Mapping Memories of Freetown: The Meanings of a Native American House in a Black Neighborhood

Abstract

ABSTRACT The recent recognition of a twentieth-century Montaukett home in what has been considered a “Black neighborhood” brings into question the historical construction of race categories and boundaries, as well as the construction and production of history, giving us new perspectives on the histories of Long Island. Along with memories and other input from descendants and other community members, the authors use the methodologies of archaeology and cultural anthropology to understand relationships of kin, kind, and power in the Freetown neighborhood. In so doing, they interrogate and deconstruct the colonialist interpretations of the people and the way they lived their day to day lives. In this article, the authors unpack racialized histories as a method for framing their Mapping Memories of Freetown project, and shed light on the discursive relationship between constructed histories and lived experiences.