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Race and Justice

This guide will help you locate the many resources in the BU collections related to race, anti-racism, and racial justice.

On Memory and Truth Telling

In the poem, "why some people be mad at me sometimes" Lucille Clifton makes a statement on memory and truth telling. Oral histories have been a tool for centuries for conveying and documenting experiences and can be a tool to you in engaging with lived experiences as a social worker. 

 

 why some people be mad at me sometimes

"they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories
and i keep on remembering
mine.”

                                                                                           - Lucille Clifton

Oral History Collections

HistoryMakers: A collection of video oral history interviews with historically significant African Americans in many fields. Transcripts are included with the interviews. You can search for keywords including "colorism" or "sports" or "voting" or whatever term may be related to your curiosity or research.

 

National Museum of African American History and Culture Oral Histories: These oral histories range from the 1910s to present. These rich videos and oral histories span topics and time frames. 

 

Black Women Oral History Project Interviews, 1976-1981: Transcripts and audio files including Melnea Cass, Zelma George, and Dorothy Height.

 

Behind the Veil: African American Life in the American South: 2,000 oral histories related to African American and Black experiences in the American south. 

 

Black Oral History Collection at Washington State University: 45 interviews documented between 1972 and 1974. Topics discussed in the interviews include early Black settlers, job opportunities, social life and community, living patterns, Black churches, and Black political involvement from the late 1800s through 1974. 

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