Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Updates: 5 Months Too Late?

 
So, an undergraduate roommate of mine reminded me that I needed to update my blog about what's been going on in my life since I returned from New Orleans at the end of July.
 
Let me start by saying this: Being in a city that is a world of its own, really makes you learn a lot about yourself and your view of the world. I'd never been to New Orleans before, but it is an experience that I will never forget. If nothing else it was a learning experience not only as being an archaeologist in an urban setting, but as a black woman and a graduate student. Through the field school I met a lot of amazing individuals whom I've been able to keep up with since I left New Orleans. Some of my experiences there I have shared with the people closest to me, but for now I'll just leave it at by my being an educated, young, successful African American woman makes people uncomfortable and feel like they can say a lot more to me because of how I carry myself. Thankfully, I wasn't alone and was joined by a dear friend who explored the city with me. One of the most memorable aspects of the trip outside of the research was that I was able to participate in the 13th annual MAAFA event, which is commemoration of the African lives lost during the Middle Passage.  If you're interested in learning more or what to participate here's the link :MAAFA Commemoration
 
Fast forward, I ended up driving back from New Orleans and going to New Smyryna Beach, FL for vacation with my family. It was good to finally unwind and relax a bit before school started. And boy when it started it started. I'm a McKnight Doctoral Fellow and as part of this fellowship I'm required to take twelve credits in the fall/spring and eight credits during the summer. If you're an undergraduate you would probably laugh and say you're only taking 12 credits, I took 18. I was one of those students but in graduate school this is grueling. Like the overachiever I am I decided to take one of , if not the, hardest classes in conjunction with two historic preservation classes, and a class on historical ecology. I knew the archaeological theory class was going to be intensive but in combination with the other classes and the reading load I really haven't had a chance to sit down and catch my breath much less update my blog.  For the first few weeks of school I struggled to manage classes, a relationship, being a pet-mom to an active 14 month old lab, and sleeping. After the first month or so I found my groove and I'm finally able to get at least six hours of sleep a day. This is a big difference from the eight hours I was getting as a first year grad student when I had time to take my dog, Pharaoh, to the dog park for three or four hours a day and play xbox.
 
It's definitely been a jam packed semester with school and my personal life, but I'm not broken. I've had a couple of moments where I was like maybe I'm not cut out for this or what have I gotten myself into. In a future post, I'll go more into details with how I coped and suggestions for how to cope as a grad student, but for now I'll say this. You definitely need to have someone in your corner who is going to listen to your struggles or you having a bad day and just needing to vent. I'm thankful I have a lot of people in my corner that know how important being in school is for me and who have been able to reassure me that this is where I need to be. For those of you reading who are in relationships or just beginning relationships while you're in grad school know it isn't easy for you or your partner. I'm definitely thankful to have one that isn't intimidated by me being in school and who looks out for me.
 
Going forward from now until the end of the semester, things are going to get more complicated. For those of you who don't know I'm analyzing samples from New Orleans, a separate project from the one I worked on this summer, for my master's thesis. This in itself has been a struggle trying to obtain permission from the clients and getting the samples shipped to UF. I do have a date set for my comprehensive exams, January 10th-12th.  So if I don't get a chance to update in the coming weeks I apologize, but atleast I'll have some good stories to tell when this semester is over.
 
Thanks for reading!!!!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

The History of Storyville





Storyville facing Basin Street.

 
This is the perfect time to tell another story, especially now that I am two weeks into my field school. For those of you who have enjoyed the stories I've made up or the experiences I've had-- yeah this isn't one of those. This is actually one that is more interesting....

Established before the turn of the 20th century in New Orleans, Storyville, the infamous red light district developed, as a 38 square block area in the Faubourg Treme in response to public outcry against prostitution. In 1897, city alderman Sidney Story proposed an ordinance that would contain illicit activities within this area which is bounded by Basin St., Iberville St., St. Louis St., and N. Robertston, and banned prostitution in the rest of the city. Storyville was conveniently located near two major transportation points in the city: the basin at the end of the Carondelet Canal and the tracks of the Southern Railway's Canal Street terminal. This provided easy access for entrepreneurs, businessmen, and travelers looking for adult entertainment. Storyville was modeled after port cities in Europe like Amsterdam with legalized red light districts.


Both black and white men served an all white male clientele, with the occasional white woman ( see The Last Madam) in brothels ranging from inexpensive "cribs", which were single bedroom establishments, to the more expensive elegant homes that developed later. African American men were barred from  legally purchasing services from these women regardless of her skin color. Black prostituted could openly serve a black clientele uptown from Storyville. By 1900 the district had become a fully fledged entertainment zone because of the restaurants and saloons that there established nearby. The prostitutes fees ranged from a little as 50 cents to 10 dollar and up; it is said that in some areas a man could get a bed, meal, and a woman for as little as six cents.
Arrest citations for prositutes

Although Jazz was not established in Storyville, it flourished there as well as it did in other parts of the city. Travelers may have believed that it was established within the district because they heard it there first before it spread to the northern reaches of the nation. What Storyville did continue to this unique style of music was a nurturing environment. The upscale brothels could afford to hire piano players for their parlors to entertain the couples before they went upstairs.


By 1910, Storyville was in a steady decline and by 1917 its era in the wickedest city of America was over. As the US entered into WWI in 1917, opponents of legalized prostitution began to push for the district to be closed once and for all. Because New Orleans was a major embarkation port for troops going to Europe for the war, the then Secretary of War Newton D. Baker joined forces with the opponents and pressed the government to close the district; Baker did not want the troops exposed to an illicit activity he considered to be immoral. Objections from the major and other city leaders were not enough to keep the brothels opened and they shut their doors for good in 1917, however, the area remained as a entertainment district throughout the 1920s.

In the 1930's, Storyville was demolished by the city, as part of the nationwide Public Works administration's efforts to clear slums and  make room for public housing. The Iberville Housing projects were constructed to provide affordable housing during the depression.

Lula White is one of the most famous madams in Storyville's history. She operated a four story brothel and employed 40 prostitutes.

Storyville is more than just an infamous red light district that closed its doors almost a century ago. It was an area that played a pivotal role in the creation of New Orleans' identity in the New South Era because of it developed in a context of developing racial, sexual, and gender ideologies and practices. Despite its establishment on the heels of the Plessy v. Ferguson case, Storyville was known for offering the services of octoroon, mixed race, women thus bringing intimate racial mixing out into the open.

For more information on the history of Storyville check out:

* Dr. Alecia Long explains the history of Storyville....    A Visit to Storyville
* The Great Southern Babylon: Sex, Race, and Respectability in New Orleans, 1865-1920
* Spectacular Wickedness: Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans
* Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville
* Storyville, New Orleans

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Artifacts Have Stories Too...

Interesting Finds
 
 
 Within each 10 cm level, a small piece of the past begins to tell a story. True, it's not a complete story, but even the smallest things can be significant because they were once a part of a person's daily life experience. The following images are some of the more interesting things that I have uncovered just two days into the fieldschool
 
 
The Token
 
In a new context we started today in our 2 x 2 m pit, I found this little gem. At first we thought it might have been some type of coin, since yesterday Blaine found an Indian Head penny. Unfortunately, this wasn't a coin, but actually might be a little more interesting. A quick Google search and consultation with Dr. Gray and we have decided that with it might be a token that was used in New Orleans in the early 20th century as a trade item. For example they were used in brothels and for food by the poor. This particular on has 2 1/2 etched on one side (pictured here)  and the letters S. K. on the other.

Rib Bone

 By far, this is probably the item that I was most excited about finding. Without finding any other bones of this size and being a little rusty on identification, I'm guessing its a proximal bone of a cow or pig. There are chatter marks along the side and evidence that it was sawed.

The Teacup

As we were opening up a new context this morning and removing the silt, my partner Janet and I came across this beauty. It's a almost complete teacup that must have broken in place. We won't be sure if it's just this half or the complete cup until we open up the context under this which will probably be around 50-60 cm.
 
The Rockingham Teapot

When I first pulled this out of the loose dirt this morning, I was confused because I thought it was bone. After washing it off and cleaning out the spout, I discovered it was a the spout of a Rockingham teapot. For the last two days we have been finding smaller pieces of the same type of ceramics with the face of dead presidents. Janet is hoping that she can piece together the complete pot back at the lab at UNO.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Some good reads...

Just wanted to share some good books that I've come across in some of my classes that changed my life. I won't provide summaries because it would ruin the surprise. I have all these copies so if you're interested in borrowing from my ever growing little library let me know.
Dead Men Don't Tell Tales

 The Mismeasure of Man




African American Pioneers in Anthropology
Building a New Biocultural Synthesis
From Savage to Negro
In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World


Reflection: 10 Years in the Making

Significant Dates from 2012
January 4th - 8th
January 30th 
March 15th
April 5th
April 6th
April 18th - 22nd
July 14th
August 20th

To anyone else these dates may not mean anything, but to me they are dates that I will likely remember for many years to come ( or just refer to this post when I more than likely forget them). These dates include my very first poster and oral presentations at the Society for Historical Archaeology in Baltimore, Maryland and at the Society for American Archaeology in Memphis Tennessee; the day that I received my acceptance letter from the University of Florida; my invitation to join the gamma of DC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; a phone call that notified me I had received the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship; the beginning of the 12 hour road trip from my parent's house to Gainesville for the very first time; and the first day of my  graduate education. There is no doubt in my mind that 2012 was a big year for me, but in the grand scheme of things....it's just the beginning of a dream set into motion by a 13 year old girl. .


Most little girls dream of their wedding day and price charming, how many children they want to have, and where they want their house with the white picket fence and golden retriever. I wasn't like other little girls,I sat down before the age of 13 and planned my life until I was 32.  I believed that one day  I would be a marine biologist and save the animals, and then a judge (completely bypassing being a lawyer) so that I could make people pay for their crimes, and eventually decided I wanted to be in business. I wanted to become the first African American female CEO. Of course at that age I knew nothing about Ursula Burns, the madam chairman and CEO of Xerox.

Fast forward ten years through a high school graduation with honors and acceptance letters from schools across Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina; a college graduation with honors and acceptance letters from schools in  Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Florida; and the first year of graduate school completed with an exceptional g.p.a  The academic honors, scholarships, fellowships, and high grade point averages speak to by abilities as a student, but to me that's just not good enough.

I'm a perfectionist and control freak in more ways than one. Want a perfect example? It took me an hour and a half to name my puppy after driving to Jacksonville to pick him up because I needed a name that would suit him and have historical meaning. I'll introduce him in a later post. Academically, I've always excelled and that's what most people have come to expect from me. I'm okay with that BUT I'm also never one to be complacent. Thirteen year old me would probably be excited that I am on track to surpass the goals I set for myself, however, I'm no longer 13 and those goals need to be re-evaluated.

A Thirteen Year Old's Goals                     vs.                         A 23 Year Old's Goals
1.  Become the first African American CEO                         1. Doctorate and Job  in hand by 28
2.  Own first home by 32                                                        2. Earn a second M.A. degree by 30
3.  Buy dream car                                                                3. First book written and  published by 30
                                                                                               4 & 5.   same as  #2-3
                                                                                6 . Obtain appointments at the Smithsonian's      
                                                                               Museum of  Natural History and the National Museum 
                                                                                    of African American History and Culture
                                                                                   7. Curate my own research  collections

At first glance for most people my goals at 23 seem easily attainable. Unfortunately, in anthropology, on average it can take anywhere from 6 to 10 years to earn a doctorate because research is dependent upon grants & funding, availability of projects, and the amount of hoops that need to be jumped through. I'm more than confident in my abilities as a student, researcher, and professional, but realistically funding is hard to come by and my ever changing interests may hinder me from finding the perfect dissertation site. Once I have my doctorate and job, I do believe that the other goals will fall into place.

By reflecting over the last decade I've learned one very important lesson and answered a question  I've been skirting around for months. There will come a time between your undergraduate graduation, your acceptance into your dream graduate program, and the first "bad" grade you receive on an assignment that will make you question whether you're smart and capable enough to be where you are today. I hope that your answer is the same as mine- YES. I'm not one to brag on my accomplishments because to me they are just some run of the mill things that I've done and has been done by plenty of people before me. The difference is that I know where I'm going is virtually uncharted territory and everything I've done up until this point has given me the confidence to make my mark and prove myself worthy. 

Take the time to pat yourself on the back, you're 13 year old self would be so proud....



Thursday, May 23, 2013

Dinosaurs, Bones, and Indiana Jones...

 
 
 
Honestly, I'm sick of the dinosaur questions, mistaken identity for Dr. Temperance Brennan, and the references to Indiana Jones. I'm going to let you in on a little secret...come closer...closer...I DO NOT STUDY DINOSAURS and NEITHER DOES ANY OTHER ANTHROPOLOGIST/ ARCHAEOLOGIST!!!
 
Paleontology vs. Archaeology
 
Definitions:
 
Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. FOSSILS are the remains of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and single-celled living things that have been replaced by rock material or impressions of organisms preserved in rock. (Credit: National Geographic)
 
 
Yummy! :)
 
 
Archaeology is a sub-discipline of the field of anthropology that studies the human past through material remains i.e. ceramics, pottery, lithics, structures, bones etc.
 
 
More Misconceptions
 
1. Dr. Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist not an archaeologist.
 Forensic anthropology is a field which applies anthropological science to legal settings where the remains of the victims are in a advanced stage of decomposition.
 
 
 2. Archaeology involves danger, whips, and a fedora. Depending on where an archaeologist works in the world there might be some danger but not the kind that you think. We risk suffering from dehydration, heat stroke, uncooperative weather, and animal bites. Our list of tools in the field DOES NOT include a whip or a fedora. I've never actually seen any of the  Indiana Jones movies but I'm sure 99.8% of the references the movies contain are false.
 
3. We get to keep the artifacts that we find. Our job entails uncovering and preserving history not stealing and hoarding goods.
 
4. Ah...the money misconception. I don't know how many times people have come up to me and said "Oh, you're going to be have a Ph.D. I know you're going to be rich" Yeah, archaeology isn't one of those professions that we chose so that we can drive Bugattis and live in million dollar homes.
 
 
Here's the portion of the presentation where I tell you what I actually do...
 
I am a historical zooarchaeologist.
 
(pause)
 
Here's what that means:  I study the remains of animals from archaeological sites from which there are written records and other historical documents.
 
My research interests are: the African and African American diaspora, the Reconstruction period, health and nutrition, and the environment.
 
What I'm trying to do: I want to look holistically at African American health and nutrition as they made the transition from slavery to freedom and how that transition impacted their food practices and consumption patterns over time.
 
Why I think it's important: Food has always been important to our culture. I'd like to archaeologically see the origins of our "soul" food.
 
 As always it's been a pleasure....
 

Monday, May 20, 2013

How I Chose Archaeology, or rather, How Archaeology Chose Me.

 
 

The former Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Howard University

Story time...
On this particular day we were going hike to see thousand year old cave dwellings. As we started on our little trek we were able to see the birth place of Geronimo, see the devastation forest fires has caused, and the new life that grew out of the ashes. We stopped several times for photo opps and so that the path ahead could be checked for wild animals. As we hiked up the side of a mountain to reach the well hidden cave dwellings a odd feeling begins to bubble in your stomach. The places that an archaeologist can go are limitless and sometimes the sights that we see we cannot share with the public. It leaves you with a sense of purpose and of responsibility. A purpose to share the stories of past people and to tell a story that is not skewed by the author but is revealed as much as possible through the eyes of the people you are studying in the archaeological record. The sense of responsibility stems from the need to not only tell these stories but to protect the sites from which the stories are collected. Though much of the archaeological record gets destroyed in our attempts to study the past we can do our part in preserving the artifacts and ensuring that these sites remain  hidden from those with less honorable intentions....
 

Coming down the mountain from visiting the cave dwellings...
 
 
My journey as an archaeologist began about three years ago, in the Spring of 2010, on the second floor of Douglass Hall at Howard University. I came to Howard originally thinking that I was going to major in Business Management or Business Administration UNTIL I found out that I was required to wear stockings, heels, and a suit. I quickly changed my major to Sociology thinking that well I'd always loved cultures so  why not study them;  I'd written a research paper about taboos in high school inspired by the show on National Geographic which sparked my interest. Looking for electives, I followed the suggestion of a friend and registered for my first anthropology courses: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology taught by Dr. Flordeliz Bugarin and Introduction to Biological Anthropology taught by the late Professor Mack.  When I walked into those classrooms my life would be forever changed. From that point on I would go on to double major in Anthropology and Sociology, find one of my mentors, and to be truly challenged academically for the first time in my life.
 

My old lab at Howard University
 
By the end of that semester I learned to important things: 1) I was interested in how African Americans came to eat what they ate and why and 2) Professor Mack scared the shit out of me and my new mission was to prove to him that I could earn an A in one of his courses ( I got a B the first time.) In Cultural Anthropology I conducted a study on Food Taboos and what influenced Howard University students to consume certain foods. The paper itself isn't important but what inspired the paper is. If you have the misfortune (I'm joking) of knowing me on any level you'll already know that I'm a picky eater. I have an aversion to colors and textures. To continue with the story... So that spring semester I decided to double major. By the fall of 2010 I was taking Introduction to Archaeology taught by Dr. Eleanor King and Methods and Theory in Archaeology taught by Dr. Bugarin. It is here that archaeology captured my attention and heart. Also, this was the point at which I discovered that I couldn't be a Cultural Anthropologist because it required me to speak to large groups of people and interact on a daily basis. (I should clear things up here by stating that I am introverted and have a very low tolerance for other people's crap.) Archaeology seemed more fitting because it was like a mystery. You never know what you'll find beneath the earth or the story that it can tell you.
 
Nicodemus

 
I'll share more about these classes later but what I've been leading up to is the project that I worked on in the Methods and Theory class. We were required to pick a project, either the Gambia/ James Island or Nicodemus. I chose to study the fauna (animal remains from archaeological sites) from Nicodemus; I wanted to reconstruct the sustenance strategies of the community during their first winter in Kansas. History lesson:
 
Nicodemus was an African American community established in 1877 in the northwestern region Kansas in Graham County. These exodusters migrated from Kentucky and Tennessee to escape oppression and prejudice to settle in Kansas were advertisements had boasted of lush conditions and the opportunity to own land for five dollars a plot. Upon arriving on the plains many families turned around and went home. Those who stayed initially struggled and eventually the town began to blossom. At its height the community had a population of almost 700, included a bank, two hotels, several churches, two newspaper, a drug store, three general stores, a literary society, a law office, an ice cream parlor, a baseball teams, a band, and a benefit society. Despite a steady decline after the Union Pacific Railroad decided to bypass the township, Nicodemus remains the oldest surviving black town west of the Mississippi.
 

Conducting this research made me wonder how many other unwritten stories about the daily lives of African Americans post-Emancipation needed to be written. So in that way I didn't chose archaeology, it chose me. If you know anything about African American archaeology or African American history before the turn of the century you know that it is predominantly focused on plantation life and slavery. While learning more about the lives of slaves is important, it is also important to know about the lives of African Americans as they made the transition from enslavement to freedom. If you have ever experienced that  moment in your life where you knew you had to do something, this was it for me.
 
That's all for now but stay tuned!!!


 
For more information about Nicodemus and the research that I conducted on the faunal material please visit the USF's Heritage Lab website at http://heritagelab.org/?page_iud=1104.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Through Their Eyes: The Daily Lives of the Storyville Working Women

 
 
Close your eyes for a moment and picture this scene...

It's a hot August afternoon down in the bayou and you've been dropped off to your grandmother's house for the summer because your mother is tired of you complaining that you hate living in New England. Your cousins, who grew up in the bayous, have teased you for your accent and the way you dress, decided this is the afternoon to "show" you something in the attic. Thinking it's one of their never ending pranks to scare you or get you in trouble ( the attic is a forbidden place for a 14 year old), you wait until your grandmother goes into the kitchen to begin snapping the beans for dinner. There is no central air in the old house and you're thankful that as you and your cousins sneak up the old creaky steps to the attic that your grandmother can't hear the beads of sweat dropping on the ancient wooden floors over her gospel music. Once you've reached the attic and the flashlights are pulled out you follow your cousins to the darkest corner of the attic that's covered in cobwebs and rodent droppings, to an decrepit wooden trunk that has seen better days. They tell you to take the flashlight and peer in; at first glance you don't see anything  but some old faded papers and a dusty bible, but they tell you to open a hidden compartment in the bottom of the trunk. Once it's open out falls old photographs on which the images have faded and are hidden in the shadows. Your oldest cousin takes the flashlight from your hands and points it to the old photos and almost immediately you are  taken away by the half naked women. Under the  pictures is a leather bound journal...
 
 



( Photos taken by E. J. Bellocq)
 
In 1917, John Ernest Joseph Bellocq began photographing working women in the legalized red light district of Storyville in New Orleans.  Bellocq established himself as a professional through his photographic record of landmarks and of ships and machinery of local companies , but became known for the images he captured for his personal portfolio. Images such as those above give us a true to life visual record of the working women in New Orleans in the early 20th century.

Nearly 100 years later I , too, am attempting to reconstruct a true to life record of the lives of these women through the archaeological record. There's a time and place for everything and thus at this time I won't introduce myself or the true purpose of this blog; this first post I want to you to  begin considering these women, not as prostitutes, but as wives and mothers who were working to feed their families and survive in New Orleans at the turn of the century.

This first post comes at the perfect moment in my journey to investigate the lives of these women. In a few short weeks I will make the trip from Gainesville, FL to New Orleans, LA to participate in an archaeological field school run by the University of New Orleans. As I  share my journey as a young, African American archaeologist working on my thesis research at the University of Florida, I want you to as my reader to consider the questions you would have asked your grandmother should you have found these photos in a trunk in her attic.
 
 
 
Until next time...