Black History Commons^™

"The Mysterious Disappearance Of Parson Dick: A Civil War Story", William Lindsey Mcdonald

Research Articles

Parson Dick was enslaved on the Forks of Cypress plantation in Florence, Alabama. The article relates a brief history of his life including his marriage to an unnamed woman enslaved on the nearby Woodlawn plantation, his conversion to Christianity and decision to preach, and eventual escape from slavery, which the Jacksons (his enslavers) and McDonald refer to as "his disappearance."

Conga Santiaguera: A Century Of Innovation And Competition, Nick Herman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Santiago de Cuba is home to the island’s biggest, oldest, and most famous carnival.  Any local resident will confirm that “sin conga no hay carnaval (without conga there is no carnival).” In Santiago, conga refers to a vibrant street procession, the music that drives it, and the ensemble that makes the music.  Conga Santiaguera: A Century of Innovation and Competition presents a musical history of the conga from roughly 1910 to 2010.  This project, https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/projects/conga employs an eBook, musical analysis, oral histories, and audiovisual media to show how the conga has been constantly reinvigorated by innovation, competition, and Afro-Diasporic …

The New Deal In Georgia: Oral History Research Collection, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection contains materials from an oral history research project on the New Deal in Georgia conducted in 1987 by Marchanita R. Coleman as part of Dr. R. Frank Saunders’ historiography course. Materials include a typed final report, oral history interview audiocassette tapes, and one photograph. Interviews are with African American residents of Liberty and Chatham County who lived during the Great Depression or remember the New Deal era in Georgia.

Tracings, Masie Sophia Love

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, the artist wonders what it means to remember a time and place that she has not experienced- what would this look like visualized in a painting? Love studies the histories and similarities between cartography and quilting using the two as a kind of channel to understand, record, and remember land. She explores inherited memory and the clues left behind in the form of quilts made by ancestors to create abstracted landscapes and maps of Tennessee where they lived for generations.

Charity Simone, Mark Naison, Anthony Abd-Al Shafi Rosado

Oral Histories

Simone’s path to leadership was inspired by her late mentor, Charles Foster, who encouraged her to be an active voice in their community. After seeing issues with building maintenance and a lack of clear communication, Simone ran for office and was elected Treasurer of her Building Association in 2023. Through this role, she noticed that community work is complex and needs navigating different opinions, yet the experience ultimately reinforced her belief that community is a “verb.” To her, it is an intentional, ongoing action that requires showing up every day to hold the system accountable.

A significant aspect of Simone's …

Presidential Slaves: The Story Of Black People In The Lives Of Antebellum U.S. Presidents, Nika Davis

History Dissertations

The historical narrative about American slavery included many topics such as the African slave trade, the Middle Passage, slave culture, rebellions, religion, and abolition.  This study revealed more information to be examined in the record of American slavery relating to the presidents of the United States and their enslaved laborers.  This oversight proved prevalent during the years leading to the American Civil War from 1820-1860.  Therefore, this dissertation focused upon the enslaved and free Black people who intersected with the presidents and their friends, political acquaintances, and family.  By studying their lives, this dissertation revealed that the slaves associated with …

Gambian, Muslim, American: A Bronx Woman, Olatoni Akinbamowo

Occasional Essays

Kujegi Camara is Gambian, Muslim, and American. She was raised in the Bronx, in neighborhoods, madrasas (Arabic, school for Islamic education) and masjids (Arabic, mosque) rooted deeply in Senegambian (a region encompassing Senegal, Gambia, and neighboring countries) culture and community. Kujegi was raised by a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked in construction. The oldest of nine children, she spent her childhood taking care of her siblings and doing housework, but her parents always emphasized and prioritized her education. Her adolescence and early adulthood were marred, but not tainted, by experiences of Islamophobia in school. After 9/11, fear and …

Building A New Dream: Mohammed Mardah And The Making Of West African Community In The Bronx, Hatoumata Tunkara

Occasional Essays

The life of Mohammed Mardah, as demonstrated through his interview, is more than just a personal immigration story. Instead, it is seen as a view into the lived realities of West African migrants in the late twentieth century. His path from a young man looking for opportunity to becoming a community leader symbolizes how African immigrants in the 1980s and ‘90s influenced the Bronx not only by surviving hardship, but also by building networks and institutions that reshaped the cultural and social life of the borough. Mardah’s story enunciates that immigration is not a straight path toward individual success; it …

Oral History Interview With Fairolyn Livingston, Fairolyn Livingston, Wenxian Zhang

Oral Histories

Fairolyn H. Livingston ’83 is known as the “institutional memory of Winter Park’s west side,” where she was born and raised by what she lovingly refers to as a village. She earned her bachelor’s degree in humanities from Rollins’ Hamilton Holt School, is a retired human service specialist with the State of Florida, and has been associated with the Heritage Center since it opened in 2007, becoming its chief historian in 2014. In 1997, Livingston received the Rhea Marsh and Dorothy Lockhart Smith Research Grant—awarded annually by Rollins’ Olin Library in partnership with the Winter Park Public Library—to support research …