When Do You Stop Arriving? The Project “We Are Not Strangers Here: African American Histories in Rural California”

Abstract

This article highlights a new public history project, “We Are Not Strangers Here: African American Rural Histories in California,” which examines hidden histories of African Americans who have shaped California’s food and farming culture from early statehood to the present. I detail the project’s archival content, including an overview of its methodological framework and the stories featured in its public components. I also pay special attention to the design of the project’s public engagement, including its recently launched traveling banner exhibit, accompanying podcast, and in-development digital exhibit. This essay thus illustrates the dynamic opportunities that public humanities projects like this one present in amplifying important, under-told state histories.