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For Immediate Release: February 12, 2007
HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROFESSOR TO LECTURE ON SLAVE HOUSING IN VA, FEB. 21
Fredericksburg, Va. – Douglas Sanford, associate professor and chair of historic preservation at the University of Mary Washington, will present “Slave Housing in Virginia” on Wednesday, February 21 at 6 p.m. in Combs Hall, Room 139. The lecture is open to the public without charge.
The lecture will explore the architecture of rural and urban slave housing in areas of Virginia, including Fredericksburg. An expert in African-American and plantation archaeology, as well as the archaeology of Virginia, Dr. Sanford currently is directing a research project in the Chesapeake region.
The 12-month project, “Measuring the Social, Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Virginia Slave Housing,” will explore the dynamic between American slaves and masters by studying slave houses. Dr. Sanford and co-director Dennis Pogue, associate director of restoration at Mount Vernon, received a $48,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the project.
Dr. Sanford has conducted archaeological research in Brazil, Arizona, Pennsylvania and within Virginia, at the Yorktown Battlefield, Monticello and in the Northern Neck area. Among his professional publications is “The Archaeology of Plantation Slavery in Piedmont Virginia: Context and Process” in the book Historical Archaeology of the Chesapeake. His doctoral thesis was “The Archaeology of Plantation Slavery at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello: Context and Process in an American Slave Society.”
Dr. Sanford earned a doctorate and a master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the College of William and Mary.
For more information about the lecture, which is part of the university’s celebration of Black History Month, contact the James Farmer Multicultural Center at (540) 654-1044.
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News release prepared by: Andrea Christie