This project considers the gap in theorizing the hidden labor of Black women in the seldom-researched setting of urban slavery. The project unearths the hidden labor of Black women by analyzing architectural, primary, and secondary documentary evidence surrounding the urban antebellum Hugh Craft House site in Holly Springs, Mississippi. It draws on household and Black feminist archaeology theories to uncover the hidden labor in the domestic spheres that the enslaved women were actively shaping. Research methods included reviewing archival footage; site visits; examining primary sources; and consulting secondary sources on antebellum households, household archaeology, and Black feminist archaeology. This research finds that the layout and architecture of the site were designed to give Black women restricted and hidden access to the main house. It also shows that although the Craft family and descendants still relied on Black labor, after the Civil War, the expectations for their labor were different
