This week in my oral history class, I shared with students some oral histories collected in 2007/8 with survivors of the 1918 Flu pandemic. It’s often said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, and in this case, the resonances with our own pandemic era were very pointed for me and my students. Descriptions… Continue reading Pandemic Rhymes: Oral history and the 1918 Flu pandemic
Category: public history
Unsilencing the Past
This last week students in both my public history classes discussed Michel-Rolph Trouillot's Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. Silencing the Past is one of my favorite history books, and an incredibly important discussion of how power shapes our understandings of history and how history produces and maintains power. Trouillot maintains that… Continue reading Unsilencing the Past
“The Black Side of Town”: Challenging Avondale’s White-only Narrative
This is third in a series of posts about the history of Avondale Estates. Avondale Estates was restricted to white-only residents (or at least homeowners) for much of its 20th century history. And today the city is still almost 80% white.[1] Much of the recent diversification of Avondale’s population has come since 1998, as a… Continue reading “The Black Side of Town”: Challenging Avondale’s White-only Narrative
Seeing the signs in Avondale Estates, or, When the NAACP picketed my town
It was a warm day in early September of 1998 as marchers gathered in front of City Hall in Avondale Estates, a small residential enclave outside Atlanta where I currently live. Many were carrying signs with slogans like “Reject Racism in Avondale Estates,” “N-word is an evil word,” and “Parker Must Go!” The reason for… Continue reading Seeing the signs in Avondale Estates, or, When the NAACP picketed my town
Ask A Slave: A Comedy Web Series
Here’s an interesting public history take. Actress and comedian Azie Mira Dungey used to work as a historical reenactor at Mount Vernon. This new comedy series is based on the questions her character fielded from tourists to the site. I think it's a unique way to highlight some of the issues such "living history" raises, as… Continue reading Ask A Slave: A Comedy Web Series
The Memories Museum of Dr. Mohammed al-Khatib
In the midst of one of the many cramped and crowded alleyways of Beirut’s Shatila refugee camp, close to qa’at al-sha’ab, or the people’s hall, is a brown metal door leading to a ground-floor apartment and the relatively unknown museum of 66-year-old Mohammed al-Khatib, who collected 1,000 personal objects from Palestinians who fled the 1947-48 ethnic cleansing… Continue reading The Memories Museum of Dr. Mohammed al-Khatib
Library at Georgia State University Receives $210,000 NEH Grant | University Library Blog
Next year's gig. A new project at GSU collaborating with the library to produce geoferenced maps of urban renewal in ATL. I'll be directing the oral history component. Library at Georgia State University Receives $210,000 NEH Grant | University Library Blog.
How can murals help the urban landscape and its history?
"Putting a Good Face on Street Art, to Upgrade Atlanta" in Friday's New York Times, profiled the activities of Living Wall's 2012 program. The project creates murals around Atlanta in blighted areas. This year, LW focused exclusively on female artists, and invited 28 artists from around the world to contribute artwork. In addition to the… Continue reading How can murals help the urban landscape and its history?
Public History’s Great Showing at the 2012 NCPH/OAH Annual Meeting
Digital public history was very much in the spotlight in Milwaukee, according to this HNN article. Glad to see public historians getting visibility for what they are doing in the digital realm. http://hnn.us/articles/public-history-had-great-showing-2012-ncphoah-annual-meeting
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