The Eastside Project
Cleveland, MS
Through filmed oral history interviews, the Eastside Project seeks to document, preserve, and raise awareness of the history of East Side High School (ESHS), a historically Black school in Cleveland, MS, that closed in 2017 after a 2016 federal order mandated consolidation of Cleveland School District, 51 years after the 1965 desegregation lawsuit Cowan v. Bolivar County Board of Education, and 62 years after the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
This project will contribute to ongoing efforts across the South in raising public awareness and knowledgeabout historically Black schools and communities pre- and post-Brown. The history of ESHS, Eastside, and Cleveland tell a larger story about segregation and civil rights in not only the Delta, but also the U.S. This project will contribute to and expand the physical archive located at Delta State University. The oral histories from the project will also be digitally archived and will be made available for public access (forthcoming).
A History of the Coalfields During Civil Rights
Jenkins, KY
This oral history project documents the stories of local people who came of age in Jenkins and the surrounding coal camps during the height of the civil rights movement. Topics include education, religion, recreation, work, and family life. The oral histories and other artifacts will construct a digital repository and archive that will be accessible to the community, educators, and researchers (forthcoming).
This work complements the efforts to preserve the history of Dunham High School, Letcher County’s all-Black school that operated between 1931 and 1964. Student alumni worked to obtain a state historical marker, which was granted by the Kentucky Historical Society in 2019. It was placed on the Main Street of Jenkins on August 28, 2021.
