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The introduction of synthetic and semi-synthetic materials in the late 19th and early 20th centuries opened a world of new possibilities for consumer objects. The abundance of new goods ushered in a new age of consumption: one in which identities were not only expressed through material culture, but could be actively made through material culture. One avenue that has not been thoroughly explored is the role of synthetic and semi-synthetic objects in negotiating both association with and distance from different forms of identity in the archaeological record. This article explores the cultural connotations underlying a small find recovered from a working class household in the anthracite coal company town of Eckley, Pennsylvania. Using the example of a celluloid lice comb, the author discusses the ways that mass production fundamentally changed status signaling in the Western world at the beginning of the 20th century and offers thoughts on improving our interpretations of the social consequences of objects within historical archaeological research.

Despite playing a central role in establishing our current racialized prison system, Southern convict leasing has been largely forgotten by American society. The Lone Rock Stockade Project is carrying out excavations at the site of an 1870s convict stockade in order to illuminate the depravity of convict leasing and acknowledge the sacrifices of the convicts who were forced to work without pay in Tennessee’s industries. While the project works to identify descendant communities and manage the dangers of COVID-19, the project’s public outreach is focused on establishing the site’s narrative as dark heritage, rather than industrial triumph, within the local community.

This article introduces the special issue, "Community Archaeology of the African Diaspora." This collection of papers grew out of a session at the 2020 Society for Historical Archaeology conference in Boston, Massachusetts, with additional authors invited to add further geographical and methodological diversity. The papers in this issue address a single question-how are archaeologists currently involved with community archaeology projects related to the African Diaspora?-and reflects the wide array of approaches currently being implemented across the discipline.