“Our Silence Will Be More Powerful Than Words Could Be”: The Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument, Archaeology, and Commemorative Authority

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Abstract

In 2016, the Illinois Labor History Society invited archaeologists to help locate an 1892 time capsule at the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument in Forest Home Cemetery near Chicago. The monument marks the burial site of seven men convicted after the 1886 Haymarket bombing. Historic and contemporary cemetery visitation and the deposit of meaningful artifacts produce a lively and dynamic landscape of commemoration and memory. Although the excavation uncovered many of these commemorative artifacts, popular focus remained on recovering the capsule for its symbolic link to labor history. Tensions between best archaeological practices and desires of labor activists for the material relics of Haymarket became paramount and led us to rethink the ways these highly emotional and significant collaborations might be understood. We examine the sustained interest in Haymarket’s foundational moment in labor history and its commemorative landscape, with attention to the stories activists tell, the silences archaeology reveals, and the forms of solidarity forged through community-led archaeological practice.

Publication Title

International Journal of Historical Archaeology

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