Lunch Club provides affiliates of the Stanford Archaeology Center with a community-oriented forum for engagement with current issues in archaeology. On May 28, 2025,  we will host Dr.Anna Agbe-Davies from  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Abstract:

As researchers become more critical about the distinctions among phenomena we call "sexuality," "gender," "sex," etc., we are better equipped to reflect on what precisely can be known or learned about any and all of them. This paper asks what archaeological analysis might contribute to an understanding of life in the Pauli Murray Family Home in Durham, North Carolina, ca. 1900-1950. Specifically, given what the archival record reveals about Murray's sexuality, how can an archaeologist frame meaningful questions that produce new knowledge about Murray, about their family, and about life in the first half of the 20th century?