Twentieth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

For over a century, the accepted story of Southern California pioneer Nathan Harrison was that he was a charming yet anachronistic fool. Ironically, even though contradictory details of his pre-Palomar Mountain life were hotly debated, the narratives were in agreement when describing his behavior as his homestead transitioned from a ranch to a destination for tourists. Few accounts suggested that there was anything more than what he offered to the public, and none mentioned that he might be putting on an act for visitors. However, this paper, drawing on archaeological evidence, anthropological insights into myth-making, and mindfulness-based orthogonal thought, argues that Harrison, the first African-American homesteader in the region, acted strategically in order to ensure his survival in a most hostile environment for non-whites. Harrison lived an intricate double life, performed an elaborate minstrel act for visitors, and initiated a sequence of gift-giving that both elicited reciprocity and forged essential social bonds. His nuanced blend of deference, adaptation, and manipulation allowed him to be successful where many of his contemporaries had failed. Harrison’s ability to win people over and gain their trust was a matter of life and death in a region rife with Sundown Towns, discriminatory legislation, and other forms of structural racism. This paper focuses on the details of the Harrison archaeo-biography but also engages with important and almost universal questions regarding struggles for human equality, examining past strategies for overcoming discrimination and concurrent risks for disempowered peoples seeking change.