Date of Award

4-24-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Krista Lewis

Second Advisor

Jodi Barnes

Abstract

The recent unearthing of two archeological sites in Little Rock, Arkansas revealed objects imbued with symbolism, complexity, and memory. The people who left these objects behind were residents of the West Ninth Street neighborhood, an epicenter of African American social and economic activity in central Arkansas from the middle nineteenth through the late twentieth centuries. Utilizing multidisciplinary avenues, including W.E.B. Du Bois’ metaphor of the color line, archeology, and extensive archival research, this thesis investigated the material culture of the two sites. The historic record provided important contextual elements to the stories of the Arch Street residents, while the archeological record of the two sites provided more intimate information regarding the daily lives of the residents. The coalescence of these data highlighted the lives of the Arch Street residents along the color line in Little Rock during the Jim Crow era while underscoring the utility of implementing multidisciplinary avenues in archeological research.

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