Partnerships (Higher Education and Training)

In 2022 the PSCA and the UA Department of Anthropology partnered to provide educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students studying archaeology through an archaeological field school hosted at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery. In 2024 the UA Department of Gender and Race Studies believed that the PSC would be an ideal site to focus its courses on the topics of local histories of slavery and emancipation and the preservation of African American history and memory. The Department met with the PSCA who believed that a partnership would further support its goal objectives of education and fostering community awareness. Therefore, in February 2024 their partnership was established.

In addition, in 2024 the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 100 (Northport, Alabama) contacted the PSCA to see if there was a possibility for Troop 100 to use/visit the PSC to further its outdoor activities and training (committed to improving their environment) which are core to the Scouting's mission. The PSCA agreed to host Troop 100 and the Troop is participating in clean-up efforts periodically to support their outdoor activity/training requirements. See more details regarding each partnership below.

UA Department of Anthropology

The field school provided students with hands-on training in:

archaeological surface pedestrian survey
the documentation of archaeological features,
archaeological photography,
advanced mapping (i.e., digital total station and RTK-GNSS), and
shallow geophysical perspective (i.e., electrical resistivity, ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction, and magnetic gradiometry).
The success of the partnership/ collaborative field school was noted in the Tuscaloosa News in 2023 and 2024. In addition, some of the data collected was recently published by the UA students, faculty, and the PSCA in a special issue of the academic journal Archaeological Prospection(Sea et al. 2023).
The PSCA.PSC will continue to host the UA archaeological field school, and other archaeological classes, serving as a local "laboratory" where students can continue to gain hands-on experience in archaeological methods and collaborative practice.
Sea, Claiborne D., Patricia Kemp, Rachel Cajigas, and Elliot H. Blair 2023 Collaborative Multimethod Geophysics at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery, Northport, Alabama. Archaeological Prospection. DOI: 10.1002/arp.1919

UA Department of Gender and Race Studies

The Department of Gender and Race and the PSCA established their partnership in February 2024.

The Department's class series will include an undergraduate course, "History, Memory, and Performance," in the Spring 2025 semester.
The course will be paired with a Public History course, offered the same semester, and will consider live, embodied performance as a mode of writing, engaging, and communicating history to the public, using the PSCA documentation and the PSC as a focal site of interpretation.
The Department hopes to support the PSCA's goal of honoring the memories of the Prewitt family ancestors and educating the community about their legacies and the burial ground.
The Department believes the PSCA/PSC will provide an incredible educational opportunity for the students.
It will also allow the University to contribute to the PSCA's preservation effort via supporting clean-up days, as a service to an African-descended community in Alabama which is a core facet of the African American Studies program.

Boy Scouts of America - Troop 100

Northport, Alabama

The Boy Scouts - Troop 100 will be periodically hosted by the PSCA/PSC in support of their core Scouting mission. Troops 100 first visit is scheduled for April 2024.

PREPARED. FOR LIFE.