We are excited to announce that Remembering Black Dallas, Inc., in partnership with kinkofa, is one of ten 2023 Community Collections Grants recipients for our project, If Tenth Street Could Talk. The project is led by RBDallas president, Dr. Deborah Isaac Hopes, and kinkofa founders, Tameshia Rudd-Ridge and Jourdan Brunson, in collaboration with the Tenth Street Residential Association and a team of researchers.
If Tenth Street Could Talk follows descendants and residents as they work tirelessly to preserve the historic freedom colony's history and fight to have a voice in shaping the future of the community. By documenting contemporary community experiences and cultural activity, the project sheds light on key moments and community leaders past and present. This community-driven multimedia documentary and archival project centers the living memory and perspectives of Tenth Street residents and descendants through oral history interviews, GIS mapping, photography, digital storytelling, film, art, and genealogical research.
Our summer 2023 field school in partnership with kinkofa and Voices of SMU was a success! On Day 1, our fabulous students visited SMU, where they had the opportunity to see the Attorney J. L. Turner exhibit and DISD Desegregation Litigation collection in the Underwood Law Library, historical news reels and Black films in the G. William Jones Film Collection, documents related to student activism from the DeGolyer Library, MLK Jr. historical marker at McFarlin Auditorium, Voices of SMU oral history studio, and importance of metadata from the Norwick Center. On Day 2, the students learned how to collect oral histories, set up field equipment, and use the kinkofa Rememory tool alongisde dedicated RBDallas volunteers. Throughout the experience, they heard from everyday people who use archival research and oral history to document their family and community histories. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with these wonderful students and look forward to seeing what they do as historians in their families, communities, and elsewhere.
Do you know a Dallas high school student interested in learning about oral history, archival research, and digital storytelling? Tell them to apply for the Emerging Historians field school, which will take place July 10-11th from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. The first day will include a tour of SMU libraries and archives. The second will include an oral history workshop at RBDallas Headquarters. Applications are due Friday, June 30th. Apply here. Email fieldschool@kinkofa.com with questions.
RBDallas and kinkofa are partnering with Voices of SMU (VOSMU), SMU Dedman College, and SMU Libraries to teach a cohort of Oak Cliff high school students about archives, oral histories, and digital storytelling during a two-day field school titled, Emerging Historians: Preservation, Freedom, & Expanded Rights.
Tameshia Rudd-Ridge and Jourdan Brunson, co-founders of kinkofa, spoke on panel, Cutting Edge Technology, at the 2023 Aya Symposium. Afterward, they demonstrated kinkofa's tools for documenting and reclaiming family history, including the Rememory oral history app. The symposium was held at the University of North Texas at Dallas on June 8th. See the Aya Symposium website to subscribe for updates about next year's event.
Larry Johnson, Tenth Street Residential Association, and Tameshia Rudd-Ridge, co-founder of kinkofa, spoke to D Magazine about the origins of If Tenth Street Could Talk following the March press conference. It began with a call to action on a Juneteenth 2022 RBDallas bus tour. Read the full story here.
Photo by Eboni Johnson/D Magazine.
Tameshia Rudd-Ridge voices kinkofa's support of the Tenth Street Residential Association (TSRA) and community at the S.O.S. Save Our Structures press conference in March 2023. During the press conference, the TSRA expressed concerns over several recent structure fires. The residents continue to fight for the right to define their community through neighborhood-led planning and preservation. Photo by Eboni Johnson/D Magazine.
On March 1, 2023, the Library of Congress American Folklife Center announced that RBDallas had won a 2023 Community Collections Grant. The team will carry on the legacy of our late founder, Dr. George Keaton, Jr. in this work. Read the full announcement here.
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