Overview

Grave sites not only offer the contemporary viewer the physical markers of those remembered but also a wealth of information about the era in which the cemeteries were created. These markers hold keys to our historical past and allow an entry point of interrogation about who is represented, as well as how and why. Grave History is the first volume to use southern cemeteries to interrogate and analyze southern society and the construction of racial and gendered hierarchies from the antebellum period through the dismantling of Jim Crow. Through an analysis of cemeteries throughout the South—including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Virginia, from the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries—this volume demonstrates the importance of using the cemetery as an analytical tool for examining power relations, community formation, and historical memory. Grave History draws together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, including historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and social-justice activists to investigate the history of racial segregation in southern cemeteries and what it can tell us about how ideas regarding race, class, and gender were informed and reinforced in these sacred spaces. Each chapter is followed by a learning activity that offers readers an opportunity to do the work of a historian and apply the insights gleaned from this book to their own analysis of cemeteries. These activities, designed for both the teacher and the student, as well as the seasoned and the novice cemetery enthusiast, encourage readers to examine cemeteries for their physical organization, iconography, sociodemographic landscape, and identity politics.

Full Product Details

9780820365800

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Reviews

"This volume takes cemetery and gravestone studies in an entirely new direction. The chapters are well written and the volume is thoughtfully organized. Although the South is truly distinctive, I wish every culture region had a volume like this. . . . This is more than a simple scholarly work. It is a book that changes the conversation."" - Richard Veit, coauthor of The Archaeology of American Cemeteries and Gravemarkers"

"This volume takes cemetery and gravestone studies in an entirely new direction. The chapters are well written and the volume is thoughtfully organized. Although the South is truly distinctive, I wish every culture region had a volume like this. . . . This is more than a simple scholarly work. It is a book that changes the conversation.--Richard Veit ""coauthor of The Archaeology of American Cemeteries and Gravemarkers"""

Author Information

Kami Fletcher is associate professor of History at Albright College. Ashley Towle is assistant professor of History at the University of Southern Maine.

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