REVIEWS & REFLECTIONS
Dispatch from Florida: A Celebration of African American Oral History in Gainesville In this essay Columbia Oral History MA Alumnus Benji de la Piedra recounts his experience of attending the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program's "From Segregation to Black Lives Matter: a Symposium in Celebration of the Opening of the Joel Buchanan Archive of African American Oral History at the University of Florida." Benji reflects on the Proctor Program's community-based methodology that place Black narrators and experiences at the center of a new vision of United States history.
On the road from Little Rock to DC, I took a detour and drove down to Gainesville, Florida. There I met Mario Alvarez and Alissa Funderburk, with whom I’ve partnered to develop the Columbia Life Histories Project since 2016. With generous help from OHMA to cover our accommodations, we spent three full days attending "From Segregation to Black Lives Matter: A Symposium and Celebration of the Opening of the Joel Buchanan Archive of African-American Oral History at the University of Florida." Organized by UF’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP), the symposium was free and open to the public, and was attended by over 200 people.
As demonstrated by the symposium’s programming, the Joel Buchanan Archive’s development fundamentally animates SPOHP’s entire civic and educational enterprise. The heart of the archive is UF’s African American History Project (AAHP), which is currently in its tenth year of operations. “Funded primarily by the UF Office of the Provost,” according to the symposium’s online program,
It was a momentous occasion. On the second morning of the symposium, SPOHP officially unveiled the Joel Buchanan Archive, a collection of over 700—and counting!—oral history interviews with African American elders throughout Florida and the wider Gulf South. (To be sure, the vast majority of narrators are Floridians.) Named for a native son of Gainesville who dedicated his life to the preservation of Black history and memory in Florida, the Buchanan Archive is a monumental achievement that demands our attention.[1] Its contents are already revolutionizing the study of American history, and its design, as far as I’m concerned, sets the standard for largescale, democratically oriented oral history work.
“this research initiative [AAHP] has resulted in over thirty public history panels and programs, ten university seminars on African American studies, scores of student conference presentations and community-based oral history and Black History workshops across the country.”
Its contents are already revolutionizing the study of American history, and its design, as far as I'm concerned, sets the standard for large-scale, democratically oriented oral history work.
As I am now approaching my fourth year of work on African American oral history in Little Rock, and preparing to take up the mantle of oral history education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) in Spring 2020. I have been asking myself incessantly since the symposium started: How can we replicate this model, documenting the life and community histories of African American elders, in Arkansas?
And how might a project in Arkansas learn from, or even partner directly with, SPOHP’s fieldwork activities in Florida and the Mississippi Delta?
which takes you into Micanopy history, which then takes you to St. Augustine, and so on.” These AAHP interviews are then aggregated with several other discrete collections put together by After the symposium ended, I was lucky SPOHP—over the years and still today—to enough to stay in Gainesville with my create the Buchanan Archive, providing brother, who is finishing his last semester a panoramic view of Florida’s many at UF. So I visited the SPOHP office for an intertwining Black histories.[2] afternoon, conversing with director Dr. Paul Ortiz and associate director Dr. These AAHP interviews are then Ryan Morini, to begin answering these aggregated with several other questions. I was surprised to learn from discrete collections put together by Dr. Morini (who also serves as AAHP SPOHP—over the years and still coordinator) that the vast majority of AAHP interviews were conducted by today—to create the Buchanan doctoral students from various Archive, providing a panoramic of Florida’s many departments at UF, whose dissertations view topics weren’t actually about Black intertwining Black histories. Florida history. AAHP’s digital humanities curation and But by providing these students with event-based programming are graduate assistantships at SPOHP, AAHP developed in a similarly organic fashion, allowed them to gain crucial based on what Dr. Morini described as transferrable skills in all aspects of oral the imperative to “make sure that people history project design and execution, can experience the public-ness of the which were integral to their overall archive.” He explained that AAHP’s education and scholarly training. (The public programs do not merely present success of this pedagogical model is information, but instead strive to create a proven by the consistency of SPOHP space for dialogue, exchange, and a alumni earning professorships at leading sense of collective ownership over the universities around the country.) historical narrative among audience members. This might be achieved by As for its content, AAHP has taken and putting local community members or continues to take a relatively ad-hoc activists on the same panel as approach—a characterization that Dr. credentialed scholars. Or it might be Ortiz told me, as we walked from his done by using the event as an Black/Hispanic History seminar to the opportunity to identify and solicit future SPOHP office in Pugh Hall, he “actually narrators for AAHP. Or it might be done kind of like[s]”. The list of AAHP narrators by honoring “someone who the is not determined a priori, but rather university community should know follows opportunities as they arise, about,” Morini said, “someone who will usually provided by African American wake up a student audience.” elders who suggest peers, neighbors, and kinfolks who ought to be In debriefing after the symposium, Alissa, interviewed. Again, with the help of my deputy on the Columbia Life graduate assistantships, SPOHP Histories Project, noted that she was interviewers can afford the time and impressed by the manner in which the expense of following such leads symposium visibly bridged the wherever they take them. Because, as University of Florida’s constituents with Morini explained, “If you’re working on local community members who would Black history in Gainesville, pretty soon otherwise not be there. She was certainly you’re into Ocala history, correct.
but rather at the A. Quinn Jones Cultural Center, which is located in the very same building that used to be Lincoln High. Born in 1893, A. Quinn Jones was a trailblazing Black educator who became Lincoln’s first principal in 1923 and was responsible for its tradition of excellenceagainst-odds. During lunch, across the street, many of us visited the A. Quinn Jones Museum. It resides in the same house where Mr. Jones lived most of his The symposium’s three-day program life, and tells in compelling detail the made clear that SPOHP is committed to story of Lincoln High’s educative success cultivating a more inclusive and and communal promise. historically accountable City of Gainesville and University of Florida, and During this visit, I met the Museum’s that oral history work has a foundational director, Desmon Walker. I shared with her just how much that day’s role to play in this process. programming resonated with the work On the first day of the symposium, we that I’ve been doing in Little Rock. were treated to a video-recorded Specifically, learning about Mr. Jones and screening of Gator Tales, a full-length Lincoln High made me think stage play based on interviews with the immediately of Herbert Denton Sr., first Black students to attend UF in the father of the pioneering Washington late 1960s. We then heard remarks from Post journalist whose biography I am two of these former students, about their writing. Both Mr. Denton and Mr. Jones experiences of UF, of being interviewed, personify a crucial, under-acknowledged and of watching their testimony archetype in Black American history and performed by professionals before an culture: the old school, no-nonsense audience. On the second day, SPOHP public educator who did whatever it screened two documentaries-in- took to bring out the best in his students progress, created by a team of and his community. Much like Lincoln undergraduate student-fellows, which High, Mr. Denton’s Carver Elementary are also based on interviews housed in also stood as a shining example of Black the Joel Buchanan Archive: The Making educational excellence in the face of of the Institute of Black Culture at the racial apartheid. And also like Lincoln, University of Florida and The Making of Carver eventually fell victim to malicious, the Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, one-sided white compliance with court “La Casita” at UF. On the third day, Albert orders to desegregate—not by being White, one of the UF alums portrayed in closed, but by having its longtime faculty Gator Tales, gave a detailed and corps gutted, which paved the way for impassioned lecture about Lincoln High the Little Rock School Board to turn School, the traditionally Black school in Carver into a dumping ground for white Gainesville that was suddenly closed by teachers who had been underachievers the city—taken away from the or problem cases in white schools. community that built and cherished it— over Christmas break of 1969, under the After briefly relating this information to disingenuous guise of moving towards Ms. Walker, I explained how important my work on African American history integration. and culture has been to my own life’s This third day of programming did not journey as a first-generation American of take place in the same Library East color. I also shared with her my worry that within lecture hall as the first two days,
our lifetimes, everyone who ever called themselves an American Negro will pass away, and that this country will never achieve its democratic values if that heritage is not documented and honored by the public. With a warm and weighty candor that reminded me of the elders I go to church with in Little Rock, she named my sensitivity to matters of engaging seriously with Black history, saying that it was apparent to her even in this very brief conversation. Ms. Walker encouraged me to keep and to cultivate that sensitivity, to let it guide why I am doing this work, and whom I am really doing it for. I left that encounter exceedingly grateful —of course for the validation and encouragement, but more importantly for the reminder that my believe, is predicated on the idea that one Black community’s historical distinctiveness, when told in its fullness, can reveal truths that cut across lines of time, place, and demographics—the truths of an entire nation.
This movement, I believe, is predicated on the idea that one Black community’s historical distinctiveness, when told in its fullness, can reveal truths that cut across lines of time, place, and demographics—the truths of an entire nation. As I reflect on the political implications of everything that the SPOHP symposium presented—much of which I have not even mentioned—I find it especially relevant that Dr. Ortiz is a leading scholar of the Florida folklorist (read: oral historian) Stetson Kennedy.
that serious, honest encounters with communities that Botkin called “the folk”—or conventional parlance today calls “diverse”—are bound to complicate such idealism by illuminating facts of abused power and terrible violence. As Ortiz writes, Kennedy “proved through decades of writings based on oral history fieldwork that the nation’s democratic promise had been repeatedly hijacked by racists, corporate interests, and unjust laws.” Instead of toothless selfcongratulation, Kennedy’s oral history work offers us a demanding, oftentimes damning, assessment of American Exceptionalism’s oppressive roots and fruit. “Stetson Kennedy posited that America’s history was tragic,” Ortiz writes, “because he experienced this history through interviewees who shared with him stories of deprivation, cruelty, and a loss of dignity in places from which most of the nation’s writers had safely insulated themselves.”
Although I never heard Kennedy’s name during the symposium, I still felt compelled upon leaving Gainesville to revisit a 2014 essay by Ortiz, published in the Oral History Review, about Kennedy’s interview-based body of work. In this essay, Ortiz writes, “Kennedy’s experiences in the WPA’s Florida Writers Project in the Great Depression put him in contact with grim realities of American life. Kennedy’s interviews with the people who toiled in phosphate mines, turpentine camps, and orange groves taught him that ‘American Exceptionalism,’ the belief that American society is uniquely democratic and exempt from tyrannical When it comes to the Joel Buchanan practices, was a fraud.”[3] Archive, interviewers and listeners alike Reading this sentence, I was struck not will have to refuse such insulation, too. only by its truth, but also by the indelible The Archive’s narratives—of “Life under challenge it presents to the romantic Jim Crow, including institution-building, philosophy of the WPA Writers’ Project. educational philosophies and methods, security, community-based The men who comprised the Federal food support and service Writers’ Project national masthead— healthcare, displacement and especially B.A. Botkin—encouraged field organizations, dispossession, labor, armed self-defense, interviewers, nationwide, to gather narrative material that would foster and tactics of resistance”—substantiate what Jerrold Hirsch calls “a one of Dr. Ortiz’s remarks at the cosmopolitanism that encouraged symposium’s opening session: “Oral Americans to value their own provincial history interviewing is not a safe space.” traditions and to show an interest in the Conducted in the mold of what Ortiz traditions of their fellow citizens.”[4] describes as Kennedy’s “embrace of Despite its solidly pluralistic foundation, tragedy and his avoidance of maudlin this cultural outlook still expresses an sentimentality about working-class life,” Exceptionalist view of American history. the Buchanan Archive’s interviews will provoke in generations of students and In my OHMA thesis, I treated this outlook citizens, for decades and maybe even in a pretty wide-eyed manner. And centuries to come, the same insight that although I still orient my work towards Ortiz perceives Kennedy holding in the promise of Botkin’s idealism, Ortiz’s common with Mark Twain’s Huckleberry writing on Kennedy’s oral history work Finn: “that American civilization is made reminded me that there is of course up of an indivisible mix of grit and catastrophe.” more to the American story;
In short, the Buchanan Archive’s unveiling is a major milestone in the history of Black Studies—a field whose central questions and insights are indispensable to real American greatness. All of this resonates deeply with my desire to build civically transformative collections of interviews: with African American elders in Arkansas, and with members of Columbia University’s academic community who are committed to making the institution more equitable. This goes not only for content, but also for design. Because as I mentioned earlier, SPOHP has consistently built avenues towards public engagement and pedagogical use of the Joel Buchanan Archive at the same time as it has built the archive itself.
SPOHP has consistently built avenues towards public engagement and pedagogical use of the Joel Buchanan Archive at the same time as it has built the archive itself. As I have been slowly plotting the evolution of the Columbia Life Histories Project into the Columbia Life Histories Lab—a collaborative, community-based model that I also intend to initiate at UALR—and working with Alissa to make the oral history and documentary archive of Black Studies at Columbia our flagship collection, my encounter with SPOHP could not have come at a better time. It reminded me why I chose to become an oral historian in the first place. And it put me in touch with colleagues whom I will now be learning from—and, I hope, building with—for a very long time.
This article was originally published on the Oral History Master of Arts blog from Columbia University on April 14, 2019. The link to the original article can be found below: http://oralhistory.columbia.edu/blog-posts/dispatch-from-florida-acelebration-of-african-american-oral-history-in-gainesville
Footnotes: [1] From the symposium program: Joel Buchanan (1948-2014) was a beloved civil rights activist, historian and librarian in Gainesville and at the University of Florida. Joel was an indispensable member of the community, a tireless speaker who gave countless lectures and informal talks to elementary, high school and college students about the histories of segregation, the civil rights movement, and Gainesville. Joel used history to share his dreams of a better future for all. Joel guided generations of high school, college and university students in the completion of their class projects and dissertations. The naming of this collection is meant to pay homage to Joel Buchanan’s vision of history and social justice. [2] From the Archive’s website: “The Buchanan archive contains interviews from numerous different projects at the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, including the African American History Project (AAHP) which began in 2009 through the efforts of Paul Ortiz, Marna Weston, and Joel Buchanan; the Fifth Avenue Blacks collection (FAB) created by Joel Buchanan in 1981; the Mississippi Freedom Project (MFP) which derives from SPOHP’s annual trip to the Mississippi Delta to interview Civil Rights Movement veterans; the Oscar Mack Project (OMP), detailing the remarkable story and legacy of Oscar Mack and his family; the Underground Railroad collection (URR) which includes interviews with Black Seminoles and Gullah-Geechee elders and leaders; the Civil Rights in St. Augustine collection begun by David Colburn in the late 1970s; the St. Augustine African American History collection (SAAH), begun by Raja Rahim and Annemarie Nichols in 2016; and many more.” [3] Paul Ortiz, “Tearing Up the Master’s Narrative: Stetson Kennedy and Oral History.” Oral History Review, Summer/Fall 2014 (41:2), p. 279-289. [4]Jerrold Hirsch. Portrait of America: A Cultural History of the Federal Writers' Project. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2003. p. 7.
Distinguished Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
MARNA WESTON PICTURED FAR RIGHT
JOEL BUCHANAN ARCHIVE PROJECT My recent return to SPOHP, on the occasion of honoring Mr. Joel Buchanan’s vast contributions to local African American History preservation, was in many ways transcendent. Reacquaintance with so many community members, academic colleagues, and stakeholders from the beginnings of my personal association with SPOHP, brought back vivid memories of interviews, research, travel, and fellowship. Thoughts transported me back to conversations with my mentor, the late Dr. Robert Zieger, and his strong encouragement that I develop a working relationship with Dr. Paul Ortiz. At the time Dr. Zieger facilitated an introduction between Dr. Paul Ortiz and me, Pugh Hall had not yet been constructed, and my knowledge of Paul was limited to my first cursory reading of Emancipation Betrayed. Today, after so many shared planning sessions between us discussing readings, interviews and fieldwork, either in home, office, vans, rental cars, churches, or at such diverse locales as High Springs, Lawtey, Starke, Perry, Quincy, Tallahassee, Winter Park, Ruleville, Indianola, Itta Beena, or Cleveland, Mississippi, I can only marvel these ten years later at the successes the "From Segregation to Black Lives Matter Symposium" reflects.
Certainly Mr. Buchanan’s vision resonated so strongly at this gathering, yet also the passion of the program coordinators, volunteers, interview participant partners, community members, students, and staff, at this historic event, are evident as well. It is an honor to participate in these recognitions and continue to be a part of the SPOHP mission. A research mission that began when Joel Buchanan decided to preserve and archive the stories of the leaders in his community by writing down their thoughts and recording their voices. A mission continued because a UF history professor convinced President Machen and Provost Glover to place the resources of the University of Florida into acknowledging and preserving voices and stories from the the African American community, as Joel Buchanan directed. It is a worthy mission which reaffirms sage teachings I was fortunate to learn during home interviews in Quincy, Florida with the late Dr. Patricia Stephens Due, a freedom fighter and foot soldier of the Tallahassee Freedom Struggle. She often said, “The Struggle Continues.” I still believe in what she told me, and a symposium like this one, shows just how far we have come, and how far we still have to go.
Distinguished Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
JUSTIN DUNNAVANT JOEL BUCHANAN ARCHIVE PROJECT It was an honor to participate in the "2019 From Segregation to Black Lives Matter Symposium." As a former graduate student working at SPOHP, the program provided me the opportunity to learn from - and work with - a diverse group of forwardthinking academics, community members, and local elders. What began as an attempt to document to the complex and often understudied experiences of African Americans in Alachua County has grown to include more than 400 oral history interviews with African Americans throughout the state of Florida and beyond. Listening to the various participants during the symposium, it was great to hear how far theÂ
project has come and the ways in which the program continues to impact students and communities alike. These narratives not only validate the experiences of hundreds of African Americans from Jim Crow to the present era, but also demonstrate the significance of oral history in presenting a more complete picture of African American history in this country. Now that these interviews are publicly accessible, I am excited about what lays ahead for the future of this project. Students will begin to ask new questions, researchers will explore lines of inquiry, and communities will have a rich repository of narratives to draw inspiration.
Staff Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
GRACE CHUN POARCH CREEK PROJECT ARCHIVIST
SAMANTHA CRISANTI MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM PROJECT COORDINATOR
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2017 Reflection: The work leading up to the symposium was grueling to say the least. Putting on a three-day symposium with only student employees and volunteers is a daunting task. During those three days, I worked the registration table and anything else that came up. Unfortunately, I was working during most of the panels. However, I was glad to greet each guest that attended our symposium. It filled me with joy to see community members, scholars, and students, both local and out-of-towners. I was able to see how impactful this event was for those that were able to attend, and they reminded me that our work has purpose. I learned a lot from the SPOHP alumni panel I watched through the live-stream after the symposium that spoke to how oral history practices inform research and methodology in differing fields. Ms. Thelma Edward’s words of wisdom were a powerful reminder about the struggle to bring truth to light.
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2017 Reflection: As a staff member for the African American History Project, now formally known as the Joel Buchanan Archive, it was so rewarding to see all of the work for the symposium come together. Specifically tasked with outreach, I spent the majority of my efforts making sure that we not only had UF students and faculty in attendance, but also local Gainesville community members who are often left out of these conversations. As Benji de la Piedra noted in his reflection, the symposium, “made clear that SPOHP is committed to cultivating a more inclusive and historically accountable City of Gainesville and University of Florida…” From the keynote address to the variety of panel presentations, the symposium reminded me why I fell in love with this work in the first place, and reinvigorated my passion to document the narratives of those who have historically been silenced. Further, I hope that in future symposiums, we can increase the participation of current students working at SPOHP, who can contribute an additional perspective on their approach to oral history work.
Staff Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
FRANCESC MORALES JEWS IN EL SALVADOR PROJECT COORDINATOR
BIANKA RAMIREZ JOEL BUCHANAN ARCHIVE PROJECT COORDINATOR
When I joined SPOHP: Spring 2018 Reflection: The symposium was an event organized from the people, by the people, for the people. We used local community data collected by local scholars in order to present an outstanding amount of material ready to make a difference at the University of Florida and beyond. Although I recognize the problem of gathering too much information from one place, I understand that time was of the essence for most elders — especially if we wanted to collect their stories. This was something out of our control. The last day, on Saturday, I felt like I was living in the moment — at that point, I connected my readings about Martin Luther King with the symposium. I am talking about the last intervention by Larry Rivers. His closing remarks ending with a poem recitation that resonated with me like a powerful speech made some fifty years ago.
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2017 Reflection: At SPOHP, I was one of those tasked with developing the documentary on the history and establishment of the Institute of Black Culture (IBC). Through this, I was given the opportunity to dive into the stories of the African American community in Gainesville. I learned what they contributed, what they sacrificed, and the unnecessary obstacles they faced. I learned how integral community is — from the early 1920s (with the establishment of Lincoln High School) to the 1960s (the protests of Black students that culminated in the establishment of the IBC) to the 2010s (the formation of Dream Defenders after Trayvon Martin's murder) to now (the era of Black Lives Matter). Seeing the people who sacrificed themselves for the greater community—knowing what was at stake — come together at the Symposium was inspiring, to say the least. I was able to meet Sam Taylor, the first Black Student Body President at UF, with whom I spoke for an hour. What I learned from the Symposium—and my time at SPOHP — is that American History is African American History. These stories deserve recognition, and they deserve to be told again and again and again and again.
Staff Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
JENNIFER ROMERO
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2016 Reflection: The Symposium was absolutely brilliant. I have been with the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program for about three and a half years now, working under the African American History Project specifically. Seeing the work that we have done over the last few years being proclaimed and showcased to the world has been incredible. I loved the familiarity the symposium offered and the speakers. It was amazing to see people we have interviewed before at the event, reminiscing on either their interview or on Joel Buchanan himself. It was a time of togetherness, and I loved every moment of it.
JOEL BUCHANAN ARCHIVIST & VIDEO TECHNICIAN
SANDRA ROMERO HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES PROJECT COORDINATOR
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2015 Reflection: The Symposium was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful to see it come to fruition. I remember when I was hired four years ago hearing about this symposium and it’s importance for not just oral history, but history in general. To not only have seen it but also to be a part of it is something I’m proud of. My favorite aspect of the symposium was hearing the stories of people we have interviewed in the past and their connection with Joel Buchanan's. It was like meeting a celebrity for the first time because I had heard so much about them through their interviews and to finally meet them in person made everything that much more real.
Staff Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
ELISABETH RIOS-BROOKS JOEL BUCHANAN ARCHIVE PROJECT COORDINATOR
OMAR SANCHEZ LATINX DIASPORA IN THE AMERICAS PROJECT COORDINATOR
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2017 Reflection: Being a part of the African American History Project I was able to see the ins and outs of the Symposium. This gave me a unique perspective on the amount of work that it takes to put together an event like this one. I was tasked with the creation of all promotional materials associated with the Symposium — this was at times overwhelming and difficult. Throughout the Symposium itself, I found myself excited to meet all of the scholars and community members I had heard so much about. For a large portion of it, I was running around checking folks in, replenishing food, and making sure everything was going smoothly. Despite this, I was able to attend the "History, Intersectionality and Liberation in the Age of Black Lives Matter" panel, which opened my eyes to the realities and need for a transnational perspective on the BLM Movement. Overall, I am grateful for this learning experience, and hope the Joel Buchanan Archive will be enjoyed by many.
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2018 Reflection: One of the first lessons you learn at SPOHP is that they will patiently teach you anything if you are willing to learn - from the technical skills behind being an oral historian, to the history of the University of Florida. I contributed to the creation of the La Casita documentary by interviewing people, transcribing, cutting audio, and storyboarding. As a first-generation Latinx student, I learned how past Latinx students had fought the administration to establish La Casita, a cultural center and refuge for Latinx students. The symposium was inspiring because I got to hear stories from former SPOHPers to family members of Joel Buchanan. I was also able to learn how to use interviews in our archive and transform them into a tangible story. This symposium was in honor of Joel Buchanan, a man who tirelessly collected African American stories during his time at the UF. The symposium was able to display all his hard work in a way that the masses could benefit from. We’ve put effort into making the "From Segregation to Black Lives Matters Symposium" a success, and I think we did just that.
Staff Reflections SAMUEL PROCTOR ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM
ELAINE SPONHOLTZ DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS COORDINATOR
When I joined SPOHP: Fall 2018 Reflection: The strongest impressions of attending the conference arose from quiet conversations I had with several invited guests and scholars. After a session early on at Library East, I had a chance to talk with John Nelson, of the VFW chapter in Jefferson County, Florida. The description he gave me of his long career path both in the military and in government was inspiring. Sherry Dupree, who I have known as a community organizer and scholar, was also there with Mrs. Thelma Edwards, the cousin of Emmett Till. Mrs. Edwards remarked that she thought she was the only one living, who knew her cousin Emmett during his lifetime. The poignancy of that remark cut through the sense of remoteness that comes with the knowledge of a long-ago death. It is a remoteness that comes with an academic type of knowledge, the knowledge of tragedies through black and white images found in old newspapers. It is a kind of epistemological distance scrubbed of emotion. The wistful tone of her voice made clear that she still carries the pain of that loss, and that she knows she is the living embodiment of her cousin’s memory.
Interested in more information? WERE YOU UNABLE TO ATTEND THE SYMPOSIUM? You can now watch the entire symposium virtually: tinyurl.com/y4392nqu
HOW CAN I ACCESS THE JOEL BUCHANAN ARCHIVE? The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program's Joel Buchanan Archive can be accessed at: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/ohfb
HOW CAN I CONTACT SPOHP? Keep in touch with us by visiting our website at: https://oral.history.ufl.edu
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