Ethnographic Survey of African American Homesteading in Lanfair Valley

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The National Park Service is requesting proposals from a potential recipient to collaboratively undertake an ethnographic survey at Mojave National Preserve and Castle Mounds National Monument. This ethnographic study seeks to bring to light this little known, little researched, and almost completely unaddressed history of the African American homesteading event in what is now Mojave National Preserve and Castle Mountains National Monument. This study will provide baseline documentation and information for staff and public interpretive programs speaking to the African American experience in our National Parks, specifically in Mojave National Preserve and Castle Mountains National Monument. This research effort will compile ethnographic information about historical African American homesteaders in Lanfair Valley, document traditional associations between these peoples and the parks, and provide direction for future ethnographic research. It is anticipated that the study will identify culturally specific uses of park resources and culturally or historically significant sites, places or objects within the parks. It will provide important information about the extent to which natural and cultural resources are considered to be heritage resources in the context of the history, cultural traditions, and practices of the contemporary groups.

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