The Pryor Center Presents lecture series began the 2025 fall season with 'The Valley Plantation Project' with archeologist Matthew Rooney on Thursday, Sept. 25, at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History.
The Valley Plantation Project was a multi-year, multi-component research project resulting in a microhistory of African Americans who lived on a single plantation in southeast Arkansas between the 1820s and 1950s. Matthew Rooney of the Arkansas Archeological Survey used archeological fieldwork, archival research, genealogy, and oral history interviews to tell the stories of multiple generations of enslaved people and later sharecroppers who migrated to Arkansas. Rooney will discuss how he identified key informants and descendants who helped him interpret their history and safeguard their legacy. Oral history components of the project are available on the Pryor Center website.
Matthew Rooney is a station archeologist and assistant professor of anthropology for the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s research station in Monticello. He has conducted fieldwork in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. His research focuses on colonialism in the southeastern United States with great emphasis on collaborating with descendants and other affiliated communities. Rooney is currently the board president for Preserve Arkansas, a trustee for the Arkansas Historical Association, and an associate editor for the Southeastern Archaeological Conference.
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
