Public History Commons^™

Engineering Inefficiencies And Technical Dependency : A Vital Lens In Understanding Power Outages In Postcolonial Tanzania, 1960s-1990s, Emanuel L. Mchome

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This article examines how the construction of power infrastructure in the 1960s-1980s shaped the future functioning of the Tanzanian power grid from the 1990s. The article is based on oral sources and archival material collected from the Swedish National Archives in Stockholm, the Tanzania National Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), the East Africana Section of the Wilbert Chagula Library at University of Dar es Salaam, the Rufiji Basin Development Authority (RUBADA) and the World Bank online sources. The article argues that engineering inefficiencies of some Western planners and builders of TANESCO’s power grid who failed to consider local ecological issues …

Tyler Dow, Mark Naison, Stephanie Robinson-Ramirez

Oral Histories

Tyler Dow is an actor, rapper, and activist from the Bronx, interviewed here in conversation with Doctor Mark Naison and Stephanie Robinson Ramirez. A 33 year old from Co-op City—the largest housing development in the United States—Tyler gives his perspective on the art and cultural scene of his neighborhood during the turn of the twenty-first century.

Beginning with the background of his familial ties to Co-op City, Dow explains that the first twenty five years of his life were spent in one of the neighborhood’s many high-rise apartments. He describes Co-op City as a proudly middle-class community, one that residents …

Gregory Delts, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Growing up and living in the Bronx up until recently, Gregory Delts detailed the institutions and communities that greatly impacted his life and how he has given back. The apartment building in which Greg was raised showcased the diversity of the Bronx and the strong community that they shared among residents. Friends and family alike cared for him and the other kids in the neighborhood by sharing their homes and food with one another. Although he attended the public schools in the Bronx until high school, he was sent to the rigorous Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts for his teenage years. …

Nosagie Ekhator, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Growing up in New York City and Pennsylvania, in the city and suburbia, Nosagie Ekhator navigated and rotated between two worlds that shaped his frame of reference. Having built community through this experience, whether it be through the shared memories of moving or Nigerian social clubs and conventions, he was able to create an identity of commonality. Although he felt the differences when shifting through both worlds, he was able to find people that understood his experience, as well as understanding his own individuality through food, music, religion, and being one of the only Africans in his public and private …

Maxine Agee And Kim Mcclain, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Kim McClain and Maxine Agee, the second and third presidents of the Bronx chapter of Jack and Jill of America Inc, both have their own experiences with Jack and Jill of America Inc. that is indicative of a vibrant sense of community created by the women alongside those around them. Kim McClain spent a lot of time on her own or with her siblings growing up as she had busy, hardworking parents – her father was the first black firefighter in Queens, New York, with a bold personality and an eclectic music taste ranging from Johnny Cash to Nat King …

Abdul Qadir Askia, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Sixth poll mark of the Kappa Alpha Psi (KAP) Fraternity, Abdul Qadir Askia is an African American man who is an accomplished professional in investment operations. He describes his early life as being nurtured with other cultures as he moved around New York City.

His father came to Brooklyn after migrating from California, where he was a member of the Black Panther Party, and where he would meet his mother. Askia lived in Brooklyn until he was seven, when he was sent to a boarding school in Senegal. When he came back, he moved around from place to place, from …

A History Of Native People In Nebraska, Part I, Gabriel Bruguier

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

The following isn’t a comprehensive history; the aim is to highlight important events and the ideas of those whose actions brought forth the history of the region and eventually the state of Nebraska. Using an analogy from the book The Nebraska State Constitution, we can think of how the state developed as a sort of fence, a way of separating what is “mine” and “yours”, who is “us” and “them,” and who the “insiders” and “outsiders” are.9 In examining the period leading up to the formation of Nebraska Territory, it is instructive to point to how outside forces desired and …

Voices Of Latinidad: A Truth And Reconciliation Movement To Preserve Latino And Latina History, J.S. Onésimo (Ness) Sándoval

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

This chapter began as a quest to tell the story of Latinidad in Nebraska. It is not meant to be a historical account of Latinos or Latinidad, nor a socioeconomic analysis. Instead, it has evolved into an accessible narrative highlighting the accomplishments of Latinos in Nebraska. The accounts and data presented serve as a public testimony and starting point for discussions that acknowledge Latinos’ presence. These accounts were not designed as an academic treatment for scholarly work but aim to inspire future scholars to research the lives and accomplishments of Latinos in Nebraska. Latinos have long been an integral part …

Native Americans, Part Ii, Kevin Abourezk

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s – aimed at abolishing legalized racial segregation and discrimination across the United States – found expression in Nebraska in many ways. From college protests to marches in Lincoln, the movement found a home within the youth and counterculture communities of Lincoln and Omaha. But less known is the way the movement impacted Native American populations, especially those in remote Nebraska communities. “Just as young Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans across the nation were learning the lessons of the black experience of the 1960s and expressing their identity as they sought to …

Contributors And Acknowledgments For Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Paul A. Olson, M. Dewayne Mays, Gabriel Bruguier, Kevin Abourezk, Preston Love, Jr., with Adam Fletcher Sasse, Heather Fryer, Sharon Ishii-Jordan, Emira Ibrahimpašić, and Julia Reilly

Acknowledgements

Frontmatter And Foreword To Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska, Bill Arfmann

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Covers, Table of Contents, and Foreword:

There is much to understand about the history of Nebraska and how the past shapes the present. This book attempts to bring into clearer focus the triumphs and trials of five broad groups whose lives have often been overlooked when the state’s history is told. The authors know some of this history of racism firsthand: Most of them have lived as people of color in Nebraska. They’ve experienced “the good, the bad and the ugly” that makes up our state story. We encourage educators, scholars and family historians to continue to dig, to document …

Introduction To Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska, M. Dewayne Mays, Paul Olson

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Nebraska has made racism a way of life through most of its history. It is still the way of life for many. In 2020, a Nebraska columnist wrote the following about Nebraska: “[T]he issues stemming from racism can seem like foreign concepts, confined to the larger cities (or the American South) and relics of a distant past.”2 The column goes on to show that these issues were not confined to large cities or to the South; they rested on our back door in Nebraska. Yet, one often heard back as far as one could remember that Nebraska is not and …

Faye Calhoun, Faye J. Calhoun M.S., Ph.D.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

A History Of African Americans In Nebraska, Preston Love Jr., Adam Fletcher Sasse, Le Clara Gilreath, Portia Love, Heather Fryer

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Black people have been present in Nebraska from its earliest days as a U.S. territory. The first U.S. Census of Nebraska, conducted in 1860, counted eighty-one Black people who, together, formed .28 percent of the young territory’s 28,841 residents. That number grew to 3,443 Black residents in 1900, representing 3.5 percent of the 102,555 residents of the state of Nebraska. The number and location of Black Nebraskans varied greatly through the twentieth century, comprising 13.7 percent of the state’s population in 1940 and 11.8 percent in 2020. Although African Americans have been relatively small in numbers, the historical record reflects …

Recent Arrivals: Refugee Resettlement In Nebraska, Emira Ibrahimpašić, Julia Reilly

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

One of the stories Nebraskans tell themselves is that the story of Nebraska is a story of immigration. One of the most recent versions of this story is that Nebraska is one of the best and most welcoming places in the country to be a resettled refugee. In many respects, this narrative is true, but as with all narratives, reality is more complicated. This chapter attempts to paint a fuller picture by providing a detailed history of the foundation of Nebraska’s refugee resettlement program, and an overview of five of the most populous refugee communities in Nebraska. First, we survey …

Exclusion From The Good Life: The Impact Of Anti-Asian Racism On Asian Nebraskans, Heather Fryer, Sharon Ishii-Jordan

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

To understand how Americans of Asian descent experienced, adjusted, and overcame negative experiences in Nebraska, recognizing the external forces on their lives is paramount. The experiences of Asians in their diaspora across the U.S. and Nebraska during a 150-year span have been shaped by both external (global and domestic) and internal (personality and resilience) factors. The presence of stereotypes specifically targeted toward Asian Americans due to exotic imaginings, pseudoscience, and economic fears, in addition to the images created by national media, gave rise to society’s acceptance of stereotypes. These external factors contributed to a belief that continues to this day …

Vivian Pinn, Vivian W. Pinn M.D.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

Yvonne Maddox, Yvonne T. Maddox Ph.D.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

Anishinaabe Nibiing: Anishinaabe Waterscapes And Canoe Building As Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Jeremy Kingsbury

The Cicadian

This paper explores the cultural, ecological, and technological significance of birch bark canoe (wiigwaasi-jiimaan) building among the Anishinaabe people, emphasizing their identity as an inland maritime society. Drawing on historical accounts, oral traditions, and personal experience as a park ranger, the author examines the intricate process of harvesting materials and constructing canoes, highlighting the deep environmental knowledge and gendered labor involved. The canoe served not only as a vital means of transportation and subsistence—facilitating fishing, wild rice harvesting, and seasonal migration—but also as a symbol of familial and spiritual connection. Through detailed descriptions of material selection and craftsmanship, …

Left Or Right, Loyal Or Disloyal: Ideology, Partisanship, And Empire In The Construction Of Interwar Japanese American Politics, Vivian Yan-Gonzalez

Asian American Studies Faculty Articles and Research

This article examines the first cohort of Japanese American voters in California in the interwar years, in order to explore the construction of racialized parameters on Japanese American political agency. Inter-imperial competition between the United States and Japan over the future of the Pacific, along with the popular and legal linkage of race and citizenship, produced a persistent distrust of Japanese American voters. Although Japanese Americans shaped their political strategies to appease these suspicions, militarized state demands for loyalty after the attack on Pearl Harbor sharply contracted their options from a range of diverse ideologies and partisanship to a narrow …

In The Name Of The Mother, The Nation, And The Race: White Women, The Jim Crow South, & Moralized White Supremacist Feminism, Shayna M. Lawson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces the concept of moralized white supremacist feminism to examine the central role white women played in constructing, legitimizing, and sustaining racial hierarchies in the Jim Crow South through a network of cultural and political organizing, particularly through the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Women’s Ku Klux Klan. Far from passive observers, white women were strategic agents of segregation, leveraging ideals of purity, motherhood, and moral virtue to enforce anti-Black violence and oppression through educational, civic, legal, and symbolic institutions, as well as extra-legal practices. Drawing from archival materials, oral histories, and critical race theory, this study …

Edward Condon, Edward S. Condon Jr.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

Matthew Kinnard, Matthew A. Kinnard M.S., Ph.D.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

Avenging Chief Sam: A Missed Opportunity In Galveston’S Commemorative Landscape, Eddie L. Brown Jr.

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This work centers on Chief Alfred Sam and the Oklahoma Blacks who were followers of his 1914 Back-to-Africa Movement. While public memory has portrayed return to Africa movements as disconnected moments in Black history, my work reinterprets Sam’s movement as foundational and revisits Galveston as the space utilized by nearly five hundred of his followers. It further asserts, that Galveston should be considered as the historical extraction point for the United States’ only Back-to-Africa movement of the twentieth century. While the Galveston landscape holds more than 200 historical markers and is the commemorated home of Juneteenth, no commemorative markers exist …

Kentucky History Is Native History: Decolonizing Native Portrayals In Kentucky Museums., Mandala Gupta Verwiebe

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Utilizing prominent decolonial museums scholarship, interviews conducted with anthropology and museum professionals, and Kentucky museum exhibitions, this research explores the history of Kentucky’s public institutions’ Indigenous representation and recommends guidelines to improve their portrayal of Native people. Through a historical analysis, this research finds factors that influence Kentucky institutions’ portrayals of Native history, such as early harmful grave looting of Indigenous ancestral remains, the prominence of the Myth of the Dark and Bloody Ground, and a weakened state governmental Native American Heritage Commission. After considering both decolonial theory and the experiences of Kentucky heritage professionals, this research recommends three methods …

Historical Preservation, Edgar Chavez Sosa

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Museums and archives alike, provide a public service to anyone who holds a yearning of knowledge. This public service can help aid this thirst for knowledge, art, and fulfillment of the many characteristics that make us human. People from all walks of life can attend a museum, or archive. Whether in a military museum, or an archive the mission remains the same. Historical preservation is what is being done behind closed doors. Whether you are looking for a certain document, book, or more information on a certain artifact. It all involves some sort of historical preservation. That being said, its …

Pedro Aceves Mfa Thesis, Pedro M. Aceves

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My Work is about looking at Cruising through a queer decolonial lens. Using multiple mediums such as photo, glass, Augmented reality, and film, I explore these queer histories and aesthetics through not just an anthropological approach but also an artistic epistemological approach weaving together narratives of prehispanic and modern queer Latinidad.

Linda Morris, Linda G. Morris B.S.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

Haunted Savannah: Dark Tourism And The Afterlives Of Slavery, Amelie Pelletier

Madison Historical Review

This paper examines the transformation of places associated with slavery in Savannah, Georgia into central sites of tourism, particularly focusing on the rise of ghost tours. The Sorrel-Weed House, a mid-19th century mansion, epitomizes this phenomenon, where historical narratives intertwine with paranormal allure to attract visitors. Despite lacking historical basis, stories like that of Molly, allegedly a slave involved in a tragic affair, are crafted to captivate tourists. This paper explores how the Savannah tourism industry obscures the unsettling histories of these sites in favor of Southern opulence and spooky intrigue. It investigates the commodification of slave narratives as ghostly …

Uncovering The Covered, Matthew Ouellette

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.