my hometown.
Rory's Shirt - The quote on the sleeve inspired the title of the art exhibit.
NPS
Rory's Artwork
Garment
A paper workman's shirt that includes newspaper articles and quotes about free black men accused of murdering Charles Friend. Whitehill Plantation. The central quote is one of William Henry Johnson's last recorded statements before he was executed alongside Richard Green, both formerly enslaved at Whitehill. The quote is screen printed on the garment on either sleeve to represent how the two men repeated eat each other nearly verbatim for their last testament and the two sides of the story, which were mostly ignored at the time.
The words here, though, were Johnson's alone and are the inspiration for the exhibit's title. The quote represents themes interwoven throughout each piece in the exhibition. The title signifies the broad and varying ways we think about death and remembrance from the perspective of looking at the past from the present and how the enslaved community at Whitehill may have viewed life and death, looking from their present to the future.
Uphill Battle (book multimedia)
This mixed media piece is a book displaying two sides of the story of a Whitehill Plantation. One displays the more physical and environmental aspects of the space, while the other showcases the emotional and psychological atmosphere of the place. The book is accordion style and represents two very different views residents would have had of it. One begins at the manor and goes towards the slave quarters, while the other from the quarters moving up toward the manor. All quotes are excerpts from writings by the Friend family, some slightly embellished to derive deeper meaning.
Rory discusses his process and inspiration used while creating his book.
Duration:
2 minutes, 5 seconds
Syan Moore
NPS
Syan Moore
Syan is attending Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia. I am majoring in agriculture with a concentration in animal science and a minor in education. I decided to apply for the National Petersburg Battlefield Park internship because it aligns with my endeavors to pursue a career within agriculture, to gain critical skills for the industry, to learn about the history of the enslaved, and opportunities to engage with the Petersburg community.
Syan's Shirt and Skirt
NPS
Syan's Artwork
Garments (paper)
The three garments Syan created are a long-sleeved top skirt and shoes. These pieces would have been worn by Betty and the enslaved cook. Betty is resilient, independent, vocal, and headstrong, symbolized by her all-black attire. Syan sees similarities between her grandmother, Lois Young, and Betty because they provide for others above their own. The key represents having access to things and a life that other enslaved people wouldn't have. The flowers are used to represent the continuous blooming of a mature woman even when we have used her physical body to its limits..
Book (multimedia)
A poetry book grappling with ideas of freedom and liberation for various enslaved individuals at Whitehill Plantation. The poems move through the integration of young, enslaved people into the trauma and pain that follows when people are denied fundamental human rights. The book touches on mental and physical degradation, confusion, and abandonment experienced by enslaved people. Syan is attending Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia. I am majoring in agriculture with a concentration in animal science and a minor in education. I decided to apply for the National Petersburg Battlefield Park internship because it aligns with my endeavors to pursue a career within agriculture, to gain critical skills for the industry, to learn about the history of the enslaved, and opportunities to engage with the Petersburg community.
Syan discussed her inspiration and struggles while creating a poetry book grappling with ideas of freedom and liberation for various enslaved individuals at Whitehill plantation.
Duration:
1 minute, 37 seconds
Kaitlyn Holms
NPS
Kaitlyn Holms
Kaitlyn is from Suffolk County. Kaitlyn is a rising senior at Columbia State Community College, majoring in archeology and focusing on Egyptology. This program was of interest to me because it was different from any of the volunteer work that I had previously done. I wanted to challenge myself by understanding the public side of archaeology. I want to learn how to communicate to the community about local history and how to use storytelling as a fundamental tool of historical preservation.
Kaitlyn's Hat
NPS
Kaitlyn's Artwork
Garment (paper)
The hat represents a type of fisherman's hat worn during the time of the war. Moses would have worn this clothing item on board the USS Wyandank. I was inspired to create a piece of naval uniform after seeing a drawing of the ship from the 1862 Frank Leslie's weekly newspaper.
Book (multimedia)
Moses Hunt's Voyage. My book is inspired by my family's relationship to water as fishermen and Navy sailors. Moses Hunt is one of the many who escaped the Plantation during the time of the Civil War to join the Navy. The waterways of the tidewater community have been connected through the history of the Civil War and Virginia's history. The first image in the book depicts the Orange and Alexandria railroad bridge burning, which occurred just before Moses' enlistment. The burning of the bridge symbolizes that destruction is inevitable and war, but freedom is uncertain.
Kaithlyn discusses her struggles and processes used while creating her book.
Duration:
2 minutes, 23 seconds
Erin Lovato
NPS
Erin Lovato
I am a rising sophomore at Loyola University New Orleans studying history. Erin is from Chesterfield, VA. This program caught my attention because I wanted to try an area of history that I had never really had access to before. I have been interested in public history and thought the experience with archaeology and the National Park Service would open many doors for me and my future career.
Erin's basket and book
NPS
Erin's Artwork
Book- Doctress (Multimedia)
A book is made from reconstructed Japanese rice paper dyed using black walnuts. It was assembled to evoke the feeling that it belonged to Amy Green, a nurse and healer for the Friend family and the enslaved people at Whitehill Plantation. This book tells the story of Amy Green through the quotes of Jennie Stephenson, the daughter of Charles Friend, the last owner of the Whitehill Plantation. The story is told through two voices, Jennie Stephenson and Amy Green. The quotes come directly from Jennie Stephenson's writing My Father's Household Before, During, and After the War. Amy Green's voice is created through a reinterpretation of Jennie's quotes. Amy's voice is essential because stories about enslaved people often do not show the story from their eyes. This is Amy's story; her voice needs to be heard.
Basket (paper)
The basket is made from woven panels of brown paper bags. On the basket's exterior and bottom interior panels are two types of native medicinal plants printed using a hand-carved linoleum block. The basket was made to evoke the feeling that it, too, belonged to Amy Green in the same way as the book. Amy would have used this basket to carry around her notes, medicinal plants, and other things she needed to care for and heal over 100 enslaved people who lived at Whitehill Plantation.
