Living Room Lecture: Community Engagement at the Nathan Harrison Site

Location: Online on Zoom
Cost: Pay what you wish

The Nathan Harrison Historical Archaeology Project has been a twenty-year undertaking that seeks to understand and communicate the life and legacies of San Diego County’s first African American homesteader. It employs orthogonal thought and archaeological, anthropological, and historical tools of analysis to bring marginalized voices to diverse publics. The remote mountain-top site was home during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to Nathan Harrison. He was born into slavery, endured horrors of the Antebellum South, the mania of the Gold Rush, and racial injustices of the Old West. Harrison gained mythical status during his life and after his passing. While alive, he was embraced by multiple communities, and his story has since been used by different groups over time for a variety of causes.

This talk examines how the archaeology at the Nathan Harrison Site has inspired a new generation of muralists, historians, playwrights, and others to create innovative works and continued relevance for Nathan Harrison’s evolving narratives. It offers a brief Harrison biography, an overview of the project, an explanation of Harrison’s dual identity, code-switching, and historical minstrelsy, and a discussion of the project’s case for significance beyond the dig, including public exhibits, educational curricula, and creative arts.