About Our Project

In Fall 2020, this public history, digital humanities project was launched by the history course HIS196H, COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter: Comparative, Crisis-based Oral History in the American Experience as a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE). The course explored the impact of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement in the context of twentieth Century American History by comparatively studying the intersectionality between disease and struggles for social justice.  The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 and the Race Riots of 1919-1920; the early 1950s polio epidemic and the 1950s-1960s Civil Rights Movement; and the 1980s HIV-AIDS pandemic and the Gay Rights Movement were studied and substantively linked to COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

HIS 196H integrated the study of American history with community-based learning and civic engagement. Students were introduced to public and oral history, learned oral history methodology, and addressed the need within Pace and the larger public community for survivor/ participant witness knowledge about major historical events. For the community service component of this Civic Engagement (CE) course students conducted oral history interviews to contribute to knowledge about two major contemporary historical events for public access and presentation; designed and participate in course-based programming for Social Justice week; contributed to the development of the COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter website; and presented their final projects to a community audience.  

iThe interviews could focus on COVID, BLM, or both by exploring how these two events intersected in a life narrative. The recorded interviews were 60-to-90-minutes long and typically conducted over Zoom in a conversational, journalistic format, which was reflected in the interview transcriptions. To continue the oral history project, the course also was taught in Fall 2021 as part of the Antiracist Education (ARE) course pilot and will be offered again in 2023-2024.

Along with the oral history testimonies, for the website class members collected photographs and data resources, and complied scholarly articles and related readings to deepen and expand knowledge about COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. The project also has partnered with the New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital (NYP LMH) and in its initial stage had an informal advisory connection with the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY).

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the United States and the world, and the Black Lives Matter movement continues to be at the forefront of social and civil justice in America. Our objective in this project has been to contribute to the documentation of these milestone events. These interviews were conducted as soon as possible as experiences unfolded to capture the strongest memories of the events.  Memory can fade or change due to time and circumstances. It is important to document these milestone crisis events while they are fresh in people’s minds so they are not lost to history. Social Justice Week at Pace began in 2020 to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the killing of Black Pace University student DJ Henry Jr. at the hands of a Pleasantville police officer. This oral history project and website is part of the Pace community’s efforts to honor DJ Henry and shed light on disease, social unrest, and struggles for justice.