"Because that's where my roots are": searching for patterns of African-American ethnicity in Arrow Rock, Missouri

This archaeological study investigates a postbellum African-American community in Arrow Rock, Missouri. Archaeological excavations have been conducted each summer between 1996 through 2001, and have attempted to explore the entire African-American community including multiple households, an African Methodist Episcopal Church, a school house, a speakeasy, an emancipation day picnic field, a restaurant/bar, and a Masonic lodge, called the Brown Lodge No. 22 of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. This dissertation focuses on the 1996 and 1997 field seasons at the Brown Lodge/Caldwell Pottery site (23SA451), which has five major historic components: an Euro-American homestead (1836-1854), an Euro-American stoneware factory (1855- 1870s), three African-American residences (1880s-1950s), an African-American restaurant/bar (1880s-1950s), and the Brown Lodge (1881-1931). The main theoretical force behind this dissertation is to identify material correlates of African-American ethnic identity. In an attempt to view the formation and transformation of ethnicity through material culture, a multi-hypothesis approach was used, which attempts to outline the functional possibilities of an object or material pattern from the traditional or manufacturer's intended use to alternative uses caused by various social levels including ethnicity.