 | New Philadelphia: An Archaeology of Race in the Heartland Subjects: New Philadelphia (III.) -- History; New Philadelphia (III.) -- Antiquities; Excavations (Archaeology) -- Illinois -- New Philadelphia; Community life -- Illinois -- New Philadelphia -- History; Cultural pluralism -- Illinois -- New Philadelphia -- History; 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. Shackel Paul : Paul A. Shackel is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. He is the author and editor of many books, including Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement (with Barbara Little). |
