Katherine Dunham - The HistoryMakers

The HistoryMakers’ Training Summit
The HistoryMakers conducted its
second Training Summit: convening
a meeting with full time staff, and
part time staff and staff trainees from
Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New York,
Boston and San Francisco. Evaluation,
training and development took place at the
Chicago headquarters from Wednesday,
September 7 through Sunday, September 11,
2005.
Included were the following interviewers:
Larry Crowe, The HistoryMakers senior
interviewer with over 700 interviews to his
credit; Robert C. Hayden of Massachusetts,
who is the author of sixteen books and a
primary biographer of African Americans
in science; Paul Brock of Upper Marlboro,
Maryland, veteran black journalist and television producer; San
Francisco’s Loretta Henry of the African American Genealogical
Society of Northern California; retired Army officer, educator
and genealogist, Edward Anderson from Decatur, Georgia;
New York author, Shawn Wilson and Atlanta’s Evelyn Pounds,
educator and past president of the African American Genealogical
Society of New England. Chicago veteran videographers, Scott
Stearns and Matthew Hickey, and New York-based videographer
Neculai Burghelea, provided orientation for trainees,
Adrian Jackson, Foster Stenson and Viola Henry.
The HistoryMakers producers, schedulers, editors, The
HistoryMakers Digital Video Library Project fellows and
administrative staff were also in attendance. Wednesday
night, Julieanna Richardson, founder and executive
director of The HistoryMakers welcomed participants
at dinner at the Chicago O’Hare Hilton. That evening,
noted Chicago historian and consummate storyteller Dr.
Charles Branham shared details of recent research in
the field of African American history.
On Thursday, there were tours of The HistoryMakers
facility and participants shared their evaluations of past
interviews, focusing on historical content and the use of
timelines to assist the interview process.
Dr. Walter Hill speaking at the
Training Summit.
follow up questions and well-researched
interviews was emphasized. Saturday’s
keynote speaker was Dr. Walter Hill,
senior archivist and subject area specialist
for Afro-American History and the federal
records of the National Archives. Hill, a
HistoryMaker
National Advisory Board
member, conducted The HistoryMakers
interview of Dr. John Hope Franklin in
2003. He stressed the singular significance
of The HistoryMakers’ archive and put the
project in historical perspective:
We need to broaden our historical
consciousness in thinking about history,
our history. History is a little box in
some people’s heads, but they really don’t
understand the dynamics and power of
history. ...When you learn history, your own history, you can’t help
but develop a stronger sense of identity – of who and what you
are.
I would argue that what you are doing here at The HistoryMakers,
Inc. is one of the most important methods of capturing human
life, values, institutional thinking, beliefs and creations. You
are capturing the human voice and you must understand that
cont, on page 18
Friday began with a review of the ENG camera
packages and a checklist of pre-interview, interview
and post interview procedures. Cheri Pugh and fellows of the
The HistoryMakers Digital Video Library Project offered their
review of some sample interviews and the best practices of specific
HistoryMakers interviewers. The importance of appropriate
The HistoryMakers Training Summit. Front row, left to right: Jessie Engel,
Jennifer Pullen, Loretta Henry, Amy Billingsley (behind Henry), Paul Brock,
Frederick Adams and Adrian Jackson. Second row up, left to right: Matthew
Hickey, Neculai Burghelea, Julieanna Richardson, Ivy Jackson, Harvey Baker,
III and Robert C. Hayden. Third row up, left to right: Edward Anderson, Shawn
Wilson, Evelyn Pounds, Cheri Pugh and Ngina Jackson (in black). Top row,
left to right: Foster Stenson, Viola Henry, Scott Stearns, Janelle Jennings,
Walter Hill and Larry Crowe.
THE HISTORYMAKERS SPRING 2006 PAGE 7