Dirt in the Wounds: Confronting Hard Histories through Public Community Archaeology in Boston

Abstract

The majority of Boston’s residents are minorities. These minority residents confront the ongoing effects of racism, including the “hard histories” of enslavement, the civil-rights movement, and community displacement. Some white Bostonians are unaware of these hard histories or see them as an unnecessary and uncomfortable politicizing of the past, while others are aware, but not personally impacted. Public community cultural-resource management archaeological surveys by Boston’s City Archaeology Program seek to confront these hard histories through recent surveys in Boston’s Chinatown, the Boston Latin School site, and the Malcolm X-Ella Little-Collins House. The hard and often entangled histories encountered at these sites challenge public perceptions of archaeology by seeking extensive public engagement through community archaeology. This article explores the economic and social issues created by the hard histories at these sites through the reflections of individuals both personally and professionally connected to these community archaeological surveys.