“Buttons, Bone Handles, and Brick"

Dr. Kelly Goldberg, clinical associate professor and director of the USC Public Heritage Lab, will present “Buttons, Bone Handles, and Brick: Contextualizing USC’s Histories Within the 19th Century Atlantic World."

The 19th century transatlantic slave trade had significant social, political and economic ramifications for coastal West African environments, and caused reverberations throughout the Atlantic world. Within this environment the University of South Carolina, established in 1801, joined the political landscape as an active participant in global slave trade economies.

This talk discusses results from excavations in coastal Guinea and USC's campus as case studies to investigate 19th and 20th century sites throughout the Atlantic world, looking at the ways in which material culture, architectural remains, documentary records, and oral historical accounts are used to interpret the complex social dynamics and multiregional origins of a globally oriented African Diaspora.

Presented in person and virtually. Register to attend via Zoom