New Philadelphia, Illinois, was founded in 1836 by Frank Mc Worter, a Kentucky slave who purchased his own freedom and then acquired land on the prairie for establishing a new—and integrated—community. Mc Worter sold property to other freed slaves and to whites, and used the proceeds to buy his family out of slavery. The town population reached 160, but declined when the railroad bypassed it. By 1940 New Philadelphia had virtually disappeared from the landscape. In this book, Paul A. Shackel resurrects Mc Worter’s great achievement of self-determinism, independence, and the will to exist. Shackel describes a cooperative effort by two universities, the state museum, the New Philadelphia Association, and numerous descendents to explore the history and archaeology of this unusual multi-racial community.
Table of Content
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
1. The Settlement of New Philadelphia
2. Expansion and Decline
3. It Was Never Lost
4. From Grass Roots to a National Movement
5. The First Field Season
6. Race and the Illusion of Harmony
7. The Apple Festival and National Significance
8. Family Reunion and Division
9. Three Generations of Building and One Hundred Years of Living in New Philadelphia
10. A Case for Landmark Status
11. Some Thoughts, but Not the Final Word
Appendix
References
Index
About the author
Paul A. Shackel is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. He is the author and editor of many books, including Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement (with Barbara Little).
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