DESCENDANTS, DECISIONS, AND POWER - THE PUBLIC INTERPRETATION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE JORDAN,LEVI PLANTATION

Archaeological data from the Levi Jordan plantation in Brazoria County , Texas, indicate that the African Americans who lived on this plantat ion participated in many activities, several of African origin, that f unctioned to insure this community's survival in an increasingly oppre ssive outside world. Ethnographic data indicate that many descendants of the plantation's residents, African American and European American, still live in the Brazoria area, and that these descendants continue to negotiate issues of power and control. Any public interpretation of this archaeology will necessarily deal with diverse understandings of race and history in present-day Brazoria County. This paper will desc ribe the political and organizational strategies being employed by a t eam of descendants, archaeologists, and other community members to pla n and implement public interpretations that are ''inclusive'' of the v arious histories and archaeologies of the plantation's ancestors: pre- and post-emancipation African Americans as well as planters.