{{short description|Catawba ceramic artist (1913–2014)}} {{Infobox person | name = Bertha George Harris | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Bertha George | birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|6|29}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|10|14|1913|6|29}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/heraldonline/name/bertha-harris-obituary?pid=172818311n=bertha-harris&pid=172818311& |title=Bertha Harris Obituary (2014) |publisher=The Herald |date=October 16, 2014 |access-date=January 4, 2022}}</ref> | death_place = [[Rock Hill, South Carolina|Rock Hill]], [[South Carolina]], U.S. | citizenship = [[Catawba Indian Nation]] and U.S. | occupation = [[Pottery|Potter]] | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = George Harris | parents = Moroni and Hattie George }} '''Bertha George Harris''' (June 29, 1913 – October 14, 2014) was a [[Catawba people|Catawba]] cultural practitioners and [[Pottery|master potter]]. Harris was the oldest living member of the [[Catawba people|Catawba tribe]] at the time of her death in October 2014.<ref name=herald/>
The Catawba number approximately 2,800 people, presently based in [[York County, South Carolina]], as well the surrounding region.<ref name=herald>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Dys |title=Oldest Catawba Indian had 'a truly great soul' |url=http://www.heraldonline.com/2014/10/15/6424071_oldest-catawba-indian-bertha-harris.html?rh=1 |work=[[The Herald (Rock Hill)]] |date=2014-10-15 |access-date=2014-11-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110003314/http://www.heraldonline.com/2014/10/15/6424071_oldest-catawba-indian-bertha-harris.html?rh=1 |archive-date=2014-11-10 }}</ref><ref name=cobserver>{{cite news |title=Oldest Catawba Indian had 'a truly great soul' |url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/10/15/5243789/oldest-catawba-indian-bertha-harris.html |work=[[The Charlotte Observer]] |date=2014-10-15 |access-date=2014-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110024130/http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/10/15/5243789/oldest-catawba-indian-bertha-harris.html#.VF_t5MmnEdU |archive-date=2014-11-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Early life and family == Harris was born '''Bertha George''' on June 29, 1913, in [[Lancaster County, South Carolina]], to Moroni James George and Hattie Milling George.<ref name=lnews>{{cite news |title=Catawba woman celebrates 100th birthday |url=http://www.thelancasternews.com/content/catawba-woman-celebrates-100th-birthday |work=The Lancaster News |date=2013-06-28 |access-date=2014-11-09 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033231/http://www.thelancasternews.com/content/catawba-woman-celebrates-100th-birthday |url-status=dead }}</ref> She lived in neighboring [[Catawba County, North Carolina|Catawba County]] and [[York County, South Carolina|York Counties]] for the majority of her life. A resident of [[Rock Hill, South Carolina]], she was raised under [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] in the American South, in which the Catawba and other Native American tribes were considered inferior to whites.<ref name=herald/>
She was married to George Furman Harris for 75 years, until his death in 2006 at the age of 95.<ref name=herald/><ref name=lnews/> The couple had seven children.<ref name=lnews/>
== Art career == Harris created Catawba pottery and was considered one of the Catawba's master potters.<ref name=herald/><ref name=cip>{{cite news|first=Thomas J.|last=Blumer |title=Catawba Indian Pottery |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ztr5H3U1pPQC&q=Bertha+George+Harris&pg=PR19 |date=2004 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=9780817350611 |access-date=2014-11-09}}</ref> Catawba pottery is composed of river clay, which is shaped without the use of a potter's wheel.<ref name=herald/> Harris specialized in Catawba coil-built [[pottery]] with [[clay|river clay]] that she harvested and processed by hand.<ref name=herald/>
== Death and legacy == Bertha George Harris died on October 14, 2014, at the age of 101, as the oldest member of the Catawba.<ref name=herald/> Her funeral was held at [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] on the Catawba Indian Nation reservation.<ref name=herald/> [[Gilbert Blue]], the former Chief of the Catawba from 1977 to 2007, was raised with Harris' children.<ref name=herald/> He paid tribute to Harris telling a reporter, "I spoke with her about her position as the oldest several times, and she held that to be important... Bertha Harris recognized what her status as the oldest meant, and not only did it make her feel something good and important, it made all of us feel good."<ref name=herald/> Present Catawba Chief Bill Harris, her great-nephew, also paid tribute to her noting, "Of the Catawba people, of the people who have been here on this patch of ground for all these centuries, she was the oldest among us... That is truly a remarkable idea–that a person was the oldest of all of us on the entire earth. That was always for her and all of us a great, even sacred, honor."<ref name=herald/> According to members of the Catawba, she considered it an honor to be the oldest living elder.<ref name=herald/>
She was survived by five of her seven children: three daughters and two sons.
Frances Wade, who was 92 years old in October 2014, became the oldest Catawba elder following Harris' death.<ref name=herald/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Bertha George}} [[Category:1913 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:Native American potters]] [[Category:Native American women potters]] [[Category:American potters]] [[Category:Catawba people]] [[Category:Native American people from South Carolina]] [[Category:Ceramists from South Carolina]] [[Category:American women centenarians]] [[Category:People from Rock Hill, South Carolina]] [[Category:American women potters]] [[Category:20th-century Native American artists]] [[Category:21st-century Native American artists]] [[Category:20th-century Native American women]] [[Category:21st-century Native American women artists]] [[Category:20th-century American ceramists]] [[Category:20th-century American women artists]] [[Category:21st-century American ceramists]] [[Category:21st-century American women artists]] [[Category:Catawba women]]