The 2026 Tom Twomey Series continues at the East Hampton Library on Thursday, February 26, at 5:30 PM, with “Uncovering the Past: Archaeology at Sylvester Manor.” In this engaging lecture, Dr. Nedra Lee will share discoveries about the lives of enslaved and free people of color who lived and worked at Shelter Island’s historic Sylvester Manor.
At historic Sylvester Manor, a non-profit on Shelter Island, archaeology has been used to highlight and preserve the rich history of Black and Indigenous people in the state over roughly 400 years. This work has done more than make history visible on the landscape; it shows how Africans, Europeans, and Native people have transformed the world around them and created a complex and interconnected history that still shapes our lives today.
Nedra Lee examines the intersection of race, class, sex, and gender in the lives of African Americans in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. She has previously studied freed Black landowners in Texas but has recently partnered with the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research to oversee archaeological excavations of the historic Boston-Higginbotham House on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts and Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island. Dr. Lee has received funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Texas Historical Commission and previously worked for the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the City Museum of Washington, DC.
Visit tomtwomeyseries.org for more details.