ESCI 269 - The Geophysics of Slavery and Freedom

1 unit(s)

Working with local community groups, this project-based field course examines the history of African Americans in Dutchess County by uncovering forgotten graveyards from the 18th and 19th centuries. We use geophysical surveying of graveyards with social history to give students hands-on experience in original research, data analysis, and public presentation. During the course of the semester, the class uses both field geophysics and historical archives to map lost gravesites and to understand the historical and social context of these communities. Students gain fieldwork experience at the gravesite using high-tech tools including an electrical resistivity meter, a cesium vapor magnetometer, and a ground penetrating radar, in concert with visiting local archives to analyze primary documents including census records, deeds, newspapers and journals as well as church records. By the end of the semester, the quantitative and qualitative data is synthesized for a community presentation and final report. A new site is chosen for each class—field locations may include pre-Columbian or historical archaeological sites such as forgotten slave-era burial grounds and potters fields. Students from across the curriculum are welcome. Mr. McAdoo and Mr. Mills.

Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

Not offered in 2014/15.Will be offered in 2016/17.

One 5-hour field period and one 75-minute classroom period.