The mission to safeguard Black history in the US | Julieanna L. Richardson (re-release)
6/19/202618 min
Black history in the US is rich, profound -- and at risk of being lost forever, if not for the monumental efforts of Julieanna L. Richardson. As the founder of The HistoryMakers -- the largest national archive of African American video-oral history -- Richardson shares some of the unknown and incredible legacies of Black America, highlighting the importance of documenting and preserving the past for future generations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsElise Hu· Host0:01
[upbeat music] You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. In the United States, today is Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and celebrates Black freedom, culture, and history. Every child and every person deserves to find themselves in history, and yet for lawyer and founder of HistoryMakers, Juliana L. Richardson, that didn't happen, and she spent decades refusing to let that be the end of the story.
Julieanna L. Richardson· Soundbite0:34
Today, from our boardrooms to our classrooms, on TV and social media, debates are raging about whose history matters. Those who document their history are whose society says matters. For the Black community, that documentation has been elusive.
Elise Hu· Host0:58
HistoryMakers is the largest African American video oral history archive in the US, which is now permanently housed in the Library of Congress. For Juliana, Black history in this country is rich and profound, and she argues it is at risk of being lost forever. In this talk from 2021, she shares some of the unknown and incredible legacies she's uncovered and makes the case for why preserving those histories isn't just an act of memory, but an act of justice.
Julieanna L. Richardson· Soundbite1:26
We have, in this country, already lost