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Md. Dig Seeks Proof of 1st Free Black Community.
EASTON, Md. — Archaeology students have been sifting through a little patch of ground on Maryland's Eastern Shore this summer, seeking evidence that it was home to the nation's first free African-American community.
Historians say hundreds of free blacks once lived in the area, while plantations flourished with hundreds of black slaves not far away.
Currently, the Treme neighborhood in New Orleans is recognized as the nation's earliest free black community, dating to 1812. Archeologists at the University of Maryland and researchers at Morgan State suspect the Easton neighborhood known as The Hill may predate Treme by two decades or more.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/07/27/us/ap-us-black-community-excavation.html?hp
