In Fall 2015, the Oral History Association recognized the mini-grant partnership between SPOHP and George A. Smathers Libraries for the “Freedom Summer Oral History and Library Curation Project” in 2013-2014 with its 2015 Elizabeth B. Mason Award for outstanding research accomplishments. Coordinator Sarah Blanc accepted the award in October 2015 with project staff member Diana Dombrowski at the OHA conference in Tampa, FL.
The Oral History Association serves as the principal membership organization for people committed to the value of oral history. With an international membership, OHA serves a broad and diverse audience including teachers, students, community historians, archivists, librarians, and filmmakers. In addition to fostering communication among its members, the OHA encourages standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, dissemination and uses of oral testimony.
The Mississippi Freedom Project is an archive of oral history interviews conducted with veterans of the civil rights movement and notable residents of the Mississippi Delta, centering on activism and organizing in partnership with the Sunflower County Civil Rights Organization in Sunflower, Mississippi. The 2013-2014 grant with Smathers Libraries enabled SPOHP to process and finalize over 100 transcripts for the University of Florida Digital Collections, the creation of Wikipedia project guide, and publication of the edited oral history volume “I Never Will Forget,(PDF)” distributed for the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer in the Mississippi Delta.
For more information about this collection, visit the Mississippi Freedom Project. Photo courtesy of Rosie King.