WEBVTT - Alexandra Jones: Archaeologist and Educator 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.200 If we were to just stop and actually learn about 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:11.639 our neighbors, learn about their culture, learn about the wonderful 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.560 things that make them different, and appreciate those differences, and 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.560 celebrate those differences, and celebrate in a way where it's 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:20.880 part of our collective narrative. I think we will be 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.200 a much better global society to live in than what 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:32.080 we are today. That was archaeologist Alexandra Jones telling why 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:37.159 her discipline, which looks back in time, is so important today. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.880 I'm Alan Ververe and this is Seneca's one Women to Hear. 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.120 We are bringing you one hundred of the world's most 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:51.320 inspiring and history making women you need to hear. Alexandra 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:56.080 Jones is an historical archaeologist and educator who teaches at 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:00.680 Goucher College in Maryland, and her academic work, Dr Jones 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:05.120 focuses on the African diaspora and how Black communities have 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:10.120 been affected by development or lost to history. She is 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:15.479 also founder of the nonprofit Archaeology in the Community. Listen 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.959 and learn why Alexandra Jones is one of Seneca's Women 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:27.960 to Hear. I'm speaking today to Dr Alexandra Jones, an 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:32.520 historical archaeologist and educator and the founder of archaeology in 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.920 the community. Dr Jones, Welcome. We're so delighted to have 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.080 you with us. Thank you very much for having me now. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.280 You're an archaeologist who teaches at Goucher College in Maryland, 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.280 and one of your interests is in covering the history 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.200 of African Americans and enslaved people in this country. How 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.120 does archaeology help us understand the past as well, I 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:59.440 might add, the present. So archaeology is a tool that can, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.760 you know, eyes to basically plug the holes where history 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:08.560 has left people out. Um Oftentimes history is the recording 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:16.000 of those in power, um men, people who are very wealthy. 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:20.280 And what you don't seem oftentimes in these documents when 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:24.720 you go to libraries archives are the stories of the 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:29.480 everyday person, of the person who is doing the mundane, 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:34.760 of children of minority groups. And so what makes archaeology 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.720 is so amazing is that it actually makes history polly 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.160 vocal and it gives voice to people who otherwise have 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.560 been silenced. But you're able to find them through the 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.720 dirt and through the artifacts and the objects that lay 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.800 left behind. I imagine this is not such an easy 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:57.640 undertaking or the challenges involved there's a lot of challenges. UM. 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.320 When we think about archaeology, often time people think of 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.760 just professors going out excavating and kind of doing um, 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:10.799 you know, great adventurous sort of things. In actuality, it's 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:17.239 a very expensive undertaking that's very time consuming, and oftentimes 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.520 the general public doesn't know what exactly archaeology is and 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.760 how exactly we can help them in their current lives 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:29.240 and sometimes in their actual current struggles. And so we 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.839 are often faced with that challenge of explaining what we do, 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.400 explaining how we can be utilized, in explaining the power 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.120 of our actual field. Well, I know you've also written 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:45.520 about how historic African American communities are endangered by urban 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.760 development and road building, and we often read stories about 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:53.640 the controversies that are created by these undertakings. I know 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.960 you've got a particular interest for cemeteries. Why is it 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:01.360 so important to preserve these semiitary areas well? I think 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.840 when we think about communities and we think about ourselves 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.040 and you know how we got here, what we're doing, um, 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.120 part of that or an extension of our community rather 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.200 is our cemeteries, Um, this is the legacy of the 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.480 people have come before us. This is the place where 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.640 they rest. Oftentimes how they've been created and who created 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:26.400 these sacred spaces often have their own backstories. And so 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:31.360 in preserving cemeteries, what we're actually doing is preserving the 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.400 foundations of a lot of communities were preserving memory, and 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.839 we're doing that through a landscape sort of form where 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.920 you can go to this place and and remember and 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:46.280 reminisce on um the phenomenal acts that everyday people did 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.080 in order to get us where we're at today. So 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.799 how does Gibs and Grow figure into this? What's happening 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.440 there and what is your role in that? So? Gives 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:03.160 and Growth is a African American community that was established 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.880 in the late eighteen hundreds UM, and it was founded 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.960 and started by Sarah and Robert Gibson. And what came 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.560 about in this community is a number of other African 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:19.760 Americans purchased property UM from a gentleman and they purchased 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:24.280 it along Sunderlocks Road in Montgomery County, Maryland. And in 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:29.080 establishing this community UM, what they also did was they 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.120 established everything that they would need to survive and thrive 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.440 because everywhere else around them very much it would segregated. UM. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.440 It wasn't open or welcoming to them, so they created 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.599 their own church, they created their own school that was 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.840 named number ten. And one of the things about this 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.400 is Gibson Grove is located on locked tin of the 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.719 Sanno Canal. But it was also ten African American families 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.479 who originally purchased property along here. So they started that, 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.120 and then they started a fraternal order and this was 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.760 Morning Start Tabernacli number eight. And this was a chapter 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:11.080 of a larger fraternal organization that existed on the East Coast. 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:13.680 And the reason why this was so important was this 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.799 paternal society was also a benevolent society, and benevolent societies 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.680 for African Americans during this time operated much in the 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.960 way that insurance companies operate for US, where if anybody 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:30.120 in the community became sick, they would pay for doctors visits, 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.520 they would pay for the burials of people, they would 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.679 pay money out to the families UM or the orphan 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.960 children to take care of them um after the depth. 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.400 So it's all of these um sort of things similar 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:45.160 to what we think of when we think of life 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.520 insurance that wasn't open or available to African Americans. So 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:53.400 they start their own organization that served that purpose. And 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.720 in doing that, the order established a cemetery and they 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.000 had a meeting lodge where they would meet. They would 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.440 have political meetings, they would sometimes have other religious leaders 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.480 come and visit and talk to them. They had social gatherings, 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.560 but all around the back portion of the hall um 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.520 was a cemetery where they buried everyone in the community. 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:19.240 And what we're now saying and what's coming up now 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.200 is that in the sixties, um if if you ever 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:25.280 refer there as a book called The Color of Law, 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.800 and it talks about the federal government and how the 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:34.160 federal government sought to expand our infrastructure and strengthen our infrastructure. 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.320 But they did it by creating roads through colored in 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.800 African American communities. So they were intentional about this. So 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:44.720 one of the things people don't think about is when 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.040 you move a community, when you come in and do 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.840 imminent domain and you pay them, you know, minimal amounts 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.920 for their land and move them away, oftentimes what you 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:58.520 aren't doing is moving the cemeteries and gifts and growth 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.679 is very much a uh situation where you see that happen, 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.000 where the highways split the community and the church is 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.720 actually on one side, and then the hall and the 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:13.560 cemetery is on the other. As time continued, by destroying 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.440 a community in this way and paying people because there 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.480 were property owners in between that by paying community members 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.440 to leave, what you end up happening is destroying a community. 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.600 And so what we've now seen is that everybody is 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:29.960 quite excited about the infrastructure bill and the fact that 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.000 we're going to fix up our roads and our highways, 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:36.079 but we don't. And uh, kind of the back side 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:38.280 of this is the same roads that initially in the 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.040 sixties cut through communities are actually gonna cause further damage. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:48.160 So for this particular community, Um Morning Start Tabernacle number 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:52.960 eight is actually advocating for the highway not to be 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:57.679 expanded any further because it directly runs into the actual cemetery, 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.640 Which means that this place, that this resilient community of 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.520 people who had nowhere else to go, who were self sufficient, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.959 who created all these wonderful things, are now going to 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.440 be disturbed in death as some of their descendants were 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.320 disturbed in life by having them to be forced and 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:20.960 moved out of the me senecas one hundred women to 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:34.199 hear will be back after the short break, so Gibson growth. 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:38.960 Today the cemetery is intact, but it's divided by seven 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.600 Locks Road and the church is separated from it on 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:44.479 the other side of the road. Is that what I understand? 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.000 So the church and morning starts to have ancro number 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:54.160 the cemetery. Both of them run along seven Locks Road 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.160 and the highway actually by Sex seven Locks Road, so 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.079 it goes right across. There's like a bridge that was 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.000 across the lots and on one side of that bridge 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.360 as the church, and on the other side is the 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.880 Order of Moses um and Morning Star cemetery and actual 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.640 hall structure. So this is a really important perspective you have, 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:19.280 especially as you discussed in terms of having new, very 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.640 needed infrastructure repairs occurring, but to do that in a 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:27.439 way that doesn't destroy what these communities represented and still represent. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.320 So how did you get interested in archaeology as a child? 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.640 Were you a junior Indiana Jones or was there some 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:39.120 other motivation? So actually, for me, um, I became introduced 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:44.080 to it in college. My um mother worked at the Smithsonian, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:45.960 so I grew up as a child of the museum, 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.400 So I would say united the Museum was my real 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.679 life experience as a little person, I'm running around after 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:56.040 hours in the Smithsonian museums. However, I didn't actually learn 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.800 about archaeology and what it does in the role we 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.520 can play until I got to college and I took 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:06.400 a course per my mother's suggestion. She thought anthropology would 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.840 be amazing for me, and upon doing that is when 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.920 the light bulb came up, came on and I discovered 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.360 archaeology and recognized that all of the benefits and this 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.960 is truly what I wanted to do because the idea 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.959 of being the first person and a hundred, sometimes thousands 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.679 of years to touch an artifacts since the original person 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:30.000 placed it there, it's extremely exciting to me and it 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.520 is truly fascinating and the influence again of the parent 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.560 in all of this, seeing your mom so involved in 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:40.320 in museum work at the Smithsonian. So tell us about 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.600 archaeology and the community. When I introduced you, I mentioned 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.520 that you were the founder of this nonprofit. What does 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.800 it do? Archaeology and the Community is education nonprofit and 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:55.280 it has three problematic goals, one to teach you about 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.920 archaeology to professional development, and three which is general over 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.440 all community programming. As it relates to archaeology UM, and 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.000 this came up because again I am a child of 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.840 d C. I do live in the shadows of the Smithsonian. However, 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.040 the one thing that I noticed was there were no archaeologists. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.000 They didn't come out to classrooms. We never learned about 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.120 what an archaeologist was in school, and I thought this 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:25.880 was a huge disservice. Going to graduate school at Berkeley, 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.680 I saw all of the archaeologists from campus go out 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.280 and go into schools and talk to students, and it 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.319 was guaranteed every semester that they would have the ability 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.640 to you know, exchange and talk with an archaeologist. But 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.120 I recognized in my own community there wasn't that, and 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.920 so I just made it my mission to change that 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.480 so that kids could have the ability to go to 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.400 school and to know that there's an archaeologist. And not 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.319 only is there an archaeologist, but there's one who grew 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:55.480 up here in d C, who you know, does the 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:57.760 same thing and goes to the same places and kind 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.280 of hangs out and culturally has the same back brown 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.679 as them as well. So I'm here in d C 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.360 as well, and I'm wondering, what's it like when you 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:10.040 go into the classroom as an archaeologist to explain to 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:15.280 the students about archaeology and about this community. It's amazing. Um, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.840 I'm a teacher at heart, so for me it's kind 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.880 of like my second home being in a classroom with children. 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.679 But to see the light bulbs go off, we need 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.560 to start to explain what archaeology is, how it works, 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:30.800 what are the cool things you get to do, the 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:32.800 things you can define, the fact that you don't have 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:37.000 to go to a office, you work outside. Just kind 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.000 of explaining all of like the wonderful aspects of it, 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:44.880 and then how it also fixes problems because oftentimes when 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.760 people think of archaeology, they only think of textbooks and 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.320 things that you read about where the movies, But they 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:54.040 don't also think that we work in real time as 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.880 social justice advocates, and we advocate for present communities in 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.640 highlighting what their past is and um, where they came from, 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:06.560 the importance of remembering and maintaining that past to not 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.679 only them, but to the States and then also nationally 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.240 for our national kind of just history and understanding of 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.480 as as a complete nation. Well, you know, kids always 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:22.440 have an interesting perspective, whether it's an archaeology or any 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.040 number of other things. Have there things that have surprised 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.720 you by virtue of what they've said to you or 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.560 what you know they've learned. For me, I think I'm 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.760 always surprised when I get the student who's asked one, now, 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:37.960 I want to be an archaeologist. I think mostly that 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:40.160 that that lets me know that I did my job right. 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.680 But I've had students tell me before, like, I don't 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.440 look at things on the ground the same as I 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.440 used to because I understand that somebody put it there, 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.400 or it could be something that came, you know, from 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.800 long ago, or that it has meaning um to everyone. 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.360 So just to have a child start to restructure the 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.080 way that they see their lived environment and start to 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:09.800 look at it differently from art two pictures to structures 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:14.720 to just dirt um, that in itself is just truly amazing. 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.600 And it surprises me when I do get those comments, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.080 because again, I mean, you like to believe as a teacher, 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:22.320 all you know all of your students are listening to you. 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.320 But I think it's truly amazing when they make a 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.960 comment that lets you know they really hit home and 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.400 they are paying attention. But it must still also be 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:35.160 so reinforcing in terms of validating what you're achieving with 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.400 archaeology and the community that it really makes a difference. 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:42.840 Do you mostly focus on elementary school age or beyond? 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.000 So we cover elementary all the way theater college UM, 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.960 and so with the elementary and high school students it's 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.520 a little bit different. Elementary it's more introductory UM, explaining 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.880 the different sides of archaeology, doing hands on projects and 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.880 introducing them. Our high schools sudents are field schools where 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.400 they're actually getting out at a site and getting dirty 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.120 and learning how to do the process of archaeology. And 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.560 our college students it's how to interact and talk with 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.440 the public and the community, and how to create innovative 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:18.440 community programs. So, by working with all of the age groups, 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.280 were kind of keeping the process going of creating really 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.920 great global citizens who are really thinking creatively about our 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.800 past and how we tell those stories. Well, you're certainly 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.480 doing that and working in this field. It must also 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:38.119 give you a long term perspective on life and current events, 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.400 a different kind of perspective given what's going on in 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:45.280 our world, how do you see things visiviate the lens 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.760 of archaeology. I think the study of archaeology. Archaeology is 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.080 the subdivision of anthropology, which is the study of humans 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.840 and just human culture UM. And the one thing I 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:02.720 think that's constantly reinforced to me is that xenophobia has 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:04.480 always been at the root of a lot of the 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.439 problems that we have within the world. And if we 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:10.560 were to just stop and actually learn about our neighbors 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.880 and learn about their culture, learn about the wonderful things 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.120 that make them different, and appreciate those differences and celebrate 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.800 those differences and celebrate in a way where it's part 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.600 of our collective narrative, I think we would be a 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:29.240 much better global society UM to live in than what 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:33.600 we are today. Well amen to that. I'm always sad 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:35.800 when we run out of time, which we have come 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.560 to at this point. But I really want to thank 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:43.560 you Dr Alexandra Jones for what you're doing using your 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.679 great skills and experience in archaeology to uncover the history 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.360 of African Americans and enslaved people in this country, and 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.520 also what you're doing to interest young people in our 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.320 country on the ways that archaeology makes a difference, and 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.359 they can make difference if they pursue that career. So 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.399 thank you so much for being with us and for 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.919 all that you do. Thank you very much for having me. 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.560 What a different perspective we get in our history by 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.720 talking to Dr Alexandra Jones. Here are three things I 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:23.600 took from that conversation. First, Dr Jones is bringing to 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.600 light the stories of forgotten African American women and men. 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:33.639 As Dr Jones says, archaeology makes history vocal and it 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:39.200 gives voice to people who otherwise have been silenced. Second, 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.640 it was exciting to hear Dr Jones tell why archaeology 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.480 can be so meaningful. She described the thrill of being 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.760 the first person to test something that had been placed 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:57.400 by another person a hundred or a thousand years ago. Finally, 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:02.960 Dr Jones reminds us that knowledge can bring understanding between people, 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.000 and as we learn about the people who came before us, 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.440 we can appreciate their differences and bring them into our 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:16.560 collective narrative. Tune in next week to hear about our 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.840 next featured woman and discover why she's one of Seneca's 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:25.360 one Women to Hear. Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.480 is a collaboration between the Seneca Women Podcast Network and 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.000 I Heart Radio with support from founding partner PNG, Have 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.800 a great day.