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| Craig Lukezic |
At the January 14 CCASM Zoom meeting Craig Lukezic told of four sites along with three different stories related to African Americans that were in Delaware during the eighteenth and early nineteen century. One site involved a house built by a free black person. One site was at Wildcat Farm that was owned by Quakers who were involved with the Underground Railroad. The farm also provided a few houses in which free blacks resided. Another story was about the son of a free black man who had become a Quaker. The middle aged son was kidnapped and taken to Maryland where he was sold into slavery and sent to the South. We know about this because of the trial where it was determined he was actually free. And the final story was about the Cannon/Johnson Kidnapping Gang in Sussex County that as its name implies kidnapped free black people and sold them into slavery down South. The two rails in the title refers to the one rail that goes north to freedom and the other rail that goes south to slavery.
And, of course, Craig talked about some of the archaeology done at the these sites by the Archaeological Society of Delaware and by students from Delaware State University .
Craig Lukezic is the Cultural Resource Program Manager in NAVFAC at the Pautuxent River Base. Previously he was the historical archaeologist for the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. Craig also has served as the president of the Archaeological Society of Delaware and taught at Delaware State University.
