Creating Freedom: Material Culture and African American Identity at Oakley Plantation, Louisiana, 1840-1950

Abstract

Historical archaeologists continue to be fascinated with the African American past; Creating Freedom offers a valuable and innovative addition to this rapidly expanding literature. While the themes are familiar—African cultural precedents, foodways, religion and magic, adornment, and resistance to slavery and racism—the author's theoretical framework and research emphases make this work stand out. The sites Laurie A. Wilkie focuses on date from the late antebellum era through the mid-twentieth century, particularly the years following Reconstruction, contrary to trends in the field that emphasize the slavery era. The core of the analysis proceeds from the finds at two house sites, comparing the four individual households that occupied them, rather than following the usual route of combining them for comparison with other African American sites or planters' dwellings. This approach allows Wilkie to address issues of change over time, generational continuities, and social relations among the African American residents of Oakley Plantation.