Tacking Between Black and White: Race Relations in Gilded Age Philadelphia

Despite the growing interest in archaeological studies of race there have been no investigations clearly negotiating race and/or racism in Philadelphia during the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. This reality is perplexing, given the prevalence of race and racism in the past and present. Though this article does not explicitly discuss recovered artifacts it does situate scientific racism at the University of Pennsylvania, White violence in response to Black male enfranchisement and the popularity of blackface minstrel shows as everyday practices used to facilitate racial hierarchies and, thus influence identities and relationships. Although these practices lack salient archaeological materiality the purpose of this article is to convey the bombardment of dehumanizing tactics endured by Black Philadelphians as measures to contextualize the unavoidable dynamics of racial and class oriented repression unto the archaeological record.     

Black and White Commuting Behavior in a Large Southern City: Evidence from Atlanta

Previous research has shown that households are sensitive to commuting distance. In particular, households beyond a threshold distance move closer to the job when they change residence. The questions that motivate this paper are: how does race affect the probability of moving closer to the job when households change residence, and is there a trade off between commuting distance and neighborhood composition? Using a specialized data set the research shows that the commuting behaviors of minority and white households are consistent with the overall hypothesis that households minimize their commuting distance whenever possible. The research also shows that there is a tendency for both white and black households to choose slightly more integrated settings after changing residences. Yet, black households have to juggle the trade‐off between neighborhoods with high socioeconomic status and commute distance and those who choose higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods have longer commutes.     

Race, Class, and Political Activism: Black, Chicana/o, and Japanese-American Leftists in Southern California, 1968–1978

This paper explores the third-world left in Los Angeles, from 1968–1978. In it I examine the political ideology and foci of one organization for each of the major racial/ethnic groups of the time: African Americans (Black Panther Party), Chicanas/os (El Centro de Accion Social y Autonomo [CASA]), and Japanese Americans (East Wind). In addition to reclaiming this relatively unknown history, I seek to explain the differences in the various organizations by analyzing them within the context of differential racialization. I argue that the distinct nature of each organization is at least partly due to the particular racial position of each racial/ethnic group within the local racial order.     

Black and White Literature,Grey Scholars

Two key reasons are most often cited for the low impact of grey literature sources in archaeology, difficulties with access and lack of peer review. Seymour (this volume) has examined the constitution of grey literature and discussed themes surrounding accessibility. Although peer review is an important topic that deserves careful consideration, for the present discussion it is sufficient to state that the vast bulk of archaeology’s grey literature, the reports resulting from Cultural Resource Management (CRM) projects, receives several levels of careful, often expert review before acceptance as the basis for development project approvals. Without minimizing the importance of access to the grey literature or disparaging important efforts to improve it, then, this paper focuses on a separate issue, the discourse surrounding grey literature in archaeology and the hegemony it supports. I offer a manifesto, rather than a scientifically dispassionate account, because the current situation requires change, not study.     

White Men in Quarantine: Disease,Race, Commerce and Mobility in the Pacific, 1872

In July 1872, the steamship Hero underwent quarantine at Sydney’s North Head after a case of smallpox was diagnosed. This article brings together the histories of quarantine, white subjectivity and Pacific mobility through an analysis of the Loganiana newspaper produced by the passengers of the Hero during their confinement. The Loganiana provides a unique insight into the formation of white identities through discussions of race, commerce, science and inter-colonial politics. The case provides an important perspective on a transformative period in Australia’s border history, and also illuminates the tensions accompanying the transition from an older imperial order to political autonomy in the nineteenth-century Pacific.