Preserving Community History
by Craig White and Paul Castelloe
Celebrating a community's history is important in grassroots organizing, because it links a vision of the future to the strengths and struggles of the past. Three of the African American-led groups that CPC partners with have built their community improvement efforts on wisdom gained through the celebration and preservation of their heritage and history.
Oral History. Oral history refers to the process of interviewing community members (usually the elders) about the community's history, and using the wisdom from these interviews to shape actions and decisions in the present day. The first project of REEP (Revitalize, Energize, Educate, and Prepare) was an oral history project where youth from the Texana, NC community interviewed community elders. The youth videotaped the interviews, took photos of the elders, and transcribed the story into an oral history booklet.
Photographs. Films and photographs that capture the daily life of a community and its people are also a great way to use history to build development efforts. Both REEP and One Dozen Who Care, a community development organization, have collected old photos of people, places, and events that are important in the history of African Americans in Cherokee County. One Dozen collected these photos into a scrapbook, and is currently working on getting a book published. REEP had copies of the photos transferred onto pieces of cloth, which were sewn by youth and volunteers into an "African American History Quilt," where every panel has a picture and a caption.
Music and Events. Cultural events are also an important way of building on a community's heritage. For instance, One Dozen Who Care sponsored a gospel event called "All God's Children," a celebration of gospel singing in the mountains of North Carolina. One Dozen is planning to produce a CD, a book, and a film of this gospel gathering. Cultural events like this also provide an important opportunity for a community to celebrate together.
Six elements of planning your own community history project
The historians. First, identify the people who will be doing the work: volunteers in a community organization, a group of students, a youth club. Anyone who explores history can be a historian.
The focus. Then, help your group figure out what history they want to explore. The history of a particular community? A particular group of people within the community? A specific historical event? What everyday life was like during a certain era? Having a clear focus will help keep the process on track.
The sources. Consider the best resources for exploring that history. One of the best sources is people, particularly the elders in a community, and the stories they have to tell. Other sources are old photographs, scrapbooks, newspapers, and songbooks.
The process. Think about how the historians will work with the sources. Interviews with elders? Will they be taped or videotaped? Library research? Having people research family documents at home? Asking community club members for old photos? Prepare the historians with appropriate training, and remember that all history-whether it's a story or a photograph-is valuable, so treat it with respect and care.
The results. From the beginning, have an idea about what kind of product or event you want to use to 'give back' the history to the community. A scrapbook? A photo album? A quilt? A photo gallery? A music or theater performance? A video? Oral history tapes? Use your imagination!
Make it come alive. All during the project, take the time for reflection. Ask questions about how past events and experiences have affected the community today. Talk about what has been lost and what has been gained over time. Discuss how the lessons of your history can help shape your future. And think about what kind of stories the historians in fifty years will be telling about your community of today.
Other Approaches to Preserving Community History
Communities across the US and around the world have used many methods for preserving their community history. These include:
Songs. Communities have collectively written songs about the barriers and injustices that they have faced, and used these to mobilize residents to work for the common good. A famous example is the folk song, "Which Side Are You On?", written about a miners' struggle in Eastern Kentucky.
Theater. Communities have collectively written plays that celebrate everyday heroes in their community. In Robeson County, NC, a multiracial (mostly Native American and African American) community-based organization created a play about the time when Native Americans chased the Ku Klux Klan out of the county, and used the play as a tool to talk about race relations then and now.
Reclaiming Local Wisdom. Throughout much of the world, preserving community history takes the form of recording elders' skills and wisdom related to practical areas like farming, the environment, health, botany, and arts and crafts. In the Bolivian highlands, for instance, the farming wisdom of elders helped reverse several years of crop and land decline due to "modern" agricultural practices that used chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
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