Industrial Slavery at Arcadia Mill: An Historical and Archaeological Investigation

Thomas, Rylan Nathaniel (author)

2014

A thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities The University of West Florida In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Arcadia Mill was an antebellum industrial complex located in Santa Rosa County, Florida. As was common in West Florida, the owners utilized African American slaves as the mill’s primary labor force. During the summers from 2009 to 2011, archaeologists excavated a residential area which they suspected was occupied by part of the mill’s slave population. Utilizing a variety of archival sources, including slave manifests and purchase records, this thesis provides a new demographic history of the slave population and shows how the population changed shape as industrial production grew. Combined with historical records, the archaeological analysis provides a clearer understanding about who may have occupied the site and, as industrial slaves, what their material living conditions were like.

uwf:23178