Hoover High School senior Shakur Jackson is using the stage at his school to help teach San Diegans about the life of Nathan Harrison, the city's first black homesteader.
Despite his popularity, as a freed slave in America Harrison still faced threats to his life and livelihood. Jackson’s play, which took him a year to write and research, takes a deep dive into Harrison's survival tactic of what some call code-switching, or acting differently with various groups of people, despite evidence he was educated.
“In front of white Americans he would pretend to be illiterate and a fool,” explained Jackson. “He did this because he didn't want to seem to be a threat to them. This idea came about when he had, he had found out that there was a homeowner in Los Angeles that actually had gotten his house burned down and he didn't want that to happen to him."
According to the San Diego History Center, Harrison's life is a story of overcoming staggering obstacles and forging something-from-nothing through gritty perseverance.Now he's keeping Harrison’s story alive on stage. “I just thought it was important, I thought he should have been talked about more, he should be learned in schools as part of San Diego history. At least be learned in San Diego. You have the first African American home lander, like put some respect on his name,” said Jackson.Jackson says he’s working to expand shows to other schools in San Diego Unified School District.
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