In June, the high-school students in the innovative Vancouver African American History Project presented a program based on their research of the history of African Americans in Vancouver from 1941 to 1948.

Lift Every Voice included posterboard exhibits and presentations by the students, and a roundtable discussion involving students, coordinators, advisory board members and oral history narrators. The students also received post-secondary scholarships they earned by participating in and completing the project.

After the students presented the results of their research, a lively question and answer and session ensued. The discussion included topics such as the the students’ and coordinators’ experiences in the project, community members’ reactions to the program, the importance of oral histories, and future phases of the project. Excerpts and pictures from Lift Every Voice are below.

Co-sponsors for the Vancouver African American History Project were the Center for Columbia River History’s James B. Castles Endowment, the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust, Portland State University, SWIFT, Clark College, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Vancouver Branch NAACP 1139, McLoughlin Heights Church of God and the Vancouver Community Library.

“Communication was a big thing for us – we had to learn first how to communicate with people and then how to communicate with strangers and then how to communicate with people who were a lot older and who lived there during those times…whoever is going to do oral history, you guys are really going to have to practice…” – Mary Byrd, Project Participant

“I think, for me, the whole project was [surprising], because I didn’t even know there was a lot of black people that lived here…” – Christal Jenkins, Project Participant

“What I found interesting was how many African Americans came to Vancouver just to work in the shipyards…” – Carlos Delcid, Project Participant

“Vancouver thought of the Colored Cotton Club? You know, Cotton Club is something you found down in the South or something like that.”
– Mary Byrd

“What I found most interesting was that although there [were] problems with all these new people of all races moving to Vancouver….people were able to adapt fairly well….”
– Keri Conway, Project Participant

“Even through a whole year of a lot of stuff and being a rookie at this …I would do it all over again, because it was definitely worth it.”
– McQueen Basil Duncantell, Project Coordinator

Community Reactions to the Project

“You are planting a powerful seed here with the start of your research.”

– Earl Ford, President NAACP Vancouver Branch 1139

“I would just like to congratulate the students on all of their work and I was there so I know that you worked really, really hard and the obstacles that you overcame…” – Angela

“I am so pleased and proud of you guys….you’ve done a very good job. I congratulate you because one of the strongest things we have going for us – and these words are from Martin King to me a year, two years, before he died – is that the oral history of our people, it must be resurrected, preserved, by our young. Our young. And you guys have done that and I am so proud of you, I want to hug and kiss all of you. Keep on, keep on…we still have to fight to go on, and I am so proud of what you’ve done. Ask questions, answer the questions – if you don’t find it, dig again.”
– Dr. Samuel Kelly, Project Advisory Board Member Guess-Westbrook, Project Advisory Board Member

“I hope this project will be a catalyst – I have no doubt it is a catalyst for these students – but a catalyst for the rest of the community to take a serious look at African American history.” – Da Verne Bell, Project Advisory Board Member

“I would really like to praise the young people who have put this program on tonight and who have done their research. You persevered and you have brought to our attention where we’ve come from and where we need to go. I just want you to keep on. But one thing, there are more parents in the audience than there are young people – you have a responsibility too, and that is to see that your children address these issues in the way that they should be, because we are all human and we want to be respected for that.” – Val Joshua, Project Advisory Board Member

“I would like to thank Melissa and Christal for asking me to be interviewed. They were very professional and they gave me a professional-type booklet of what the interview was and also a cassette and I will treasure it so my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will know what it was about.” – Jean Griffin, Project Narrator

Oral History

“Oral histories are not easy – its not like doing a normal interview because you don’t get to talk…while the tape is going you get to hear their stories…and I was so glad we had such excellent narrators because once you would give them a couple of questions they would be gone…it was awesome just to be one of the people given the opportunity to get this [project] uplifted off the ground…but yes, oral histories are very, very, very difficult.” – Christal Jenkins, Project Participant

 

“I would like to see more oral history done. It is the best way to get social history – the history you’re not going to read in textbooks because…it is about regular people, living their everyday lives. And oral history is a really important aspect of putting a history together – a complete picture, something that is three-dimensional – something that gets to the deeper layers of a community. And if we can get more oral histories and get more firsthand accounts of just the lives of anyone, I think that is really crucial to putting anything together, that is the key…”
– Melissa Williams, Project Coordinator

“It was hard work in the beginning, just learning how to do it and stuff, but..once you do it the first time, then you’ll want to do it again and again.” – Mary Byrd, Project Participant

“Oral histories actually [are] real in-depth to understand them, but when you do them, there will never be an experience like that in your life. To sit there and hear somebody give a firsthand account to you about history…I would encourage you – young or old, it doesn’t matter…just to try it and get a firsthand feel about somebody else’s history, about your own history. It’s really good. So I would encourage all of you to do that.” – Christal Jenkins

Future Phases of the Project

“Well, I’ve already got plans…I continue to find more research about the topics…I hope to talk to some youth, go to the schools, let them know that this information is out here…we didn’t know at first – my peers at high school didn’t know…I have plans to go home and call some people and maybe do another oral history or two.” – Mary Byrd, Project Participant

“I really hope that there is a phase two to this project. I’d like the Center to be involved, but I’d like lots of other folks to be involved as well. I think this should be a great community effort.” – Andrea Reidell, Project Director

I’m willing to get involved in any project that is available…as long as y’all got funds.” – Mary Byrd

“The Vancouver branch [of the NAACP] is looking to sponsor this group to do oral history on the Vancouver branch…we have over a dozen of the founding members in 1945 still a part and active in our chapter. So we want to capture that history while we can, and this is an excellent opportunity for us to do that.” – Earl Ford, President NAACP Vancouver Branch 1139

“We would love to do more projects. I mean, this project was tough and it’s always hard when you’re picking different individuals – it’s kind of like Survivor…you pick different individuals, you put them in a group together for a whole year, and you see who finishes – who finishes strong. The four of us up here are the ones that have finished strong…because we’ve come this far, we don’t want to stop…We’ll go recruit more kids from high school – start a whole another project… Don’t let this fire die – we get all excited now and then two months down the road there ain’t nobody that wants to fund our project. It is important that there is a commitment that goes along with it, because we’ve all…toiled – a year-long commitment to get this done. Sometimes we wanted to give up, but we knew we had to keep going, because it was important that our community know about this. So if you’re going to get involved, stick with it. If you don’t think you can handle it, then back off and encourage somebody else to do it, because it is a really committed project.” – Christal Jenkins, Project Participant

“I would just like to see it [the project’s research results] in the schools just because you learn about Lewis and Clark, learn about all of the European history in the United States…you very rarely hear positive things about the black community…especially since [this history] was so rich and vibrant and we had things going on here. I would love to see it put into a curriculum – even if it was in a handbook and [students] were made known of that ahead of time…I think it is important not just for African Americans but for all people of all cultures to understand just what was actually happening, what was actually going on…” – Christal Jenkins

“I think I hear a challenge out here to the people in the audience and to the community. You know we talk about young people not being committed, we talk about young people not doing something positive. These young people have more than amply exhibited they can do something positive and I think I hear a challenge, that ‘we want to do more – step up to the plate and do us some funding.” – Da Verne Bell, Project Advisory Board Member