Dark Heritage in the New South: Remembering Convict Leasing in Southern Middle Tennessee through Community Archaeology

Abstract

Despite playing a central role in establishing our current racialized prison system, Southern convict leasing has been largely forgotten by American society. The Lone Rock Stockade Project is carrying out excavations at the site of an 1870s convict stockade in order to illuminate the depravity of convict leasing and acknowledge the sacrifices of the convicts who were forced to work without pay in Tennessee’s industries. While the project works to identify descendant communities and manage the dangers of COVID-19, the project’s public outreach is focused on establishing the site’s narrative as dark heritage, rather than industrial triumph, within the local community.