Archaeologists digging at Malcolm X’s boyhood home in Boston to learn more about activist’s life
The house was designated a city landmark in 1998 because it’s the only known dwelling from the outspoken activist’s formative years in Boston still standing.
Archaeologists are digging at a boyhood home of Malcolm X in an effort to uncover more about the slain black rights activist’s early life as well as the property’s long history, which possibly includes Native American settlement.
The two-week archaeological dig began on Tuesday outside a two-and-a-half-storey home in Boston’s historically black Roxbury neighbourhood that was built in 1874.
City Archaeologist Joseph Bagley said his office chose to dig up the site because it’s likely that work will be needed soon to shore up the foundation of the vacant and run down structure.
“This is kind of a now-or-never dig,” he said. “If we don’t do this, the site will be destroyed. We can’t afford to wait.”
Among Tuesday’s early finds was a large piece of fine porcelain that Bagley says was likely part of a dish set owned by the family of Malcolm X’s sister, which still owns the house.
“We’re literally just scratching the surface,” Bagley said as he and volunteers used a sifter to carefully pore over mounds of rubble on a side yard.