Foundation of an Enslaved Family's House

In 1980, archaeologists excavated this building foundation. These rocks are all that is left from a slave dwelling, a small one-room log house where an enslaved family was forced to live. 

When archeologists studied this place, they found a tiny seashell buried underneath this house: a cowrie shell. These shells were often collected on the beaches of the Indian Ocean, and they were traded into western Africa. For thousands of years, many different communities in West Africa have used these shells. Cowries were traded as currency, worn on clothing or jewelry, or celebrated as emblems of royalty, wealth, or femininity. 

Although we may never know exactly how this cowrie shell came to Stagville, an enslaved West African may have carried this shell when they were forced onto a ship and enslaved in North America. On the long, brutal journey across the Atlantic Ocean, maybe they held onto this shell as a reminder of home. Someone might have secretly kept this shell with them, passing it on to their children or grandchildren, until eventually it came with their family to Stagville. 

James Curry, enslaved nearby, remembered hearing childhood stories about his African ancestors. He wrote: “I had always heard it talked among the slaves, that we ought not to be held as slaves; that our fore-fathers and mothers were stolen from Africa, where they were free men and free women.”

In captivity, it could be difficult and dangerous for an enslaved person to speak a West African language, or openly practice a West African religion. Despite these risks, this shell is a powerful reminder of how enslaved people carried their African heritage and identity with them.