ABSTRACT-Vine Street Report

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ABSTRACT
In April and May, 1990, John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA) conducted an archeological data recovery project at Tenth and Vine Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the site of a former cemetery used by the First African Baptist Church between 1810 and 1822. The archeological excavation of the cemetery (Site Number 36 PH 72) and subsequent laboratory analysis was performed by IMA as a subconsultant to Michael Balcer, Jr., Inc. and Gaudet & O’ Brien Associates/Urban Engineers, Inc. as part of the Vine Expressway (I-676) Construction Project, undertaken by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The purpose of the data recovery project was to mitigate any adverse effects of construction activities on significant archeological resources along the Vine Expressway Corridor. The goals of the anthropological analyses of the human and material remains from the site were to: 1) document the biocultural responses made by the members of the congregation to the socio-economic stressors and acculturative factors that affected their lives; 2) report the results of the various studies made of the history, biology, and mortuary practices of the individuals buried at the cemetery; and 3) document the formation processes through which the site was transformed from a rural cemetery on the edge of the city into an intensely developed 19th century urban enclave and finally a major thoroughfare.

The skeletal remains and funerary arti fac ts of 89 African-American individuals were recovered from the site, including 56 adults (38 females and 18 males) and 33 infants and children. Associated with the earliest free African-American Baptist congregation in Philadelphia, the well-preserved remains yielded information on demography, health quality, prevalence of disease and trauma, patterns of physical stress, and levels of nutritional adequacy for a group of people about which little historical documentation exists. Analysis of burial practices reflected the incorporation of Christian mortuary traditions into the African American funerary rite, while the limited use of ornamental coffin hardware provided a material link between the funeral industries in England and Philadelphia during the early 19th century. A paucity of
material remains found with the interments and the use of simple wooden coffins for burial indicated the marginal economic position of this segment of early Philadelphia society, the osteological signatures of which included early onset of osteoarthritis in females, poor dental health among all sex and age subgroups, high frequencies of periostitis among both adults and children, and a high frequency of lesions related to poor nutrition in the remains of the children.

The historical development of the Church was found to reflect the attempts by early African Americans in Philadelphia to establish their own identity within an Anglicized society and to foster social institutions that supported African-American self-sufficiency and social cohesion. Biographies of the 13 founding members of the Church were reconstructed from Census data and other contemporaneous records, which also revealed details of the history of the Church after it lost its cemetery property at a sheriffs sale in 1822.

The Tenth Street First African Baptist Church Cemetery Project is reported here as the successful result of a partnership between public agencies, private companies, archeologists and physical anthropologists, and members of the descendant community. Religious and social concerns were considered equally along with scientific perspectives throughout the entire decision-making process, and an intensive educational outreach program was instituted to involve members of the Philadelphia community in the project. An Oversight Committee of professional anthropologists was formed to guide the analyses of the human remains, while the current Church congregation was actively involved in decisions regarding the types of analyses performed and preparations for reburial of the human remains. The project served to
demonstrate the benefits of such a partnership in terms of increasing knowledge about our past and engendering a modern African-American identity, while also illustrating the potential of historic cemeteries to yield information about American social history and the urban experience unavailable from other sources.

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A Distinct Church of the Lord Jesus”: The History, Archeology, and Physical Anthropology of the Tenth Street First African Baptist Church Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Site Number 36 PH 72, Vine Expressway (1-676), L.R. 67045, ER# 82-0133-101-W Prepared for Gaudet & O’Brien Associates/Urban Engineers, Incorporated 300 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106-1193 and Department of Transportation, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Engineering District 6-0, 200 Radnor-Chester Road, St. Davids, Pennsylvania 19087. By Thomas A.J. Crist, Reginald H. Pitts, Arthur Washburn, John P. McCarthy, Daniel G. Roberts, with Contributions By Molly A. Hickey and Rashid M. Humphrey, John Milner Associates, Inc., 1216 Arch Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107. 1996

[Due to its size, this report is not accessible directly online at this time. Please contact the PAF web Master at pljeppson@gmail.com to request a copy be emailed.]


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