ENGLISH

New Philadelphia: An Archaeology of Race in the Heartland

By Paul A. Shackel

Book information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
2010
ISBN
0520947835, 9780520947832
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3156315 bytes)
Pages
240\234
Topic
History Archaeology
Library
Project MUSE
Time added
2022-03-17 16:30:37

Description

New Philadelphia, Illinois, was founded in 1836 by Frank McWorter, a Kentucky slave who purchased his own freedom and then acquired land on the prairie for establishing a new--and integrated--community. McWorter sold property to other freed slaves and to whites, and used the proceeds to buy his family out of slavery. The town population reached 160, but declined when the railroad bypassed it. By 1940 New Philadelphia had virtually disappeared from the landscape. In this book, Paul A. Shackel resurrects McWorter's great achievement of self-determinism, independence, and the will to exist. Shackel describes a cooperative effort by two universities, the state museum, the New Philadelphia Association, and numerous descendents to explore the history and archaeology of this unusual multi-racial community.

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