Who was cleared? Chucalissa museum, a land-clearing project

Within Memphis’ T.O. Fuller State Park, formerly the Shelby County Negro lies C.H. Nash Chucalissa Museum where skeletal remains of Tunica people are on display. Because it is a popular tourist attraction and hub for archeology research, has been dubbed “central clearing house Western Tennessee archeology.” Despite many journal articles written about Chucalissa, underwhelmingly few critically engage with Black labor exploited sacred burial mounds disturbed in “clearing” excavating this exhibit. In paper, I exchange definition “clearing,” technical term common among archeologists one that exposes as euphemism disavows historic violence extraction.1,2 Through an interdisciplinary textual analysis Nash’s “Chucalissa Indian Town,” paper inquires what does really mean to be “land project” house”? Who was cleared? How will digging up history shape our interpretations regional at time? Finally, how can these findings contribute present Native tensions broader conversations repatriation?