A live virtual exhibition tour will include a curator-led walkthrough of the physical and digital exhibition spaces – including an augmented reality experience
San Diego CA— Developed in partnership with San Diego State University, Nathan Harrison: Born Enslaved, Died a San Diego Legend is a new exhibition at the San Diego History Center that offers recent discoveries from archaeological excavations at the Nathan Harrison cabin site.
Few people in the history of the United States embody ideals of the American Dream more than legendary Black San Diego homesteader Nathan Harrison (d. 1920). Harrison was a freed slave originally from Kentucky who lived in a small cabin on Palomar Mountain, located in northeastern San Diego County, from the 1850s to 1920. His is a story with prominent themes of overcoming staggering obstacles, forging something-from-nothing, and evincing gritty perseverance. In a lifetime of hard-won progress, Harrison survived the horrors of slavery in the Antebellum South, endured the mania of the California Gold Rush, and prospered in the rugged chaos of the Wild West.
The team’s in-depth research of historical accounts offers new insights and perspectives into Harrison’s biography, while also providing a fresh glimpse of everyday life in San Diego during the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era. In this virtual exhibition, visitors will experience the bumpy journey up Palomar Mountain to visit Nathan Harrison in his cabin as well as a menu of online content including augmented reality technology to assist visitors as they explore the historical mysteries concerning Harrison’s private life.
The struggles and hardships that Nathan Harrison faced were likely typical for freed enslaved persons such as himself, and his story offers insights into the broader experiences of Southern California’s Black community. However, as the Nathan Harrison: Born Enslaved, Died a San Diego Legend will show through the close examination of what we know about one man’s life, Harrison’s response and actions were extraordinary indeed. Using historical research, stories, and archaeological findings, this exhibition weaves together a narrative of Nathan Harrison and his ability to counter prejudice to achieve acceptance by the many different communities he encountered.
A key feature of the exhibition is a dynamic visual marvel – a timeline that depicts the concurrent threads of National history, the history of San Diego’s Black community and Nathan Harrison’s life. This display brings context to complicated and relevant content.
The companion exhibition, Celebrate San Diego: Black History & Heritage continues to collect community-sourced milestones to be added to a virtual timeline as well as the community’s submissions for local Black hero acknowledgement and recognition.
About The San Diego History Center
The San Diego History Center, founded as the San Diego Historical Society in 1928, has always been the catalyst for the preservation and promotion of the history of the San Diego region. The San Diego History Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate, makes history interesting and fun and seeks to engage audiences of all ages in connecting the past to the present and set the stage for where our community is headed in the future. Through the flagship museum in Balboa Park as well as the Junípero Serra Museum in historic Presidio Park, the San Diego History Center is a place where visitors and locals can discover, discuss, and determine why history matters today.