Final Reflection

Over these past ten weeks, my research interests in African American history and culture were re-affirmed. Seeing the voids in history has made me aware of what I want to see more of: black culture and history. While I was not able to interview Erika Hart, a participant in the Illness and Identity exhibit showcased at City Lore, I still admire her work along with other black women who contribute to complicating the black women narrative by introducing more intersectional identities.

I am most proud of the last piece that I did about the National Black Theatre because I felt that I was able to learn a lot that pertains to my thesis. Researching the National Black Theatre has caused me to also do a little research on the 1960s black arts movement. Founder Barbara Ann Teer is viewed as an unsung leader in the movement because she is not also recognized as Leroi Jones (also known as Amiri Baraka). Teer founded a theatre which not only harvested black performance, it transformed theatre by making it a liberatory practice for blacks on-stage as well as those who watched it from the audience. The lines were blurred between actors and audience, as the actors engaged with the audience. Teer’s style of performance was meant to decolonize and possibly, even create a revolution. This potential revolution had the power to reach everyday people in the seats of the National Black Theatre performance spaces.

I love black history and I especially love movements meant to empower black people.  Another thing that I have been made aware of is how, African American history may be seen as “old” when compared to that of new migrants. I wonder if African American history and culture can flourish alongside the seemingly “newer” marginalized histories, or rather, the histories and cultures that are currently in fashion.

For my project, I mostly worked remotely, since my project was more literary, site visit, and research-oriented. I don’t regret that part. I do however regret not making it to some of the City Lore events. For example, there was a documentary viewing about the subway lite feet dancers. I was hoping to go but something came up that interfered with that. Also, reflecting on my written pieces, I would have loved to create some cohesion with the Place Matters sites that I wrote about. I think that the summer moved really fast and once the fellowship started, I had to move quickly to make sure that the pieces and interviews with done. For future projects, I will make sure to create a more structured plan with the community partner as to the theme of the project I will be created.

My advice to someone interested in community engaged research is to be flexible and be open to meet people where they are at. There were times that I did not maintain my schedule of Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Fridays to accommodate interviewees. It was more important that I receive the interview than miss out on that opportunity. Advice as to approaching African American history and culture research would be to make sure that the organization focuses on that culture. “Marginalized culture” is a broad topic and can apply to many communities.  However, if working with an organization that focused on marginalized history and culture, see if they are open to projects that highlight specifically black culture.

What’s next?

Over the next month, I will be submitted and defended my thesis, which advocates for the importance of diverse black women representation through the analysis of The Women of Brewster Place literature-to-film miniseries. I have been drawn to the subtle representation of the black lesbian couple, which is something that is also viewed as problematic. As I have conducted research, I have seen how scholars have wrote about erasure of sexuality or hyper-sexualization of black women. I am interested in exploring if there is an in-between?