SAVANNAH, GA – October 24, 2022 – The Davenport House Museum will host its annual Harvest Lecture, Bound to the Fire: How Enslaved Chefs Helped Invent American Cuisine at 6:30 p.m. November 10 at the Second African Baptist Church, located at 123 Houston St. in Savannah. This year, Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz will draw upon archaeological evidence, cookbooks, plantation records, and folklore to present a nuanced discussion of the lives of enslaved plantation cooks from colonial era through emancipation and beyond and how it has shaped American cuisine today.
The Harvest Lecture is presented by the Davenport House Museum and sponsored by Gulfstream as a community service and an opportunity for enrichment on topics related to its mission.
“The completion of the Davenport House’s Urban Enslaved Exhibit is one of the most highly anticipated openings in our museum community and it will open in early 2021. This year ‘s Harvest Lecture offers a lens into the kitchen where the enslaved toiled,” said Director Jamie Credle, “We thank this year’s speaker Dr. Keely Fanto Deetz and Gulfstream for their generous sponsorship of this event.”
Kelley Fanto Deetz is the Vice President of Collections and Public Engagement at Stratford Hall, and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of African American Studies at U.C. Berkeley. She holds a BA in Africana Studies and History from The College of William & Mary and an MA and Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Deetz partnered with National Geographic to produce the documentary film Rise Up: The Legacy of Nat Tumer (National Geographic Channel) and wrote two cover stories for National Geographic’s History magazine. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine, which was named as one of the top ten books on food in 2017 by the Smithsonian Magazine. Her most recent work is on Audible‘s The Great Courses on the history of sugar, and her contribution to the forthcoming cookbook California Soul, with celebrity and OWN TV star Chef Tanya Holland and author Alice Walker.
To reserve a spot at this free lecture, please call 912-236-8097 or email info@davenporthousemuseum.org.
Davenport House Museum is a property of Historic Savannah Foundation. HSF is a leading nonprofit preservation and cultural institution, which saves buildings, places, and stories that define Savannah’s past, present, and future. The Davenport House was the first property HSF saved. For more information, please visit http://www.davenporthousemuseum.org/programs/, email info@davenporthousemuseum.org or call 912-236-8097.
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