Archaeological investigations at the Charity Hall mission site (22MO733)

ABSTRACT The Charity Hall mission school was one of dozens of Protestant missions established during the 1820s using federal funding provided by the Civilization Fund Act of 1819. These missions have received little attention from archaeologists due to their short lifespans and limited number. The archaeological investigations at Charity Hall, which was established within the Mississippi territory of the Chickasaw Nation, provide key insights into the materiality of evangelization in southeastern North America, particularly among various Southeastern Indigenous groups just prior to Removal in the 1830s. This research provides important insights into the efforts of nineteenth-century missionaries to impose “civilizing” practices on Southeastern Indians and what the Indigenous responses to those efforts were. The Charity Hall research project has involved a collaboration between archaeologists and the Chickasaw Nation, which enabled several Chickasaw college students to visit and work at the site where their ancestors were first introduced to Western-style education. This reconnecting experience helped in a small way to undo the damage inflicted on Native people by Removal.