Tirzah Anderson

Afro-Indigenous Worldmaking in the Midst of Death in Indian Territory and Oklahoma, 1890s-1930s

This project maps Afro-Indigenous autonomy and worldmaking during and after federal land allotment in Indian Territory and Jim Crow Oklahoma between the 1890s and 1930s. Focusing on child and infant death, the project unearths how Afro-Indigenous families contended with loss and resisted land commodification. Using allotment maps and archival sources created in the early 20th century, the project visualizes Afro-Indigenous communities and their lands. Ultimately, through the support of the Center for Digital Humanities, the project uses GIS mapping to exhume Afro-Indigenous families’ alternate landscapes from legal archives created to disinherit them from their lands.