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CURRICULUM VITAE
Full Description
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: Michael L. Blakey Date: 1 July, 2025
Office Address:
Institute for Historical Biology
Department of Anthropology
112-113 Washington Hall
91心頭利
Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8795
E-mail: mlblak@wm.edu
Phone - Institute for Historical Biology (757) 221-7681/FAX 221-7682
POSITION
National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies and American Studies; Founding Director, Institute for Historical Biology 91心頭利
EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy, Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1985
Master of Arts, Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1980
Visitor, Department of Biological Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK, 1980
Life-Events Instrument Training, Bedford College, University of London, UK, 1980
Bachelor of Arts, College of Liberal Arts, Howard University, 1978
PREVIOUS ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH POSITIONS
Director (2010) and Co-Director (2012-2014), Remembering Slavery, Resistance, and Freedom Project, a partnership of the Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and the College of William and Mary.
Scientific Director, New York African Burial Ground Project, Howard University, 1992-2009.
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Howard University, 1991-2001
Professor of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, 1997-2001
Curator of the W. Montague Cobb Human Skeletal Collection, Howard University, 1989-2001
Visiting Professor of Anthropology, Brown University, 2000
Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Institute for Research in African American Studies, Columbia University, 1997
Associate Professor and Graduate Associate Professor of Anthropology and Adjunct Associate Professor of Anatomy, Howard University, 1989-1997
Research Associate in Physical Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 1985-1994
Lecturer, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington School, 1990-1991
Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dipartimento Di Biologia Animale E Dell’Umo, “La Sapienza,” Universita Di Roma, 1990
Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology, Spelman College, 1989
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Howard University, 1985-1989
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Delaware State College, 1982
Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1981
Teaching Assistant, WEB DuBois Department of African American Studies, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 1979-1980
Teaching Assistant, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Howard University, 1976-1978.
HONORS AND SERVICE
Recipient, President’s Award, American Anthropological Association, for heading The Commission for the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains, Tampa (2024).
Co-Chair (with Deborah Thomas, University of Pennsylvania), The Commission for the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains, American Anthropological Association (2022-2024)
Member, Smithsonian Institution, Human Remains Task Force (2023).
Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence ($20,000), 91心頭利 (2021)
Legacy Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement, Association of Black Anthropologists (2021)
Recipient, President’s Award, American Anthropological Association, “for work on the Lower Manhattan African Burial Ground and Advocacy for Decolonizing the Anthropological Canon,” presented at the Annual Meeting, Baltimore (2021).
Task Force on Structural Racism, American Association for Anatomy (2021-23)
American Association of Biological Anthropology Task Force for the Ethical Study of Human Materials (2021-23)
Discussant, Survey on Curriculum Scope for AP African American Studies, AP Higher Education, The College Board (2021).
The History Makers, Library of Congress accession (2013)
Consultant, the Kontos Well Project, Virginia Commonwealth University (2013-2015).
Recipient, Prize for Distinguished Achievement in the Critical Study of North America, Society for the Anthropology of North America, American Anthropological Association (2012).
Recipient, African American Trailblazers in Virginia History, Library of Virginia (2012)
Member, External Review Committee for Department of Anthropology, American University (2011).
Member, External Review Committee for Department of Anthropology, St. Mary’s College (2010).
Member, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Lincoln Sub-Committee 2010-2014.
Recipient, The Africana Studies Distinguished Public Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award, Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis (2009).
Recipient, Centennial Medal, Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2008).
Member, Scholarly Advisory Committee, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, 2005-present.
Recipient, Elija Muhammad Human Rights Award, African Scientific Research Institute, Chicago (2005).
Presenter, Benjamin Mayes Lecturer, Morehouse College, Atlanta (2005).
Recipient, Certificate of Appreciation , Governor’s School for Science and Technology, Hampton Rhodes, Virginia (2002-2003).
Member, American Antiquarian Society, 2001-present.
Recipient, Enlightenment Award, American Slaves Foundation, Washington, DC, 2000
The United States Representative to the Council of the 4th World Archaeological Congress, Cape Town, 1999
Member, Advisory Panel, African Voices Project/Africa Hall Exhibition, Smithsonian Institution, 1995-1999
Member, Commission to Review the Organizational Structure of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), 1997-1998
Advisor, AAA Statement on Race and 2000 Census, 1998
Recipient, Human Rights Award, Lift Every Voice, Inc., Hollywood, California 1998
Permanent Representative to Washington, DC, African Bureau of Educational Sciences, Organization of African Unity, Kinshasa and Geneva, 1996
Recipient, Black History Makers of Today, McDonald’s Family Restaurants, 1997
Recipient, Service Award, Blacks In Government, Navy Metro Chapter, Washington, 1996
Member, Committee to Revise the UNESCO Statement on Race, American Association of Physical Anthropologists, 1994-1996
Conferee, Doctor of Science (hon.), York College, City University of New York, 1995
Recipient, International Triple C Award for Education, Caribbean Americas Business Network, 1994
Recipient, Legacy Award, New Horizons Award, and Interdisciplinary Cooperation Recipient, Commendation, Division of Academic Affairs, Howard University, 1994
Member, Panel on The Human Genome Diversity Project, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Rockefeller Institute, New York, 1993
Member, Panel on Political-Economic Approaches to Biological Anthropology, Wenner–Gren Foundation, Cabo San Lucas, 1992
Member, Executive Council of the Society for Medical Anthropology, AAA, 1989-1992
Chairman, Taskforce on Graduate African American Studies, Howard University, 1990-1991
Member, Panel on Disorders of Industrial Societies, AAA and Wenner-Gren Foundation, 1988-1991
Member, Commission on the Treatment of Human Remains, 1989-1990, AAA
Coordinator of the Anthropology Program, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Howard University, 1987-1989
President, Association of Black Anthropologists, American Anthropological Association, 1987-1989.
Member, Committee to Revise the Principles of Professional Responsibility and Code of Ethics, AAA, 1987-1988
Honorary Member, Golden Key National Honor Society, 1988
Member, Committee on the Status of Minorities, AAA, 1987-1990
COURSES TAUGHT
Anthropological Reflections of the African Diaspora
Introduction to Biological Anthropology
Biology and Culture
Biocultural Anthropology
Human Skeletal Biology
Bioarchaeology and the African Diaspora
Medical Anthropology
The Construction of Racial Ideology in the US
Race, Biology, and Culture
The Idea of Race
Senior Seminar in Bioarchaeology
Honors Seminar in Evolutionary Anthropology
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
Principal Investigator, grants for public and global engagement, The Commission for the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains (AAA), Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, 2022-2024, $19,000.
Principal Investigator, Belle Grove and Hite Plantations (NPS) public engagement facilitation, 2023-2026, NPS Cooperative Agreement with IHB, $144,00.
Co-Principal Investigator, technical services in skeletal biology and descendant community advisement at (1) Jamestown (with Joseph Jones, PI), NPS grant to IHB, $106,000, continuing.
Principal Investigator, technical services in skeletal biology and descendant community engagement for the excavation of the First Baptist Church on Nassau Street, Colonial Williamsburg, $ 44,155 for the period Jan. 22, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2021, continuing.
Collaborator, The IHB is a collaborator on the University’s NAGPRA inventory reconciliation project with Ashley Spivey (PI), Department of Anthropology (now in the final months of its $89,882 funding for the period of Sept. 1, 2019 through Sept. 30, 2021).
Remembering Slavery, Resistance, and Freedom project $31,000 from W&M, VA General Assembly, and Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (2010-2013).
Guana Project contract $6,400, Colonial Williamsburg project $6,300.
Principal Investigator, African Burial Ground Project, sub-contract of IHB with Howard University, USGSA $80,000 (2003-4)
Director, Institute for Historical Biology, College of William and Mary (funded by the College of Arts and Sciences, 91心頭利, annually $37,500.
Principal Investigator, New York African Burial Ground Project, Howard University (funded by USGSA $5,900,000), 1993-2009.
Principal Investigator, Cobb Collection Curation Project: Phase II, Howard University (funded by the National Science Foundation $177,000) 1992-1995
Principal Investigator, Nutritional Stress, Maturation, and Size in the Cobb Collection (Howard University-Sponsored Faculty Research Grants $7,000), 1991
Principal Investigator, Cobb Collection Curation (Howard University-Sponsored Faculty Research Grants $10,000), 1987-1988
Minority Graduate Student Fellow, National Science Foundation, 1979-1982
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs
In-print:
Blakey, ML. 2026 The Blinding Light of Race: race and racism in Western science and society, Vol. I, Anthropology and Slavery at the Dawn of White Supremacy. Routledge Taylor & Francis Press.
Blakey, ML. 2026. The Blinding Light of Race: race and racism in Western science and society, Vol. II, Racial Segregation and Eugenical Science Between the Wars. Routledge Taylor & Francis Press.
Blakey, ML. 2026. The Blinding Light of Race: race and racism in Western science and society. Vol. III, Unmarking Whiteness and the New Racism. Routledge Taylor & Francis Press.
Refereed Articles
In-print:
Blakey, ML 2025. “The Blinding Light of Race and the Nature Politic” In (A. M. Beliso-de Jesus, J. Pierre, and J. Rana) Anthropology of White Supremacy: a reader. Princeton University Press. 19-30.
Blakey, ML 2024. (accepted) “New York’s African Burial Ground and the Struggle for Human Rights: seeking higher ethical standards in bioarchaeology.” Japanese Journal of Anthropology.
Blakey, ML 2024 “Discussion of the Symposium on Ethics in the Curation and Use of Human Skeletal Remains.” Special Issue on the Ethics in the Curation and Use of Human Remains for Research and Teaching, American Journal of Biological Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24895
Blakey, ML. 2023. “Walking the Ancestors Home: On the Road to an Ethical Human Biology,” Anthropology News. 1-2., January 9.
Sumner, D. Rick, Hildebrandt, Sabine, Nesbitt, Allison, Carroll, Melissa, Smocovitis, Vassiliki, Laitman, Jeffrey, Beresheim, Amy, Ramnanan, Christopher, and Blakey, Michael 2022 “Racism, Structural Racism and the American Association for Anatomy, Anatomical Record 305:772-787.
Blakey, ML and Rachel Watkins 2021 “William Montague Cobb at the Origins of Activist and Biocultural Anthropology.” Special Issue, Anatomical Record (November) 1-11.
Blakey, ML 2021. “Remembering Leith.” Transforming Anthropology 29 (2) 95-101.
Blakey, ML 2021. “The African Origin of Vaccination.” The Thinking Public, March, 21.
Blakey, ML 2020a. “The Fire this Time?” Anthropology Now. 13(3) 39-49.
Blakey, ML 2020b. “Understanding Racism in Physical (Biological) Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology (November) 1-10.
Blakey, ML 2020c. “Archaeology Under the Blinding Light of Race,” Current Anthropology 61, supplement 22, S183- S197.
Blakey, ML 2020d. “On the Biodeterministic Imagination,” Archaeological Dialogues, Cambridge University Press. 27 (1) 1-16.
Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, Lesley. 2016. Political Economy of African Forced Migration and Enslavement in Colonial New York: an historical biology perspective, in D Martin and M Zuckerman (eds) New Directions in Biocultural Anthropology. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Blakey, ML 2014. L’African Burial Ground de New York: d’un secret national a un monument national. Archeologie de l’esclavage colonial. La Decouverte, Paris. 319-346.
Barrett, AR, and Blakey, ML 2011. Life Histories of Enslaved Africans in Colonial New York: a Bioarchaeological Study of the New York African Burial Ground, In (Sabrina C Agrawal and Bonnie A Glencross, eds) Social Bioarchaeology. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. 212-251.
Blakey, ML 2010. Le Projet de Cimetiere Africain: un Paradigme pour Cooperation? Museum International. Paris: UNESCO 245-246: 64-71 (also in English translation).
Armelagos, GJ, Goodman, AH, Harper, KN, and Blakey, ML 2009. Enamel Hypoplasia and Early Mortality: Bioarchaeological Support for the Barker Hypothesis. Evolutionary Anthropology 18:261-217.
Blakey, ML, Mack, ME, Shujaa, KJ, and Watkins, R 2009. Laboratory Organization, Methods, and Processes. In (Blakey, Michael L and Rankin-Hill, Lesley M) The New York African Burial Ground: Unearthing the African Presence in Colonial New York, Volume 1: Skeletal Biology of the New York African Burial Ground, Washington, DC: Howard University Press. 1:49-69.
Jackson, FLC, Mayes, A, Mack, ME, Froment, A, Keita, SOY, Kittles, RA, George, M, Shujaa, KJ, Blakey, ML, and Rankin-Hill, LM 2009. Origins of the New York African Burial Ground Population: Biological Evidence of Geographical and Macroethnic Affiliations Using Craniometrics, Dental Morphology, and Preliminary Genetic Analyses In (Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 69-92.
Goodman, AH, Jones, J, Reid, J, Mack, ME, Blakey, ML, Amarasiriwardena, D, Burton, P, and Coleman, D. 2009. Isotopic and Elemental Chemistry of Teeth: Implications for Places of Birth, Forced Migration Patterns, Nutritional Status, and Pollution. In (Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 95-118.
Rankin-Hill, LM and Blakey, ML, Howson JE, Wilson, SD, Brown, E, Carrington, SHH, and Shujaa, KJ. 2009. Demographic Overview of the African Burial Ground and Colonial Africans in New York. In (Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 119-142.
Blakey, ML, Mack, ME, Barrett, AR, Mahoney, SS, and Goodman, AH 2009. Childhood Health and Dental Development. In (Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 143-156.
Mack, ME, Goodman, AH, Blakey, ML, and Mayes, A 2009. Odontological Indicators of Disease, Diet, and Nutrition Inadequacy. In (Blakey, ML, and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 157-168.
Null, CC, Blakey, ML, Shujaa, KJ, Rankin-Hill, LM, and Carrington, SHH 2009 Osteological Indicators of Infectious Disease and Nutritional Inadequacy. In (Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 169-198.
Wilczak, C, Watkins, R, Null, CC, and Blakey, ML 2009 Skeletal Indicators of Work: Musculoskeletal, Arthritic and Traumatic Effects. In (Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 199-227.
Blakey, ML, Rankin-Hill, LM, Howson, JE, Carrington, SHH 2009 The Political Economy of Forced Migration: Sex Ratios, Mortality, Population Growth, and Fertility among Africans in Colonial New York. In (Blakey, ML, and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds). 255-259.
Blakey, ML 2008 An Ethical Epistemology of Engaged Biocultural Research, In (Junko Habu, Clare Fawcett, and John Masunaga, eds) Evaluating Multiple Narratives: Beyond Nationalist, Colonialist, Imperialist Archaeologies. New York: Springer. 17-28. Re-printed (2010) in R. Preucel and S. Mrozowski (eds) Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism. London: Blackwell Pub.
Blakey, ML, and Barrett, A. 2004. Analysis of Two Human Skeletons from Smith’s Fort. Bermuda Journal of Archaeology and Maritime History 15:48-69.
Mack, ME, and Blakey, ML. 2004. The New York African Burial Ground Project: Past Biases, Current Dilemmas, and Future Research Opportunities. Historical Archaeology 38:10-17.
Blakey, ML. 2001. Bioarchaeology of the African Diaspora in the Americas: its origins and scope, Annual Review of Anthropology 30:387-422.
Blakey, ML. 2001. The Study of New York’s African Burial Ground: biocultural and engaged. In (SS Walker, ed) African Roots/American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas. Lanham:Rowman and Littlefield Pubs. 222-231.
Blakey, ML. 1999. Scientific Racism and the Biological Concept of Race, Literature and Psychology 45:29-43.
Rankin-Hill, LM and Blakey, ML . 1999. W. Montague Cobb: physical anthropologist, anatomist and activist (reprinted from American Anthropologist) In (IE Harrison and FV Harrison, eds) African American Pioneers in Anthropology. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 101-136.
Blakey, ML. 1998a. The New York African Burial Ground Project: an examination of enslaved lives, a construction of ancestral ties. Transforming Anthropology. 7:53-58.
Blakey, ML. 1998b. Beyond European Enlightenment: toward a critical and humanistic human biology. In (AH Goodman and TL Leatherman, eds) Building an New Biocultural Synthesis: political-economic perspectives in human biology. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 379-406.
Perry, W and Blakey, ML. 1997. Archaeology as Community Service: the African Burial Ground Project in New York City. North American Dialogue 2(1) (reprinted as chapter 9 of Lessons from the Past: an introductory reader in archaeology by KL Feder. 45-51).
La Roche, CJ and Blakey, ML. 1997. Seizing Intellectual Power: The dialogue at the New York African Burial Ground. Historical Archaeology 31:84-106
Blakey, ML, Jenkins, S, Jemison, D, and Leslie, TE. 1997. Dental Indicators of Fetal and Childhood Health in 19th Century African Americans. In (LR Sloan and BJ Starr, eds) Pathways to Success. Washington, DC: Howard University Press. 177-194
Blakey, ML. 1997. W. Montague Cobb (1904-1990). In (F Spencer, ed) History of Physical Anthropology: an encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub. 288-289.
Blakey, ML and Armelagos, GJ. 1997. Comment on “Hypoplastic area method for analyzing enamel hypoplasia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 102:295-296.
Blakey, ML. 1996. Anthropological ‘Objectivity’ and the Denial of History. In (JA Ladner and S Gbadegesin, eds) Ethics, Higher Education and Social Responsibility. Washington, DC: Howard University Press. 99-106.
Blakey, ML. 1996. Race, Nationalism, and the Afrocentric Past. In (P Schmidt and T Patterson, eds) Making Alternative Histories. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press. 213-228.
Blakey, ML. 1996. Skull Doctors Revisited. In (L. Reynolds and L. Lieberman, eds) Race and Other Misadventures: essays in honor of Ashley Montagu in His Ninetieth Year. New York: General Hall, Inc. 64-95.
Blakey, ML, Leslie, TE, and Reidy, JP. 1994. Frequency and Chronological Distribution of Dental Enamel Hypoplasia in Enslaved African Americans: a test of the weaning hypothesis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 95:371-384.
Blakey, ML. 1994. Passing the Buck: nationalism and individualism as anthropological expressions of Euro-American denial. In (S Gregory and R Sanjek, ed) Race. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 270-284.
Blakey, ML. 1994. Psychophysiological Stress as an Indicator of Disorder in Industrial Society: a critical theoretical formulation for biocultural research. In (S Forman, ed) Diagnosing America: anthropology and public engagement. Ann Arbor. University of Michigan Press. 149-192.
Rankin-Hill, LM and Blakey, ML. 1994. W. Montague Cobb: physical anthropologist, anatomist, and activist, American Anthropologist. 96:74-96.
Vargiu, R. Coppa, A, and Blakey, ML. 1993. L’ipoplasia dello Smalto dei Denti nelle Necropoli di Campli (Teramo) e di San Marzano (Salerno), Anthropologia Contemporanea 16:345-350.
Blakey, ML. 1991. Man and Nature: white and other. In (FV Harrison, ed) Decolonizing Anthropology Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association and Association of Black Anthropologists. 8-16.
Blakey, ML, Coppa, A, Damadio, S, and Vargiu, R. 1990. Comparison of Dental Enamel Defects in Christian and Meroitic Populations at Geili, Central Sudan. International Journal of Anthropology 5:193-202.
Blakey, ML. 1990. American Nationality and Ethnicity in the Depicted Past. In (P Gathercole and D Lowenthal, eds) Politics of the Past. London: Allen and Unwin. 38-48.
Blakey, ML. 1988. Social Policy, Economics, and Demographic Change in Nanticoke-Moor Ethnohistory, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 75:493-502.
Blakey, ML. 1987. Skull Doctors: intrinsic social and political bias in the history of American physical anthropology; with special reference to the work of Ales Hrdlicka, Critique of Anthropology 7:7-35.
Blakey, ML and Armelagos, GJ. 1985. Deciduous Enamel Defects in Prehistoric Americans from Dickson Mounds: prenatal and postnatal stress, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 66:371-380.
Blakey, ML. 1983. Sociopolitical Bias and Ideological Production in Historical Archaeology. In (JM Gero, DM Lacy, and ML Blakey, eds) The Socio-Politics of Archaeology Research Reports 23, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts. 5-16.
Blakey, ML. 1981. Hypoplasia and Hypocalcification in Deciduous Dentition from Dickson Mounds. In (D Martin and P Bumsted, eds) Biocultural Adaptation: Comprehensive Approaches to Skeletal Analysis. 24-32.
Edited Volumes
In-prep:
Rain, Autumn and ML Blakey. 2026. The African Burial Ground and Beyond: the archaeology of public engagement. Vernon Press.
In-print:
Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM, eds . 2009. The New York African Burial Ground: Unearthing the African Presence in Colonial New York, Vol. 1; Skeletal Biology of the New York African Burial Ground. Washington, DC: Howard University Press. Pp.567.
Gero, JM, Lacy, DM and Blakey, ML, eds. 1983. The Socio-Politics of Archaeology. Amherst: Research Reports 23, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts.
Invited Scholarly Papers (sample of past 30 years)
Blakey, ML 2024 “Whatever Happened to the African Burial Ground Project?” Envisioning Decolonial Futures through Archaeology, Engaged Archaeologies: African and Diasporic Perspectives,” University of Cambridge (Jesus College), UK, October 24.
Blakey, ML 2024 “The Blinding Light of Race,” Armelagos, Kelso, van Gervin Distinguished Lecture, University of Colorado, Boulder, 13 March.
Blakey, ML 2023 “New York’s African Burial Ground and the Struggle for Human Rights: an archaeology of public engagement. Jay Hall Annual Lecture in Archaeology, Queensland University, Brisbane, Australia, 14 August.
Blakey, ML 2023 “New York’s African Burial Ground Project: Seeking Higher Ethical Standards in Bioarchaeology,” Symposium on Ethics (Yoshi Ota, convener), Naha, Okinawa, Japan.
Blakey, ML 2023 “New York’s African Burial Ground: 30 years of effects,” Stratford Hall, Virginia, May 20.
Blakey, ML 2023 “The Blinding Light of Race: race and racism in science and society,” Distinguished Lecture, James Weldon Johnson Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, April 20.
Blakey, ML 2023 “The Blinding Light of Race: Disguising Immorality from Aristotle to Trump,” Duke University, April 3.
Blakey, ML 2022 Panelist, 100 Anniversary of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, September 29-30.
Blakey, ML 2021 Keynote Address (virtual), “Walking the Ancestors Home,” Ethical Futures for Curation, Research, and Training in Biological Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (November 15-17).
Blakey, ML 2021 Keynote Lecture (virtual), “White World Archaeology and Black Lives,” Inter-Congress on Black Lives Matter, World Archaeological Congress (August 31).
Blakey, ML 2021 Participant in webinar panels of Wenner-Gren Foundation and Society of Black Archaeologists on Repatriation (300 viewers) and another under the same sponsorship “Skeletons in the Anthropological Closet:” Museum Collections and the Demand for Principles of Accountability, Part II (May 20).
Blakey, ML 2021 Lecture on “Archaeology Under the Blinding Light of Race,” for the IDEA (Intersectional Discussions for Ethical Archaeology), Archaeological Society and Graduate Archaeology, University of Oxford (virtual, Feb. 16).
Blakey, ML 2021 lecture and webinar discussion of ”New York’s African Burial Ground: 30 Years Later” for the National Museum of African American History and Culture on (virtual, May 8, their 4th most popular presentation).
Blakey, ML 2021 Annual Lecture of the Anthropology Section of the New York Academy of Sciences on “African Diasporic Activist Anthropology and the Democratization of Knowledge” (virtual, Feb. 22).
Blakey, ML 2021 Distinguished Lecture on the Legacy of the African Burial Ground Project, Archaeology Section, New York Academy of Sciences New York, NY (February).
Blakey, ML 2020 Lecture on the international publication, “Archaeology Under the Blinding Light of Race,” Boston University (Nov. 18, 2020) and Exeter University (Dec. 3).
Blakey, ML 2020 Panelist, “Reclaiming the Ancestors: Indigenous and Black Perspectives on Repatriation, Human Rights, and Justice,” Zoom webinar sponsored by Wenner Gren Foundation, Society of Black Archaeologists, Sapiens, and others.
Blakey, ML 2019a Panel Presentations, 50 Years of Engaging Anthropology Conference, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst (October).
Blakey, ML 2019b “African Diasporic Founders of Biocultural Anthropology,” African Studies Association of Africa Conference, Nairobi, Kenya (October)
ML Blakey, Olanrewaju Lasisi and Jessica Bittner 2019c (Presenter and Symposium Organizer), “The Corporal Evidence of Northern Enslavement and its Challenges,” Current State of the Archaeology of Slavery, ASWAD, 91心頭利 (November, 6).
Blakey, ML Panelist, “Working Within Our Own Communities” Roundtable, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver (November 23).
Blakey, ML 2019 “Bioarchaeology at New York’s African Burial Ground as Activist Science,” Fifth Annual Sune Lindqvist Lecture, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, Sweden.
Blakey, ML 2018 “Archaeology Under the Blinding Light of Race,” Conference on Atlantic Slavery and the Modern World, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Sintra, Portugal (small expert panel, papers published in Current Anthropology)
Blakey, ML 2018 Festschrift for Larry Zimmerman, Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC, April.
Blakey, ML 2017 New York’s African Burial Ground, Muscarelle Museum, 50th Anniversary of Black Students in Residence, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, November, 2017.
Blakey, ML 2017 Engaged Anthropology is Better Science, Symposium on Beyond the African Burial Ground…” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November.
Blakey, ML 2017 Activist Scholarship and its Deceptive Shadow, Keynote, Annual Conference on Public Anthropology, American University, November.
Blakey, ML 2017 Now Imagine They Are Human, Center for African American Religion, NMAAHC, Smithsonian Institution, October.
Blakey, ML The New York African Burial Ground, Endowed Lecture, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, March 2017.
Panel Member, 25th Anniversary of the African Burial Ground, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY 9 November 2016
Blakey, ML 2016 Epistemology and Ethics of the African Burial Ground, Beyond the African Burial Ground I, symposium organized by ML Blakey, AR Barrett, and G. Turner, World Archaeological Congress, Kyoto, Japan, August.
Blakey, ML. 2016 Activist Anthropology and Race at the New York African Burial Ground, Harriet Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, Florida, 8 April 2016.
Blakey, ML 2016 The Blinding Light of Race, The New York African Burial Ground as Historical Biology, and Anthropological Reflections of the African Diaspora: How Might We Know Our Future in the symposium on Race, Racism, and the Construction of Black Modernities, IFAN/University Cheikh Anta Diop, West African Research Center, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Dakar, Senegal, 7-12 February.
Blakey, ML 2014 Moderator, panel on interpretation of slavery, St Mary’s College, St Mary’s City, Maryland 2 December.
Blakey, ML 2014 Distinguished Scholar Lectures on Historical Biology of the New York African Burial Ground and Race, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, November 24-25.
Blakey, ML 2014 Keynote on Homo reminiscens, Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, 18 November.
Blakey, ML 2013 Epistemology and Ethics of an Activist Science at New York’s African Burial Ground, Symposium on Archaeology and Politics, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (November 2013).
Blakey, ML 2013 Setting the Stage for Understanding Ancestry of African Americans, The African Diaspora: Integrating Culture, Genomics and History Symposium, Baird
Auditorium, National Museum of Natural History, SI (12 September)
Blakey, ML (2011-13) papers delivered at fetschrift symposia for R. Brooke Thomas, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, 2011, Johnnetta B. Cole, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Franscisco, 2012, and George J. Armelagos, American Association of Physical Anthropologists Annual Meeting, Knoxville, 2013.
Blakey, ML 2012 Human Variation and the Non-Existence of Race, Clemson University, (2012) and Norfolk State University, 1619 Conference Plenary (27 September 2013).
Blakey, ML 2012 Objeto, corpo e memoria social: representagoes passado afro-americanos, Annual Meeting of the Association of Brazilian Anthropologists, Sao Paulo, Brazil (4 July).
Blakey, ML 2012 New York’s African Burial Ground: from National Secret to National Monument, public lectures at the Federal University-Goiania, and the National Museum, Rio de Janeiro.
Blakey, ML 2012 Un cemetiere africain a New York au XVIII siècle: du secret national au monument national, Archeologie de l’esclavage colonial, Muse quai Branly, Paris (May 11).
Blakey, ML 2010 Panel Presentation Commemorating 20th Anniversary of Decolonizing Anthropology (Harrison 1990), American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans.
Blakey, ML 2010 Calling Us Out of Our Name, Newhouse Fellows Lecture, Wellesley College, Boston.
Blakey, ML 2010 African Burial Ground Clientage Model, Annual Public Anthropology Conference, American University, Washington, DC.
Blakey, ML 2010 A Question Regarding the Scope of Discussion, Symposium on The Origins of the African Diaspora in the Historic Triangle, College of William and Mary, 19 March.
Blakey, ML 2009 The New American Racism, Discussion on Race, Congressional Black Caucus forum in honor of 25th anniversary of the Jesse Jackson Presidential Campaign, 18 November, Longworth Congressional Office Building and Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, DC (C-SPAN).
Blakey, ML 2009 The New York African Burial Ground Project: Paradigm for Cooperation?, International Workshop on Heritage and Conflict, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Blakey, ML 2009 Egyptology and Race, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Blakey, ML 2009 New York’s African Burial Ground: from National Secret to National Treasure, Archaeological Institute of America, Houston.
Blakey, ML 2008 Interpretation and Memorialization of the African Burial Ground National Monument (revised title), World Archaeological Congress, Dublin.
Blakey, ML 2008 Paper in Honor of Merrick Poznanski, Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.
Blakey, ML 2008 The Idea of Race and the Nature Politic, address when awarded the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Blakey, ML 2007 The New York African Burial Ground: from National Secret to National Monument, First Frederick Scott Symposium Keynote Address, Johns Hopkins University; Miami University, Ohio.
Blakey, ML 2006, Biological Determinism as Ideology, Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender, Bucknell University; Department of Africana Studies, Brandeis University.
Blakey, ML 2005 The New York African Burial Ground, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota.
Blakey, ML, 2004 Epistemology and Ethics, Symposium on Multiple Narratives in Post-Colonial Archaeology, Society for American Archaeology Annual Meetings, Montreal.
Blakey, ML 2002 Urban Archaeology: An Examination of Slavery and the African Presence in the Northeast. American Museum of Natural History, New York City.
Blakey, ML 2002 The Truth is in the Discussion: Epistemological and Ethical Value of Expanding the Explicit Spheres of Influence and Accountability for Human Biology, 45th Annual Symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology, London, UK
Blakey, ML 2001 The New York African Burial Ground, University of California-Davis, University of Michigan, Norfolk State University, MIT Program in Science and Society
Blakey, ML 2000 Keynote Address, Northeastern Anthropological Association, CUNY
Blakey, ML 2000 Epistemology and Ethics of Public Engagement, Panel on ELSI/Human Genome Project, Kennedy School, Harvard University.
Blakey, ML 2000 The New York African Burial Ground and the Struggle for Human Rights, Villanova University, St. Cloud University.
Blakey, ML 1999 Epistemology for a Humanistic Human Biology: the case of the New York African Burial Ground Project at Howard University, X Coloquio Internacional de Antropologia Fisica “Juan Comas,” Zacatecas, Mexico.
Blakey, ML 1999 The New York African Burial Ground and the Struggle for Human Rights, University of Illinois, Emory University, Vassar College, The Third Eye, Texas, New York University Slave Route Conference.
Blakey, ML 1999 Interdisciplinary Research, Public Engagement, and the New York African Burial Ground Project, University of Pennsylvania, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, National Museum of American History/Smithsonian Middle Passage Conference, Brown University
Blakey, ML, Howson, J, Carrington, S, Hill, MC, Null, C, Keita, SOY, Mack M., Rankin-Hill, LM, and Shujaa, K 1999 Biocultural and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Health and Demography of Africans in Colonial New York, Session on Archaeology, Bioanthropology and African Identity in the Diaspora: Theoretical and Methodological Advances, 4th World Archaeological Congress, Cape Town.
Blakey, ML, Howson, Carrington, S, Hill, MC, Keita, SOY , Mack, M, Rankin-Hill, LM, and Shujaa,K 1998 Biocultural Approaches to the Health and Demography of Africans in Colonial New York,”
Symposium on Rethinking Biocultural Anthropology for the 21st Century,” 14th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, College of William and Mary.
Blakey, ML 1998 The Status of Race in Biological Anthropology, Session on Ethnic Relations: Race and Ethnicity, Part II, ICAES, College of William and Mary.
Blakey, ML 1998 The New York African Burial Ground and the Struggle for Human Rights, Archaeological Institute of America, Long Island, Robert Stigler Lecctureship, University of Arkansas, Loyola University, Chicago, University of California-San Diego, Syracuse University, Blacks in Government Annual Meeting.
Blakey, ML 1998 El Cemeterio Africano de Nueva York: Anthropologia Biocultural y Dialogo Publico, Fifth Congress of the Latin American Association of Physical Anthropology “Louis Montaine,” Habana.
Blakey, ML 1997 Sankofa: The African Burial Ground Project, Archaeological Institute of America, Washington, DC, US Department of State Library, Washington, DC. USEPA, New York, Tuskegee University, Wesleyan University, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institution Baird Auditorium, Millersville University, Unviersity of New Orleans, University of El Paso, Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem.
Blakey, ML 1997 Briefing on the New York African Burial Ground Project, Commission on Human Rights, United Nations, Geneva.
Blakey, ML 1997 Critical, Biocultural, and Engaged: Anthropology for the 21st Century, Presidential Symposium on Integrative Theory and Research in Anthropology, AAA Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
Blakey, ML 1996 Ales Hrdlicka and the Early Years of Physical Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, Anthropological Society of Washington and National Museum of Natural History.
Blakey, ML 1996 The New York African Burial Ground Project: Biocultural and Engaged, Bryn Mawr College, National Museum of African Art, The Field Museum, Central Michigan State University, SUNY- Stoneybrook, City College-CUNY, University of Texas-Austin/UNESCO Conference, Commission on Human Rights, United Nations, Geneva, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Charleston, University of Delaware
Blakey, ML 1995 The New York African Burial Ground Phenomenon. Oberlin College, University of Illinois-Urbana, University of California-Berkeley, Michigan State University, SUNY-Albany, University of Maryland, 10th Congress of the Pan African Association for Prehistory and Related Studies, Harare.
Hill, MC, Mack, M, and Blakey, ML 1995 Women, Endurance, Enslavement: exceeding the physiological limits, Skeletal Biology IV: Women’s Bodies, Women’s Lives: biological indicators of labor and occupation, Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Oakland.
Mack, M, Hill, MC, ML Blakey 1995 Preliminary Observations of the Dental Pathologies of the African Burial Ground Skeletal Population. Paleopathology and Dental Anthropology, Annual Meeting of the AAPA, Oakland.
And others.
Book Reviews
Blakey, ML 2017 Review of Killer Apes, Naked Apes, and Just Plain Nasty People by Richard J. Perry (2015) Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press for American Ethnologist.
Blakey, ML 1996 Review of The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, by Richard Herrrnstein and Charles Murray (1994). New York: Free Press, for Current Anthropology Supplement 37: S155-S156.
Blakey, ML 1989 Review of Ecological Imperialism: the biological expansion of Europe, 900-1900., by Alfred Crosby (1986) Cambridge University Press, for Medical Anthropology Quarterly 3:417-421.
Non-refereed
Blakey, ML 2020 The African Origin of Inoculation, The Thinking Republic, Fulcrum Issue, March 21.
Blakey, ML 2017 New York City’s African Burial Ground, History Now, Issue 49, Gilder Lerman Institute of American History, New York.
Blakey, ML 2006 The New York African Burial Ground, In (Haviland, W, Prins, HEL, Walrath, D, and McBride, B eds) The Essence of Anthropology. Cenage Learning. 265-266 (in multiple languages).
Blakey, ML 1998 Bioarchaeology of the African Burial Ground. In Archaeology by David Hurst Thomas. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 546-547.
Blakey, ML 1998 Michael L. Blakey, Ph.D., Anthropologist. In (P Cummings and L Cummings, eds) Talking With Adventurers. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. 24-29.
Blakey, ML and Armelagos, GJ 1997 Comment on Ensor and Irish, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 102:2.
Blakey, Michael L. 1997. "Past Is Present: Comments on ‘In the Realm of Politics: Prospects for Public Participation in African-American Plantation Archaeology.’” Historical Archaeology 31 (3): 140-45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25616555
Blakey, ML 1996 Forward of Lay Down Body: living history in African American cemeteries by RH Wright and WB Hughes, III. Detroit: Visible Ink, Press. XIII-XV.
Rankin-Hill, LM and Blakey, ML 1993 William Montague Cobb (1904-1990), American Journal of Physical Anthropology (obituary) 92:545-548.
Blakey, ML 1989 The Professional Caucus: place of refuge, source of change, Academe. September-October. 15-18.
Blakey, ML 1989 A Comment on Representation, Notes from the ABA. 14:2-5.
Blakey, ML 1989 The Future of Anthropology, Anthropology Newsletter. 30:7,8.
Blakey, ML 1987 Comment on ‘Toward a Critical Archaeology,” (MP Leone, PB Potter, and PA Shackel) Current Anthropology 28:3.
Blakey, ML 1987 The World Meets to Discuss the Past, Notes from the ABA 13:2-3.
Blakey, ML 1986 Archaeologists and Apartheid, Anthropology Newsletter 27:2.
Blakey, ML 1986 Patricia A. Jones-Jackson, Anthropology Newsletter (obituary) 27:4,9.
Blakey, ML 1985 Black Anthropologists at the Fifty Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Notes from the ABA 11:8-9.
Reports
National Trust for Historic Preservation (ML Blakey, co-author) Engaging Descendant Communities in the Interpretation of Slavery at Museums and Historic Sites: a rubric of best practices established by the National Summit on Teaching Slavery, September 26, 2018, James Madison’s Monpelier, Orange, Virginia.
Barrett, Autumn, Blakey, ML, Amponsah, Edith, Osborn, Meg, Mensah Abrampah Daniellea, Winsett, Shea, Brown, Brittany, Atkins, Ashley, Turner, Grace, Stanier, Linda, Chapman, Ellen, Camacho, Alex, Shumann, Rebecca, and Saunders, Jenn 2015 Remembering Slavery and Emancipation: Results of Community Conversations and Virginia Residents, Final Report to the Virginia General Assmbly’s Martin Luther King, Jur. Memorial Commission, 29 May
Blakey, ML and Crain, C 2011 Analysis of Human Remains Recovered from James Anderson’s Public Armory. IHB Report No. 5, 12 May 2011.
Galivan, MD, Mahoney, SS, Blakey, ML, Moretti-Langholtz, D, Shephard, CJ, Mahoney, MA, Fitzgerald, JA, Hayden, AK, McKNight, JW, Goleneshcheva-Coonan, N, Ogborne, JH, Heinsman, BE, Volbrecht, CM, Heinsman, SE, Burke, PB 2010 The Chickahominy river Survey: Native Communities in Tidewater Virginia A.D. 200-1600. College of William and Mary, Department of Anthropology, Archaeological Research Report Series, Number 2.
Blakey, ML (with Grace Turner) 2008 Institute for Historical Biology Review of the Virginia Department of Historic Preservation Validation and Assessment Report of The Burial Ground for Negroes, Richmond Virginia by CM Stephenson, 25 June 2008.
Mahoney, SS, Barrett, Kostro, M and Blakey, ML 2005 Analysis of Human Remains from Guana Island, BVI, Report No. 4, Institute for Historical Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, September 23.
Blakey, ML and Barrett, A 2004 Analysis of Two Human Skeletons from Smith’s Fort, Bermuda, Report No. 3, Institute for Historical Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, 21 June.
Blakey, ML and Mahoney, S 2004 Report on the Human Remains Recovered from Block 23CB on Colonial Williamsburg Property, Report No. 2, Institute for Historical Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, February.
Blakey, ML and Rankin-Hill, LM 2004 New York African Burial Ground Skeletal Biology Report (Final) US General Services Administration. National Park Service New York African Burial Ground National Monument Website. Pp. 831
Blakey, ML And Mahoney S, 2003 Assessment of Human Remains from Archaeological Site 44Y02, Report No. 1, Institute for Historical Biology, College or William and Mary, Williamsburg, April 28.
Moses, Y, Smedley, A, Blakey, ML et al. 1999 AAA Statement on Race, American Anthropologist 100:712-713.
Blakey, ML 1998 New York African Burial Ground Project Skeletal Biology Report (First Draft), US General Services Administration.
Katz, S, Blakey, ML, Cartmill, M et al. 1996 AAPA Statement on Biological Aspects of Race, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 101:569-570
Blakey, ML 1995 The W. Montague Cobb Human Skeletal Collection and Biological Anthropology Laboratory at Howard University, National Science Foundation, Systematic Collections.
Blakey, ML, Dubinskas, R, Forman, S, MacLennan, C, Newman, KS, Peacock, JL, Rappaport, RA, Velez-Ibanez, C, and Wolfe, AW 1994 Statement to the Profession: the American Anthropological Association Panel on Disorders of Industrial Societies. In (S Forman, ed) Diagnosing America: anthropology and public engagement. 215-312.
Museum, Interpretive, and Ethics Consultancies
Descendant Communities Social Innovation Lab, Smith Center, NMAAHC May 16-18, 2023.
One of three key speakers (with Dan Hicks and Patty Gerstenblith), Ethical Returns: External Consultation 3, to inform heads of branches of the Smithsonian Institution and international participants on ethics of returning diverse objects and ancestral remains.
Collaborator, NAGPRA Compliance Project, Department of Anthropology under National Park Service (Ashley Spivey, Director, 2020-).
Advisor, Public Engagement, Architectural Planning Competition, Africatown, Mobile, AL (April 2019-2023).
Advisor, Angela Site, Jamestown Settlement, National Park Service, 2019.
Participant, Summit on Teaching About Slavery, James Madison’s Montpelier, Orange, Virginia, 2018.
Advisor, Belmont Slave Cemetery Preservation, Leesburg, Virginia, 2017.
Advisor, Moses Cemetery Activism, Macedonia Baptist Church, Bethesda, Maryland, 2016-
Participant, Design process for Museum of Black Civilizations, Ministry of Culture, Dakar, Senegal, 2016.
Consultant, Public engagement process for James Madison’s Montpelier, Orange, Virginia, 2014-
Consultant, East Marshall Street Well Project, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 2012-2019.
Project Specialist for the National Park Service, African Burial Ground Interpretive Center Design/Build Project, New York, NY, 2006-2009.
Member, Scholarly Advisory Committee, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC., 2005-
Member, Panel on Collaborative Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 2008.
Member, Key Advisor Board, Race exhibition and website (understandingrace.org), American Anthropological Association, Minnesota Science Museum, Ford Foundation, and National Science Foundation., 2001-2007
Consultant, Permanent Exhibition on African-American History, Charles Wright Museum, Detroit, MI, 2003-4.
Consultant, African Voices Project, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1994-1997.
And others.
Editorial Boards
Member, Editorial Board, American Anthropologist, 2012-2016
Member, Academic Advisory Board, Annual Editions, Physical Anthropology 2011-12
Member, Editorial Board, Reviews in Anthropology, 2009-.
Member, Editorial Board, Collaborative Anthropology, 2009-.
Member, Editorial Board, Collections: a journal for museum and archives professionals (2004- ).
Member, Editorial Board , International Journal of Cultural Property, 2004 -.
Member, Editorial Board, Critique of Anthropology, 1990-2000.
Member, Editorial Board, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 1992-1994
Media Handling
Podcasts:Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race. Episode 5, 1) Return, Reburial, Repatriate and 2) The African Burial Ground, Science History Institute, Philadelphia, PA., 2023.
Outside/In, New Hampshire NPR, 2024.
Blakey’s projects have been subject of numerous documentary films, electronic and print news interviews (see Google). Press for 2020-23 includes:
- National Geographic, 19, 2020. “The fight to save America's historic Black cemeteries.”
- The Washington Post, 20, 2020. “A Virginia state senator found headstones on his property. It brought to light a historic injustice in D.C.”
- The Washington Post, 27, 2020. “Racial reckoning, new development reignite tension over commemoration of historic Black cemetery in Bethesda.”
- Popular Science, 17, 2020. “In Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley,' a Black community battles an industry that threatens its health-and history: A proposed petrochemical complex from plastics giant Formosa could disrupt long forgotten plantation graves.”
- Wired, Nov. 26, 2020. “The Quest to Unearth One of America's Oldest Black Churches: First Baptist Church was founded in secret in 1776. It's been hidden under a parking lot in Colonial Williamsburg for decades-a metaphor for the failures of archaeology and American history.”
- Virginia Gazette, 7. 2020. “Burial remains uncovered at First Baptist Church site in Colonial Williamsburg.”
- CBS Sunday Morning, Feb. 21, 2021. “GRAVESTONES: History behind the lost Columbian Harmony Cemetery.”
- The Washington Post, Feb. 22, 2021. “Human remains found at Williamsburg archaeology dig: Researchers find evidence at site of historic Black church.”
- Virginia Gazette, Feb. 23, 2021. “Human bone fragment identified at First Baptist Church archaeological dig site in Colonial Williamsburg.”
- Independent, 23, 2021. “Human remains found during Virginia [Colonial Williamsburg] archeological dig.”
- Virginia Gazette, 22, 2021. “First Baptist has always been a beacon in the community:’ Descendants share memories of historic Williamsburg church to preserve, share its history.”
- UVA Today, Apr. 5. 2021. Detailed announcement of the official dedication activities for the UVA Memorial to the Enslaved, including discussion of descendant communities with such panelists as W&M’s Michael L. Blakey.
- The Cavalier Daily (UVA), ran a similar announcement on Apr. 8, 2021.
- The Guardian, Apr. 23, 2021. “Bones of Black children killed in police bombing used in Ivy League anthropology course.”
- MIT Technology Review, Apr. 28, 2021. “How Technology Helped Archaeologists Did Deeper.” (Examples included NY African Burial Ground.)
- Sapiens, May 2021. “Reclaiming the Ancestors: Indigenous and Black Perspectives on Repatriation, Human Rights & Justice.”
- The Georgetowner, May 6, 2021. “NMAAHC Online Conversation: ”New York’s African Burial Ground: 30 Years Later.”
- The Japan Times, June 20, 2021. “The race to save African-American cemeteries from being 'erased'.”
- People’s World, June 22, 2021. “Hundreds turn out Juneteenth to stop desecration of Black cemetery.”
- Richmond Times Dispatch, September 13, 2021. “Hanover’s Historic Brown Grove Community Allowed to Search for Graves at the Planned Wegman’s Distribution Center Site.” By Patrick Wilson.
- The New Yorker Magazine, September 27, 2021. “When Black History is Unearthed, Who Gets to Speak for the Dead?” By Jill Lapore.
- American Conservative, April 11, 2023 “Wokeness at Colonial Williamsburg,” Brenda Hafera.
- Washington Post, August 16, 2023 “Anthropologist Michael Blakey on the Smithsonian’s ‘racial brain collection,” Race in America: the collection.
- W&M News June 26, 2024 “‘Custodians, not owners’: Bakey co-chairs commission aiming for a new ethos in anthropology,” Antonella di Marzio.