Interview with Terrance Weik
Discipline: Archaeology
October, 2005

Q: Why is it important to tell the stories of Black Seminoles and maroons in Florida and elsewhere?
A: It's very important because the story hasn't been told for so many years. I think one of the lessons that anyone can take away from this history is that no matter what the odds are or how much you are outnumbered, or how you don't have some of the weapons or perhaps the skills to have full control over your situation, there were people who faced those challenges.

Some people overcame their obstacles. Whenever and wherever people were faced with slavery, some rebelled against it, and some succeeded. That's really a tremendous accomplishment, given what people were facing.

With regard to Angola, people need to understand that repression and exploitation work, in part, because people go along with it, with what they think they are offered. People tend to settle for what they have in front of them, perhaps because they don't have a lot of information or haven't taken that first step to find an alternative. Angola illustrates that there are alternatives that are definitely not the easy road. Many people do not take that road, but many do, and some succeed.

Histories like that of Angola, are an important lessons in survival strategy: they were self-sufficient, they were able to communicate across lines of language, culture and politics. They were able to grow their own food, build their own houses. How many of us can do that today? What happens if we run out of gas or the grocery store closes (laughs)? People are thinking about that more and more, with the gas crisis and the recent hurricanes.

Q: What do you feel your experience and insight have to bring to the Looking for Angola research?
A: One perspective is that I have been doing archaeology of Africans rebelling against slavery for many years now. What it has taught me is to have patience with how long it takes to do such research. It's not like we're going to find pyramids and treasures of gold.

The treasures we find are much more modest, very interesting nonetheless, but on a much smaller scale. It's given me an appreciation for how patient you have to be, how careful you have to be, and how some of the nuances in the earth make all the difference. It's a matter of being in the right place, asking the right questions, and even knowing what to look for.

The same, I think, holds for the documentary record. Now that I'm looking back at the earlier questions that I had with different eyes and doing a lot more reading, I think, "What sorts of inferences can I make?" and it can be frustrating.

So I'm learning that we have to be patient in seeking these sites out. The odds are that we can look for years before we've found it. That may make it more difficult to find funding, depending on where you look. When you get funding you've got to come up with something. That's been a great challenge for me. People are really excited in the beginning of such a project, but it's only the people who are willing to stick with it for a number of years, who will turn this into a product that you can really get something out of.

Just think of the Fort Mose work, that took many years, but it's a perfect example of how a team built collaborative research, and that's why that project was so successful. So I think that I can bring an appreciation of how long and how hard this research can be. Also, I've been thinking a lot about how we can theoretically conceptualize the establishment, transformation and the perpetuation of these communities: behaviors, interactions and processes that brought about these communities. These are things I hope I can bring in.

Q: How will your involvement in the Looking for Angola project further your ongoing research?
A: One of the things that intrigues me, looking at the maps, is how far south into the peninsula people were willing to go to remain free. Another fascination is comparing Fort Mose, where you had Africans allied with Europeans; Pilaklakaha, where you had Africans allied with Native Americans, and Angola. These folks seem to have disregarded the issues of proximity and alliance and sort of went off on their own and left the safe haven of alliance. I think that is really interesting, that they were willing to go out there and take such a risk.

I think part of it was due to the nature of Florida at the time, it was a sort of frontier region. Also there were opportunities to interact economically with the Spanish fishermen and people from the many nations who were plying around the Caribbean and nearby waters at the time. It will be interesting for me to see what having access to the sea meant in a strategic way for their survival. I'm interested in how to conceptualize defense and economy in a place where you had the advantage of a seaport.

It seems like this group was more independent and autonomous in many ways, than groups in the interior of Florida. Of course there was plenty of diversity there, but rather than looking at some of the more hybrid models of Seminole and African interaction, that I would expect in interior Florida, I would be looking more at more of a model of Inter-African and African-African American cultural contact. It's a nuance that affects diversity, the fact that they were out there on their own. My general impression is that they seem less plugged in to their Native American neighbors and allies, than the interior groups.

Q: What are the implications of those differences for the expected material culture? How might the artifacts of Angola and Pilaklakaha be similar? How might the material culture of the two communities differ?
A: I think it will be different in terms of material evidence of integration and engagement with Native Americans. I would expect that there would be a larger percentage of the Seminole brushed and sand-tempered pottery at a place like Pilaklakaha versus Angola, where I would expect to find less Native American pottery, and more European ceramics.

I'd expect creamwears, pearlwares, annular wares, ironstone ceramics. That's one of the biggest ways I think the two assemblages would probably differ. I think there would be a lot of overlap in other categories of artifacts, though: beads, arms and ammunition, metal earbobs, tiny intricate adornments, things like that.

Q: Did the residents of Angola have ties to other maroon communities in Florida? Were there comings and goings between, say, Angola and Pilaklakaha?
A: That's an interesting question. I think there probably were, especially during the crisis of abandonment at Angola, when they were under attack. I think it's entirely plausible, given that protection was offered by more interior sites, such as the Withlacoochee Cove sites. I'll be interested to see if there is evidence of family ties or personal linkages among the various communities.

The documentary record is probably the most promising for documenting that. Lists of names before and during the Seminole Wars may shed some light. I think that the documentary record will reveal evidence of people moving all about the peninsula during those times. There is already clear documentary evidence of linkages between Pilaklakaha and the Alachua communities, and I think we will find other instances as well. It's a matter of finding specific evidence and thinking about what kinds of evidence would help us to see such a link.

I think the artifacts are a challenge, because of course, they don't speak for themselves. It may be the more personalized objects such as stylistic links in pottery, for instance, that would help us start making inferences about linkages between the people of Angola and Africans elsewhere in Florida.

Q: What will your role be in the Looking for Angola project?
A: I'm really new to this project, so I'm trying to figure out ways in which I can be of benefit. Certainly trying to formulate important research questions and theories is something I hope to help with. I'd like to provide encouragement for folks to persevere, no matter what they find or don't find, and of course I'd like to be on the ground when fieldwork is going on. I hope to help the team spend as much time on the ground trying to locate this site, as we do in archives. I'd also like to look at how using oral histories as evidence can contribute to our understanding of the past.

Q: Are there specific questions that you are hoping to ask of the material record, when Angola is found?
A: I'll be interested to know if there are, indeed, differences in proportions of Seminole versus English ceramics, between Angola and Pilaklakaha. That would allow me to make inferences about how politics and economics shape the material assemblage of a given site.

Another fascinating question is, "What would a group of Africans, newly escaped from slavery, do, when they stopped running?" What decisions would they make about where to settle, building houses, etc? You have to have a long term vision of your survival or else you will quickly disappear as a group. I'd be interested to see how they made their society work by making decisions about agriculture, opportunistic commerce, arms and defense, protection from slave raiders and other issues that would affect their long term survival as a group.

Q: Is there anything else our readers should know?
A: I certainly hope that people become interested in looking for these types of sites. There's so much more work to be done.

I think that it is crucial for people to explore not only themes such as this; resistance and succeeding against the odds, but also to learn of such things that exist in their own family histories. You just never know what you are going to find when you begin to explore your own history.

It's clear to me that people have so much to bring to Angola's history as well. The more eyes and ears we have out there, the more successful we will be in learning this history. It's important to have a public component of such research. I really learned a lot from people when I traveled and spoke to different groups in Florida during my research on Pilaklakaha. Different people have different experiences and bring things to the story, as well as evidence.

I think the story of Angola speaks about people overcoming the odds and prevailing despite enormous challenges. It's a story that people can connect to, even today.