In 1994, the Washington Post decried the appointment of a white archaeologist to excavate an African-American site in Charlottesville, Virginia. Considerable discussion resulted: in the media, in the Smithsonian’s African American Archaeology Newsletter, and at conferences. Charlottesville held a similar debate between the public and the academy. What story was to be told? Who would tell the story? Would it get told at all? Both debates are embedded in historic and modern relationships of race and class. By the nature of our work, many historical archaeologists are forced to enter these debates or walk away from them. These issues, then become fundamental to involving and exciting the public about what we do. This paper explores the nature of the Charlottesville debate, suggesting that archaeology can be a meaningful form of activism, provided that it yields to the needs of the public it hopes to engage.