Looking for history's huts

Abstract

A number of extant slave habitations survive throughout the American South, and these buildings have much to tell about the past and the present. Based on research undertaken in 2003, this essay examines interpretive practices employed at both rural and urban slave sites, and it reveals patterns that either illuminate or obscure our understanding of the histories and architectural histories of African Americans. While freestanding extant houses do not represent the kind of shelter that most bondspeople occupied, important lessons can still be drawn from the way architectural design features, such as materials, construction techniques, and site planning, facilitated exploitation. © 2004 by The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc. All rights reserved.