MSU’s Lambert brings discussion on Prospect Hill Plantation enslavement project to Alcorn State, Natchez
NATCHEZ, Miss.—Shawn Lambert, associate professor of archeology and undergraduate coordinator for Mississippi State’s Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, will discuss the historical significance of enslavement at Prospect Hill Plantation during two public events next week.
Lambert’s “Before They were Settlers: Material Culture and Spaces of Enslavement at the Prospect Hill Plantation” will focus on the archaeology of his project studying enslavement at the site that played a significant role in early plantation life in the South and with the American and Mississippi Colonization societies that relocated hundreds of enslaved people to Greenville, Liberia.
The hour-long presentations are scheduled for 12:30 p.m., Thursday [Oct. 24] in Room 107, Dumas Hall, on Alcorn State University’s Lorman campus and 1 p.m., Friday [Oct. 25] at the Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture, 301 Main St., Natchez. Both programs are free and open to the public and sponsored by the Southwest Mississippi Center for Culture and Learning at Alcorn.
“Dr. Lambert’s work is significant in many ways,” said Teresa Busby, SMCCLA executive director. “I especially appreciate that he developed the work at Prospect Hill as a multidisciplinary project that involved diverse scholars from several areas of academia to help us better understand the history of enslavement in the South. We will all benefit from Dr. Lambert sharing their findings with us.”
A recognized expert in remote sensing technologies, ceramic analysis, ancient iconography, organic residue analyses and elemental analyses of artifacts, Lambert said his research at the Jefferson County site has global significance.
“It represents the collaboration with diverse communities and descendent communities, as well as researchers from other disciplines such as archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, historians and biological anthropologists,” he said. “This research is a multivocal and multiperspective attempt to not only understand the history and archaeology of enslavement at Prospect Hill but also trace this reverse African Diaspora to Liberia where hundreds of enslaved individuals from Prospect Hill were resettled.
“In this spirit,” Lambert added, “Prospect Hill is globally connected to the history and development of West Africa and to local communities in Mississippi.”
Lambert said he is “committed to working with diverse descendant communities and the public to further decolonize archaeological practice, strengthen relationships with underrepresented communities and make fieldwork more inclusive and supportive for student experiential learning.”
For more information on the events, email tbusby@alcorn.edu.
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