The First Black Archaeologist

A Life of John Wesley Gilbert

The First Black Archaeologist
John W I Lee
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Hardback
h235 x 156mm - 432pg
1 Apr 2022 US
9780197578995
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An inspiring portrait of an overlooked pioneer in Black history and American archaeologyThe First Black Archaeologist reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert became a nationally known figure in the early 1900s, but his achievements are little known today. Using evidence from archivesacross the U. S. and Europe, from contemporary newspapers and journals, and other previously unknown sources, this book invites readers to join Prof. Gilbert on his remarkable journey. As we follow Prof. Gilbert from thesegregated public schools of Augusta to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta' s Paine Institute, to his travels across the U. S. and Europe, and his arduous eight-month mission in the Belgian Congo, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and gain a better understanding of the racism, poverty, and violence that Gilbert struggled against. Readers interested in the earlydevelopment of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first fifty Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Thoseinterested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading hidden figure of the late 1800s-early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience. His emphasis on inter-racial cooperation remains inspiring today.
Rescues a pioneering Black scholar from obscurity in this intriguing biography. . . . Lee meticulously pieces together the fragmentary records of Gilbert' s life to highlight his extraordinary commitment to ' interracial cooperation' at a time of worsening racism in the South. The result is an informative addition to the history of Black education in America * Publishers Weekly * The First Black Archaeologist is a riveting narrative, weaving threads of post-Reconstruction racism, conflicts, and religious commitment into a revealing tapestry of personal success and interracial cooperation. * Bishop Othal Hawthorne Lakey, Retired, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church * In the 1885 inaugural issue of The American Journal of Archaeology, John Izard Middleton was hailed by Charles Eliot Norton as ' the first American classical archaeologist. ' Now thanks to John W. I. Lee' s deeply researched and beautifully written biography, we can learn about the first African American to work in the same field and publish in the same journal. This was John Wesley Gilbert whose life is an index to his era. * Michele Valerie Ronnick, Wayne State University * A revelatory read. John Lee' s well-written, meticulously researched biography of the largely forgotten Black archaeologist, John Wesley Gilbert, shows that Gilbert, usually known for his trip as a missionary to the Congo under Belgian rule, was one of the most important figures of Greek archaeology in early-twentieth-century America. Lee shows us a more nuanced, transgressive Gilbert, whose mastery of the Greek language, archaeology, and classical education made himan American anomaly. Lee' s biography excels most in its almost daily tracking of this fascinating New Negro, as he trips through Greece, the Congo, and the minefields of Jim Crow higher education in America. In the process, Lee creates a template for studying Black scholars in terms of thedisciplines they mastered, not simply the disciplines that have come to dominate Black Studies. * Jeffrey C. Stewart, author of the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning biography The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke *
John W. I. Lee is Associate Professor of History at the University of California at Santa Barbara. His previous publications include A Greek Army on the March (Cambridge University Press) and The Persian Empire (The Great Courses/The Teaching Company).
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780197578995
Published: 1 Apr 2022
Published In: United States
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Format: Hardback
Height: 235mm
Width: 156mm
Pages: 432

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