JACQUES REVIEW would like to welcome Dr. Brittany Brown to the Scholar Edition of Spotlight. This interview series features in-depth conversations with interviewees of various backgrounds and occupations. It provides a look into the planning and unique personal career journeys of each individual. It even offers small glimpses into their private lives. The finished product hopes to convey that every story matters, is worth hearing, and has a great deal of significance to the mosaic called humanity.
I don’t know how or why I came across Brittany’s Instagram page. She is the curator of @theblackarchaeologist. She began posting on July 6, 2018. I initially hesitated to contact Brittany because we have never interacted and I suspected that she may be too busy to feel the need to respond to such a small outlet like mine. There was also the chance that such a busy person will pass over or don’t see an email that isn’t of high priority. We all think twice about answering emails.
However, upon making contact, Brittany was friendly, cool, and interested in contributing to the project. She returned initial and follow-up interview questions in record time. This means that Brittany makes herself an accessible scholar. I hope to have her one day for the video segments of these conversations.
Brittany has a B.A. in Anthropology/Historical Archaeology from the University of Florida, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology/ Historical Archaeology/African Diaspora Studies from The College of William & Mary. Her dissertation is entitled, A Study of Historical Black Cemeteries and Contemporary Practices of Commemoration Among African Americans in Duval County, Jacksonville, FL. She is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Director of the African American and African Diaspora Cultural Center at Bard College.
Her forthcoming book, ‘Sites of Memory’: A Study of Historic African American Cemeteries in Jacksonville, Florida, is to be released by the University of Florida Press. I look forward to picking up my copy and having it signed one day. She is featured on the University of Michigan’s Museum of Anthropological Archaeology‘s youtube page giving a talk with the same title.
Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Where are your parents from?
I was born in Hampton Virginia, I grew up in Honolulu Hawaii (until the age of 10), and then in Jacksonville, Florida (11- 18 years). My mother is from Maryland and my father is from Ohio, they met in Hampton VA while serving in the Air Force.
How many siblings do you have? What was life like growing up?
I have one sister, who is a mathematician — I grew up on a military base, so I was introduced to a lot of diversity very early in life —- and the beach was my playground.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
One of my favorite childhood memories is playing chess with my dad — I learned a lot about the world and sitting in front of the chess board.
I suck at chess, but I couldn’t let Brittiny get away without flexing some chess muscles. So, I asked her how good is she. “I’m pretty good,” she responded.
Who would you say played a significant role in who you are today and why?
My parents really shaped me. They instilled discipline, a work ethic, dignity, and respect for others, they shaped the foundation of who I grew into.
After completing your associate of arts degree, your next degree was a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology/Historical Archaeology. This is the concentration for your M.A. and Ph.D. What’s the story behind your selection of this area of Study?
Well, I got an associate of arts degree at the same time I got my high school diploma, so I entered the University of Florida as a Junior, which meant I didn’t have a lot of time to pick a major. After experiencing some of the politics around African American cemetery spaces in my hometown. I decided to become an anthropologist because I wanted to see changes in the way the field treats and interacts with Black communities.
You did your B.A. at the University of Florida and your M.A. and Ph.D. at The College of William & Mary. What was the thought process behind your selection of those universities? What would you tell archaeology students to look for?
Growing up in Jacksonville, the University of Florida is one of the flagship schools, and to be honest, I only applied to one school— looking back that was a bit of a gamble, after graduation, I looked up schools that had professors I wanted to learn from. That is why I choose The College of William and Mary.
Your M.A. thesis was entitled Ontological Blackness: An Investigation of 18th Century Burial Practices Among Captive Africans on the Island of Barbados. What is one significant way those burials differ from the burials we see in the U.S. today?
I think sometimes people expect to see vast differences between African Diaspora cemeteries in history, I think sometimes we read differences into those histories and spaces because they are separated by oceans. However, I find that there are a lot more similarities between early captive African communities. West Africans were scattered across the Americas, and they often landed in multiethnic captive communities — these communities often had to come together to bury their dead, express their reverence, and commemorate…drawing on the knowledge systems and cultures they brought with them. All of those things are tempered by slavery including which African regions dominated in terms of representation within a particular captive community. From the use of shells and white objects to preparing rice and pouring libations. There are similar modes of commemoration that you can find all across the Diaspora.
I’m not sure if this would be within the scope of your studies, but what was generally understood as being the state of those that died during that period?
Captives in the Caribbean had a short life expectancy once they entered sugarcane production. An African was expected to live about 7 years. They were worked to death — the bodies of captive Africans often show us that they were underfed, physically abused, tortured, and then discarded.
Your Ph.D. dissertation was entitled, Ancestral Landscapes: A Study of Historical Black Cemeteries and Contemporary Practices of Commemoration Among African Americans in Duval County, Jacksonville, FL. What time period does it cover and what impact did African American aristocrats play in the establishment of these cemeteries?
It mostly covers the early 20th century. During the Jim Crow era, it was legal to deny African American people health care and burial services. Wealthy African Americans in Jacksonville came together to fill in some of those gaps. In addition to establishing the cemeteries, the established Afro-Life Insurance Company created public swimming areas and dance halls for African Americans, as well as purchased an entire beachfront resort. They also established hospitals, vocational schools, and old folks’ homes. Jacksonville, Florida was pretty famous in the 20th century for Black entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency. Mary Mcleod Bethune, Margaret Murray Washington, and her husband Booker T Washington, Zora Neale Hurston, Bessie Coleman, and W.E.B. DuBois all rubbed elbows and built relationships with the Black aristocrats of Jacksonville.
Why are historic burial sites meaningful to African Americans today?
Historic African American cemeteries encapsulate centuries of African American history and Indigenous African knowledge systems. They are what Toni Morrison calls cultural “sites of memory”. These spaces are also immersed in pervasive power structures like capitalism, ideas of race, and state-sanctioned violence which has often determined the location, size, and frequency that Black bodies enter the ground. Archaeologically, they offer landscape features, artifacts, and often yield particular bone pathologies and isotope signatures that give insight into the lived experiences of those buried.
In written history, African American people often appear in legal documents like wills and inventories as property, or in newspapers as fugitive runaways or targets of anti-Black violence. Their lives are often recorded by the people and institutions that underfed, overworked, tortured, and murdered them. It is often the perspectives of their enslavers and abusers that shape scholarly understandings of their lives. Archaeologically, cemetery sites provide an alternate record for scholars to explore the past lives of African American people. One that has been created by Africans and their descendants.
On pages 113-114 of your dissertation, I was introduced to an African by name of Gullah Jack. He was purchased by the merchant Zephaniah Kingsley. I was fascinated because the story took an unexpected turn. Plus, his name sounds so tough. We need a Gulla Jack movie! What is his story?
Gullah Jack is a legendary rebel. Zephaniah purchased an African man from the coast, who later became known as Gullah Jack. When he purchased Gullah Jack, Kingsley noticed that he adorned himself with various objects and carried a pouch. Kingsley thought that he might be a medicine man — which is a very powerful person. In captivity, Jack kept all his charms and amulets and wore them openly on Kingsley’s plantation. When the Seminoles attacked Kingsley’s estate in 1812, Gullah Jack disappears from Florida. Zephaniah lists Jack as killed or stolen property because of the attacks (and probably collected insurance for him). Gullah Jack later reemerges in the historical record as an African conjurer in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1822, he was tried and hanged as a co-conspirator in the orchestration of a revolt along with Denmark Vesey.
When Hollywood runs out of movies to make… I think you will see a lot of directors and production companies start to turn to history. Black history is remarkable.
What was your favorite course during your grad years and why? Who was the professor?
It was an independent study I did with Dr. Michael Blakey — The course was basically a study of Black Intellectuals and their scholarly contributions to anthropology —–most anthropologists don’t get that in graduate school.
Michael Blakey (PhD, University of Massachusetts-Amherst) is a biological anthropologist at the College of William & Mary. He works at the intersection of human biology and culture, including the bioarchaeology of the African Diaspora. Dr. Blakey is National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology, Professor of American Studies, and Director for the Institute for Historical Biology and the Remembering Slavery, Resistance, and Freedom Project.
If you were to add one course to your Ph.D. curriculum, what would it be and why?
Black Feminism — because we don’t get enough of Black women writers and thinkers. Black women have been involved in Black liberation since the country’s inception and many of the writers and intellectuals in this space have done it in ways that center marginalized people within Black liberation movements, from Emancipation to Civil Rights, to the Black Panthers, to BLM… Black women, girls, trans, and queer folk are often an afterthought. As a collective, we give less attention and protection to these members of our community.
Black feminism makes us rethink how we participate in Black liberation. If liberation is only for some of us, then we aren’t pursuing liberation, we are chasing privilege. Black feminism makes you ask: What does a world where Black women and girls are and feel safe, look like? What does a world where Black trans women get to live to an old age look like? — have I thought at all about the experience and issues impacting these members of my community when I am advocating for Black equity and Black freedom?
You were part of many organizations. I won’t put you on the spot and ask which is your favorite. What is the importance of joining these entities as a scholar?
It is important to be active in the community on all fronts, community service, scholarship, all of it. It makes these things more accessible to the community and the next generation of scholars. My archaeology is in service of the community —- and it always will be, that means I signed up to be a resource for my community.
As mentioned before, I don’t know any black archaeologists. In your most recent youtube video, you discuss a little of that. (Looking forward to more video content to share.) Of all the archaeologists and anthropologists you have come across, what percentage would you say are black or black female? Why do you think the percentage is so low?
I think we might be around 7-10% now, it is low because archaeology isn’t accessible. There is a lot of gatekeeping that goes on in this field and very little support. It can be a tough field to survive in — for many African American kids that make it to college— especially first-generation college students, we are going to pick a field that has a guaranteed paycheck, doctors, lawyers, nurses…I don’t blame them, for Black women in particular —- we are already embedded in a network of people that depend on us…historically archaeologists were mostly white, wealthy, and male…they had the time and resources to travel.
Brittany’s youtube page – The Black Archaeologist
I am the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in anthropology from The College of William and Mary — I graduated in 2019. Historically, this field marked Black and Brown folks as the other, and we are still grappling with that today. When I was first made aware of our low numbers in grad school it didn’t surprise me. The field was designed so that I could be studied…not so that I could be the scientist doing the studying.
Being the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in anthropology from such a prestigious institution as The College of William and Mary is amazing and no small feat. I wondered if Brittany had someone else in her family with a Ph.D. “I am the first one on both sides,” she responded.
Describe a tough day during your schooling. What did you do to get through?
I won’t throw a pity party for myself …but I will say every tough day ended in Champagne, Hot wings, and Tupac…
What did you look for in your doctoral advisors?
I looked for people who were experts in areas that I wanted to address in my dissertation. West African Culture, Jacksonville History, Ethics and Theory, 20th Century African American History. I went to each of them for different things and different chapters during my writing process.
From 2011 – 2015 you were a teaching assistant. What do you think can be done to improve the experience of teaching assistants?
The pay —most grad students are poor, enrolling in grad school often means you are signing up for poverty. Even if schools aren’t willing to pay more, providing housing can often help offset costs.
If you were to give three study tips what would they be?
- Set a routine and stick with it.
- Figure out how you learn best and do what works for you.
- Focus on the big picture. Usually, that is a degree. Accept that failures are a part of the learning process; at some point, you will fail. It is how you recover that determines your overall success.
Since 2018 you’ve been an Assistant Professor of Anthropology. Should everybody take an introductory course in anthropology? What’s the benefit?
I think everyone should spend time self-reflecting, challenging their own assumptions, and learning about other cultures. I think anthropology does a lot of that but there are other ways to do it, reading books, community events, and programs. College credits aren’t always affordable or practical.
Archaeological Method as Decolonization was the title of one of your talks this year. What role do indigenous people play in this?
Native scholars have helped to shape how I view a “decolonial project”. So often members of settler colonial nations will say they want to “decolonize” the field —- and continue to sidestep Indigenous community voices, issues, and knowledge frameworks within archaeology. I also think that sometimes scholars of Indigeneity and of the African Diaspora end up talking past one another. While the plight of African Americans and Indigenous people do differ, there is so much overlap in how we practice anthropology…and when we think about Black liberation as a part of a decolonial project— we can’t forget there are Black people who also exist as tribal members of Indigenous communities. It is important to reference Native scholars and their work.
You work with the slave wrecks project. Can you share a little bit of what that is about?
The Slave Wrecks Project is housed at the Nation Museum of African American History and Culture. It is an international network of researchers and institutions that use maritime archaeology, and historical research to explore sunken captive African shipwrecks. I am currently a diver on this research team.
One of the reasons I selected you as one of the features is because you are a public scholar. I wouldn’t have found you if you weren’t. You have an Instagram page called @theblackarchaeologist. I love the unique layout you have for it. What was the intent behind the creation of it?
I love pouring through old photographs — it was one of my favorite things to do as a kid, I would go through my parents’ old polaroid photos and learn about who they were before they had me. I could see family members I had never met…it really helped me to connect with my roots as a kid, and I grew to love the aesthetic of the polaroid. I wanted my page to have the same feeling when people came to visit it — like they were pouring through an album.
On your IG we are introduced to a scholar with her hair did and makeup on fleek. I wanted to capture a bit of that in my picture selections. Are people surprised when they find out that you are an archaeologist? What do they expect an archaeologist would look like?
I know that I don’t have the aesthetic of an archaeologist, I like long nails, high heels, dresses, lashes, and jewelry. I love makeup and fashion — people expect me to look like what they consider to be academic. No makeup, nails unpolished, flat shoes, oversized shirts, and pants. There is no reason for me to look like that outside of the field. When I first started teaching, I got so many comments about my aesthetic — I just started to have fun with people’s assumptions. I would sit in the back of the class with a book bag and watch students come into the class, listen to what they thought Dr. Brown would be like as an instructor, and how they thought it was odd he taught Black feminism…shoot sometimes I even joined in their conversations. Then I would get up and walk to the front of the room and welcome everyone to class — the looks on their faces were always priceless.
Visit the University of Michigan’s Museum of Anthropological Archaeology’s Facebook page. Brittany was invited to give advice to those thinking of teaching anthropology.
I wish I was a fly on the wall for those conversations with students. You have a good amount of diving material on your IG. What was your first diving experience like? When did you learn to swim?
I learned to swim when I was little, I swam in pools, lakes, rivers, and the ocean. But the first time I got to breathe underwater was incredible. My first dive was in a quarry, it was fresh water and closed in. Nothing bigger than koi fish in there. I loved it.
You are a lover of poems. Do you write poems? What is your favorite poem?
I don’t write poetry but I do love poems. I have a favorite poet, Warsan Shire — basically anything her pen touches is a favored poem.
What is your favorite dish?
I LOOOOOOOVE any type of pasta dish. If I had to choose— macaroni and cheese
What are the must-have products for your 20c hair?
Castor oil and TGIN hair care.
Who makes the best lip gloss?
Fenty beauty hands down.
What is the last book you read that you would recommend and why?
Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle by Katherine Mckittrick. I highly recommend this read. It’s so beautifully written, and the way this author explores place and space is breathtaking.
Katherine McKittrick (PhD, York University) is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Black Studies at Queens University. Her area of research is in “black studies, anti-colonial studies, and critical-creative methodologies” (QU website). She can be found at her website and on Twitter as @demonicground.
Are there any projects and/or organizations that you are involved with that you would like the community to be made aware of?
The National Association of Black Scuba Divers!
Brittany Brown, pleasure to have you.