UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff TTeennnneesssseeee,, KKnnooxxvviillllee TTRRAACCEE:: TTeennnneesssseeee RReesseeaarrcchh aanndd CCrreeaattiivvee EExxcchhaannggee Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2005 PPaatttteerrnnss ooff TTrraauummaattiicc IInnjjuurryy iinn HHiissttoorriicc AAffrriiccaann aanndd AAffrriiccaann AAmmeerriiccaann PPooppuullaattiioonnss Christina Nicole Brooks University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Anthropology Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Brooks, Christina Nicole, "Patterns of Traumatic Injury in Historic African and African American Populations. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2005. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/1801 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Christina Nicole Brooks entitled "Patterns of Traumatic Injury in Historic African and African American Populations." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology. Murray K Marks, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Andrew Kramer, George White Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Christina Nicole Benton Brooks entitled “Patterns of Traumatic Injury in Historic African and African American Populations.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology. ______Murray K Marks______ Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: ____Andrew Kramer_______ ____George White_________ Accepted for the Council: _______Anne Mayhew_______ Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original Signatures are on file with official student records.) Patterns of Traumatic Injury in Historic African and African American Populations A Thesis Presented for the Master of Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Christina Nicole Benton Brooks August 2005 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my husband, Kenric Brooks, a great support throughout this endeavor and in my life, my children, Joshua Brooks and Averie Brooks, who are my motivation to excel, my granny, may she rest in peace, who always “knew” I would be someone great and motivated me to be the best that I can be, my parents, Betty Benton and John Benton, for always believing in me, inspiring me and encouraging me to achieve my goals, and my sister, niece and nephew for all their help along the way. ii Acknowledgments I wish to thank all those who helped me complete my Master of Art degree in Anthropology. I would like to thank Dr. Murray Marks for his guidance and encouragement throughout this process. He taught me invaluable skills during this process that I will carry with me both personally and professionally. When I veered off course in my writing, he always pulled me back on track and offered his expert advice and opinions, for which I will always be grateful. My thanks also go to Dr Raymond Hall and Dr George White in the African and African American Studies department, who offered me different perspectives and remained patient throughout this process. I would also like to thank Dr Andrew Kramer for serving on my committee. Lastly, I would like to thank two important people in my life, whom without, none of this would have been possible. My husband Kenric endured a lot while I juggled school, the household, and our two-year-old son. Thanks to him for his continued love and support. My mother, Betty Benton, who is the reason I have made it this far. She emphasized the importance of education and instilled in me the drive and discipline necessary to come this far. She never let me settle for second best, and for this, I will be eternally grateful. Thanks to her for her continued faith in my abilities and being a super role model in my life (both academically and personally). iii Abstract For my master’s thesis project titled, “Patterns of Traumatic Injury in Historic African and African American Populations,” I examined trauma incidence in American slave and free populations. The objectives of this study were (1) to present frequency and distribution analysis of injuries in each sample, (2) to create cross tabulations to show similarities and differences in each site and compare these results to between, (3) interpret the frequency and distribution of injuries from a cultural aspect, to better understand the violence and physical demands endured by American slaves and freeborn African American. Most of the skeletal samples used in this research have been reinterred. Therefore, this research is based off the observations and interpretations of researchers and data found in published papers. Unfortunately, during the time when most of these remains were examined there existed no universal research method when analyzing skeletal material. Each researcher used his or her own method for analyzing remains; some being more detailed then others. Because of this, this study contains basic information about each site including: site name, total number of individuals examined in each site, total number of individuals observed with fractures, total number of fractures observed in each site, sex of the individuals, which bone(s) were injured, if the injury occurred ante or peri mortem, which are slave communities and which are free populations. Whenever possible a mechanism such as accident, violent encounter or occupational-related injury, was assigned to each injury. iv For this study trauma was defined as dislocations, fractures, muscle pulls, blunt force trauma and puncture wounds. All bones were examined. There has been a lot of research attempting to reconstruct historic African American lifeways in anthropology. Most of this research consists of analyzing overall health of the populations studied. This study is important because there is not a lot of research specifically on trauma analysis of slave and free populations that discuss the physical demands of slavery as well as slave mistreatment. Due in large part to small sample sizes and fragmentary conditions of slave and African American skeletal series available for study, there is no effective means to measure the biological brutality of slavery. This study is intended to evoke interest in trauma studies in historic African and African American populations. As more studies of trauma in African American populations emerge, more comparisons can be made resulting in important questions being answered about the past. Studies of trauma distribution and frequency patterning in African American populations are essential for addressing questions about human adaptation to physical, environmental, and social constraints. v Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction ……………………………………………….……….……….1 Chapter 2 Enslaved African American Biohistory…………….……………...……….7 Chapter 3 Trauma Analysis and Biocultural Anthropology…..…………..…..…….20 Chapter 4 Materials and Methods………..……………………………………………30 Chapter 5 Results………………..……………………………………………………..32 Chapter 6 Discussion...…...………………………….…………………………………56 Chapter 7 Conclusion…….…………...………………………………………………62 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….65 Vita………………………………………………………………………………………76 vi List of Tables Table Page 1. Historical African American skeletal series………...………………………..6 2. Number of individuals and number of individuals exhibiting trauma…….....32 3. Location of trauma from slave sites………………………………………….38 4. Location of trauma from free sites……………………...……………………43 5. Location by mechanism in free sites…………………………………………46 6. Location of trauma from all sites frequency of location…...…....….………..48 7. Injuries by bone and site………………………………………..……………49 8. Percent of individuals with traumatic injuries in each site…………………..50 9. Injuries by sex in slave sites……………...….……………………...………..50 10. Injuries by sex in free sites …………...….…...………….…...………….…..50 11. Frequency of injuries by sex for all populations……………………………..50 12. Sex of injured individual by bony element….…………..……………...……52 13. Mechanism…………………………………………………….……………..52 14. Frequency of trauma in slave and free populations…………….……………53 15. Peri/ante mortem…………………………...……………………...…………54 16. Distribution of trauma in relation to body region in slave sites………….......55 17. Mechanism in slave sites crosstabulation…...………………...……..………57 18. Mechanism by slave site crosstabulation…...……..…………...……….……57 19. Peri/ante mortem (all sites)…………………………………..………………58 20. Total number of injuries compared to region of body…...……..……...…….58 vii