The 2015 Emerging Crises Oral History Research Fund grant was awarded to Groundswell: Oral History in Movements to End Police Brutality, a collaborative oral history partnership between Groundswell and three partner organizations: The Forced Trajectory Project, the Book of Healing, and Freedom Summer 2015. Groundswell is a network of oral historians, activists, cultural workers, community organizers, and documentary artists that use oral history to further movement building and transformative social change. Each of the partner organizations are recording candid interviews that explore individuals’ subjective experiences and personal reflections on the history (and present) of police violence and its ramifications in their lives and the life of their communities. Through the proposed collaboration with each other and with Groundswell, these projects look to further and deepen their grounding in an oral history approach and will contribute to conversations about what more traditional oral historians might learn from other documentary and narrative forms, particularly when working in crisis situations. The Emerging Crises Oral History research fund grant will assist this group of oral historians and documentary artists in their efforts to preserve the stories of communities impacted by police brutality and contribute to the national conversation on police violence. The OHA Emerging Crises award committee commends this year’s grant recipient for the timeliness and professionalism of their project, representing crisis oral history at its best.
2015 Emerging Crises oral history grant winner
