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Hi, I mentioned this briefly in the body of another posting recently, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce the Levi Jordan Plantation web site "officially". Here's what it's about: This web site is the result of a collaboration between historical archaeologists, African American descendants and European American descendants (and other community members) to create a "virtual conversation" to discuss the multiple archaeologies and histories of a 19th century southern Texas plantation. Archaeological and historical research at the Jordan Plantation has revealed a great deal about the ways that Africans and African Americans empowered themselves both during and after slavery. The major focus of the site is to discuss how people (many of whom were born in Africa) used African beliefs and ways of using material culture to deal with the oppression of slavery and its aftermath, tenancy. However, the site also discusses the lives of the European Americans who lived on the site. The attempt is to avoid an "either-or" conversation about history -- there is much here about how people interacted and influenced each other. There is also much about how their descendants continue to interact and work with each other to present the histories of their ancestors. The web site includes information gleaned from many other kinds of sources as well, including oral history, genealogy, anthropology, and folklore. It also includes discussion groups and other opportunities for visitors to communicate with archaeologists, descendants, and each other. The address of the site is http://www.webarchaeology.com. We hope you will visit soon - and, if you have time, to fill out one of our questionnaires to tell us what you think of what we're doing. We're also looking for opportunities to collaborate with teachers (middle school and up) to use the web site in their classes -- please drop me a line if you're interested. Thanks very much, Carol McDavid Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge and Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society [log in to unmask] http://www.webarchaeology.com Address in UK: Clare Hall Cambridge CB3 9AL +44 (0)1223 328832 Address in US: 1406 Sul Ross Houston, TX 77006 +001 (713) 523-2649 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%