THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN POSTPONED
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Plantation: How can archaeology help advance our understanding of a slave society?
Free professional development program for K-12 teachers
Sponsored by the Center for the Liberal Arts at the University of Virginia and the National Endowment for the Humanities
Our workshop will focus on the material evidence for community life, particularly of the enslaved community at Monticello.
Our day will begin with a full tour of the main house, including the dome room. The remainder of the morning will be spent with members of the Archaeology team at Monticello visiting excavation sites normally closed to the public. These sites offer insight into the changing organization of life and work for the plantation’s enslaved community.
After lunch, we will participate in a hands- on workshop with the archaeology team which features analysis of original ceramic finds from Monticello and instruction in use of the publicly accessible Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (http://www.daacs.org), a rich resource for teaching the history of enslaved peoples throughout the Chesapeake, Carolinas and Caribbean. At the end of our day together, participants will have a fuller understanding of the complex nature of community life at Monticello, particularly of the enslaved community, together with a working knowledge of how to use a renowned digital tool for primary research in their classroom.