Anthropological study explores black communities in the heart of the metro
Associate Professor Ben Carter worked with students and descendants to document part of Six Penny Creek, a settlement that was home to about 50 people at its peak around 1870.
Posted by: Megan Kita Monday, February 19, 2024 1:40 p.m.
Michaela Zahner '24, Emma Teske '25, and Associate Professor of Anthropology Ben Carter worked in this field last summer.Photo credit: Todd Lineberger
About an hour from campus, French Creek State Park is home to the remnants of Sixpenny Creek, a small rural black community that was once the heart of the metro. Associate Professor of Anthropology Ben Carter began learning about this community in 2020, when the pandemic forced him to cancel most of the “field” components of his field archeology classes. Students were spread across multiple states and learned remotely. He hosted his three-option field trip to French-His Creek State Park. This park was chosen because of its high density of charcoal furnaces (structures once used to burn wood into charcoal) and the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, where students can see steel furnaces. This was due to its proximity to the location. Why not try your hand at building a charcoal furnace?)
As he studied maps in preparation for his class, he came across a map that marked the “colored settlement” of Sixpenny Creek among several properties named after white owners. Ta. — Thousands of acres of vast forest [used for producing charcoal during the 1800s] says Carter, who has studied post-industrial charcoal lands since moving to the Lehigh Valley in 2004. I have no knowledge of black history. I didn't understand why they would bond. The rather obvious erasure of individual names and the fact that the area became just a “colored village” made me not only aware of this, but felt the need to do more. ”
Michaela Zahner ’24 and Emma Teske ’25 Recorded at their home in Sixpenny Creek, summer.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the Cole family, some of the residents of Six Penny Creek, own and continue to live on parcels of land there. He mentioned this to his students during his 2020 tour of French-His Creek State Park, but Sixth he Penny said he would return the following spring to learn more about the history of the Creek. I took a vacation. He spent time reading about Pennsylvania's black history and learning more about the place.
Carter found that the community peaked around 1870, when nearly 50 people lived there. Coles' land includes a garage that was once a Methodist Episcopal (AME) church founded in 1856, and Coles notes that AME churches were often turned into subway stops. I knew. He also found evidence that larger areas of charcoal land were also part of the system. They are vast tracts of land, difficult to navigate for those unfamiliar with the land, and dotted with huts used by miners, or people who made charcoal. — Easily house people temporarily. This helped explain that there were many black settlements near the charcoal belt.
“Many of the people who were alive [in Six Penny Creek] He might have left. They could have moved to Canada. They stayed because they wanted to help others. ”
—Ben Carter, Associate Professor of Anthropology
The next step was to contact the Cole family, which Carter did in mid-2021. Since then, he and his students have continued to work at French-His Creek State Park and continue to survey the settlement. During field archeology in fall 2022, Michaela Zahner '24 discovered the foundations of a home belonging to a black man named Levi DeHart. Last summer, Carter, Zahner, and Emma Teske ’25 worked to document his home in more detail. They plan to share their findings with the Coles in the near future.
“This isn't my history, and to be honest, black history hasn't been covered very well by white scholars,” Carter said. “We get [the Cole family’s] Feedback on what you think should happen next. They are in the driver's seat. ”
Carter at the site of Levi DeHart's home last summer.
Professor Carter says students are often surprised when they learn about Sixpenny Creek and the community that supports it. He says American history tends to downplay the experiences of Black people in the North during the Civil War, especially those living outside of cities, and the story of the subway. The focus is often on white abolitionists.
“Many of the people who were alive [in Six Penny Creek] He might have left. They could have moved to Canada. They stayed because they wanted to help others…There aren't many stories about how the Black community supported each other,” Carter says. “Black history is all around us. It's there if you look for it, so we need to look for it more.”
To learn more about Carter's work, check out this article he wrote for the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation. Also, read his “Statement of Commitment to Black History” here.