Documenting the Arc Oral History Collection

Collection

Identifier: AMN 1168

Scope and Contents

The Documenting the Arc Oral History Collection contains 33 interviews conducted between fall 2021 and summer 2022 by Dr. Millicent Brown at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. The interviews document the experiences of activists, organizers, artists, clergy, journalists, and other community members who were members or affiliates of Black Lives Matter Charleston (2014-2018) and other local grassroots organizations in Charleston, South Carolina.

The collection is arranged in one series

1.Interviews

1.1. Interviews includes 33 interviews in alphabetical order by first name of the interviewee

Dates

Creation: 2021-2022

Access Restrictions

No restrictions

Copyright Notice

The nature of the Avery Research Center's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Avery Research Center claims only physical ownership of most archival materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Historical Note

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The Documenting the Arc Oral History Collection is a series of video oral history interviews conducted between fall 2021 and summer 2022 by Dr. Millicent Brown and Cedar Wolf Media using grant funds from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. The interviews document the experiences of activists, organizers, artists, clergy, journalists, and other community members who were members or affiliates of Black Lives Matter Charleston (2014-2018) and other local grassroots organizations in Charleston, South Carolina. The oral histories center the period surrounding the shooting of Walter Scott, the massacre at Mother Emanuel AME Church and interviewees’ responses to those tragedies.

On April 4th, 2015, Walter Scott was shot in the back and murdered by former North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager. The incident was witnessed and recorded by Feidin Santana, a local barber and business owner who was on his way to work at the time. Later that year, on June 17th, 2015, nine community members were murdered while attending Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church by white supremacist Dylann Roof. Those killed are collectively known as the Emanuel 9. The Emanuel 9 includes Clementa C. Pinckney, the church's pastor and a South Carolina state senator, Cynthia Graham Hurd, branch manager for the Charleston County Public Library system, Susie Jackson, a Bible study and church choir member, Ethel Lee Lance, the church's sexton, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, a pastor, school administrator and admissions coordinator at Southern Wesleyan University; Tywanza Sanders, the youngest victim who was a graduate of Allen University and grandnephew of victim Susie Jackson; Daniel L. Simmons, the pastor at Greater Zion AME Church in Awendaw; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, a pastor, speech therapist and track coach at Goose Creek High School; and Myra Thompson, a Bible study teacher. Felicia Sanders, her granddaughter and great granddaughter Jennifer Pinckney and Polly Sheppard were also present at the Bible Study that night but were not physically harmed by Roof.

Interviews were conducted with the following individuals Daron Lee Calhoun, II, Brandon Fish, Akua Page, Jessica Parks, Erica Veal, Latisha Imara, Thomas Dixon, KJ Kearney, Jason Gourdine, Damon Fordham, Giovanni Richardson, Aisha Gallion, Talim Lessane, Clara Benson, Kamau Pope, Benny Starr, Vanity Reid-Deterville, Brenda Peart, Donald Cid, Kenya Cummings, Paul Bowers, Treva Williams, Kaj Brian, Feidin Santana, Gavin McIntyre, Shanalea Forrest, Jeremy Rutledge, Melissa Moore, Marcus Amaker and Hadis Abdus Samad. During their oral histories, interviewees reflected on topics like where they were and what they were doing when the tragedies took place, the actions, events and campaigns they participated in during the aftermath of the tragedies, and their experiences working with the late Muhiyidin d’Baha (1985-2018). D’Baha the cofounder and lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Charleston, who was killed in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 6th, 2018 while on vacation with his partner Erica Veal.