The first Black archaeologist : a life of John Wesley Gilbert Cover Image

Book

The first Black archaeologist : a life of John Wesley Gilbert / John W.I. Lee.

ISBN: 0197578993
ISBN: 9780197578995
Physical Description: xxviii, 418 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Publisher: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022]
Copyright: &copy;2022

Lee, John W. I. (John Wolte Infong), 1971- (author.).

Summary:

This is a biography of John Wesley Gilbert, a man famous as 'the first black archaeologist.' The text uses previously unstudied sources to reveal the triumphs and challenges of an overlooked pioneer in American archaeology.

"The boy was determined to write. It was Monday, the first of May, 1871, and he had come with his mother to open an account at the Augusta, Georgia branch of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company. The clerk opened his account register and took down the new customer's information. Age: 7. Residence: corner Center and Telfair Streets-- just two blocks from the bank office on Broad Street. Occupation: Go to school to Miss Chesnut. Father: Tom Dasher. Mother: Sarah Dasher. Uncles: Gabriel, Simon, Jim, William, John, in that order. Then, as he usually did with young or illiterate patrons, the clerk wrote the boy's name on the signature line, added the notation "his mark," and offered the page for an X. The boy, however, insisted on signing for himself. He ran out of space on his first try but succeeded on his second. The register (Figure 1.1) still survives today in the National Archives in Washington, DC, bearing a shaky but legible signature: Wesley Gilbert"-- Provided by publisher.