What We Do
Our Mission:
To restore recognition and dignity to the people affected by the convict lease system in Tennessee, through a holistic, fact-based recounting of their experiences of incarceration.
The Tennessee Convict Lease Project and the Lone Rock Stockade Archaeological Project are both directed by Camille Westmont, Ph.D., RPA
What We’ve Achieved
Community engagement through organized Transcribe-a-thons, public tours, and public archaeology events
Undergraduate education opportunities through guest lectures, publications, and class activities
Engagement with descendants and African American stakeholder groups
Research training through archaeological skill building and collections-based research
Recorded and publicly available lectures about the history of the stockade
Future Goals
Additional excavations at the Lone Rock Stockade, prioritizing a shovel test survey of the entire stockade site
Entering artifacts into the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery to increase dissemination of data
Greater co-creative and collaboration with descendant community
Identification of descendants
Increased capacity building within the local stakeholder community