Sawyer lives in a Stratford, Connecticut house once owned by smuggler John Selby. Built in 1765, it has been an inn, a tavern, and a private home. Sixteen students excavated part of the back yard during the summer of 2004, unearthing the foundation and floor joists of what Sawyer thinks was a small dwelling. The students found clay tobacco pipes, an arrowhead, chipped stone flakes, and musket flints -- but no clues to whether Selby owned slaves himself.

Tom Gidwitz