Join the Student’s Oral History Club
Undergraduates—have you heard? There’s a new oral history club at UF! The Student’s Oral History Club bring students of all backgrounds together through the education of oral history. Consider joining to explore the process of oral history, examine different oral history projects, and assist in potential project creation.
UF Gulf Scholars bring hope and healing to coastal communities
SPOHP’s collaboration with the UF’s Gulf Scholars Program brings students to Pensacola, Florida to document stories of community organizing and resilience in response to the toxic legacies of Escambia County’s many superfund sites. Read more about the Pensacola Environmental Oral History Project and the inaugural student cohort.
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Samuel Proctor Fall Open House
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program invites UF students, faculty, staff, and community members to our Fall Open House at 4pm in the Pugh Hall Ocora on Wednesday, September 11th.
Fall Internship in Oral History
Join SPOHP in Fall 2024 for our 3-credit internship, HIS4944: Introduction to Oral History! Receive hands-on experience in the foundations and applications of oral history, while working with our historic collections and ongoing fieldwork initiatives. Deadline to apply is May 24th. Email annahamilton@ufl.edu for application information.
Gulf Scholars Oral History Field Excursion
As part of UF Gulf Scholars, SPOHP and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service invite you to take part in an exciting oral history fieldwork trip from June 11-14, 2024. Apply by Sunday, May 19, 2024
SPOHP alum Dr. Jessica Taylor presents newest book
Taylor will present on her newest book, Plain Paths and Dividing Lines: Navigating Native Land and Water in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake Bay, on Tuesday, March 5th, at 6pm at the Matheson History Museum! We invite the public to join us for this free event. Dr. Taylor’s work explores escape attempts of indentured servants and enslaved people in the seventeenth-century Chesapeake.
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SPOHP’s Spring Open House
Join SPOHP for our spring 2024 open house “meet and greet” on Tuesday, January 30th, from 3-5pm in the O’Neill Reading Room on the second floor of Pugh Hall!
Mississippi Freedom Project Town Hall
Join us on Wednesday, February 7th from 5-7pm in the Pugh Hall Ocora. SPOHP’s Mississippi Freedom Project (MFP) brings students into the Mississippi and Arkansas Delta regions to conduct interviews with civil rights activists and organizers. Interested in taking part? Come and see how you can help document civil rights history with the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.
African American History Project
The African American History Project (AAHP) is an archive of over 600+ oral history interviews conducted with African Americans throughout Alachua County, wider Florida, and the American South. The collection includes memories of many facets of Black life in Florida, and is the one of the largest public African American history collections anywhere. Archival Collections Oral history […]
Asian American History Project (ASAH)
The Asian American History Project (ASAH) is an archive of Oral History interviews conducted with Asian Americans within the University of Florida, and throughout the greater South. The collection aims to record the experiences of Asian Americans students at UF, as well as the broader Asian American Experience. Archival Collections: Oral history interviews are currently […]
Challenging Racism at UF
The SPOHP’s Challenging Racism at UF public program series highlights stories of students, community organizers, faculty, and others who have been on the front lines of the effort to create a more just and welcoming world.
(Pictured: People gather after the “OverKome! Creating Pathways for Collective Community-Led Development” event.)
Florida Queer History (FQH)
The Florida Queer History Project, founded in June 2016, is a growing archive of oral histories dedicated to highlighting the queer experience throughout the last century. The project aims to provide a means for queer-identified individuals to express and document how their sexual orientations and gender identities have shaped their lives. The Project also seeks […]
Joel Buchanan Archive
The Joel Buchanan Archive of African American Oral History contains over 700 oral history interviews with African American elders throughout Florida and the wider Gulf South. These interviews and the overall projects associated with them have resulted in numerous public programs, university seminars on African American history and Ethnic Studies, and community-based oral history workshops.The archive contains […]
Latinx Diaspora in the Americas Project
The Latinx Diaspora in the Americas Project, founded in 2014, is a growing, award-winning archive of 100+ oral histories dedicated to creating space for Latina/os to share their historical experiences related to identity, immigration reform, labor conditions, education, and civil rights. LDAP Familia Blog LDAP Familia is a blog maintained by project coordinators of LDAP. It was […]
Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program (MFOS)
The Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program (MFOS) is a full grant and scholarship package that helps first-generation, low-income undergraduate students who are residents of Florida to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida. Since its inception in 2006, the program has reached its 15th-year mark with thousands of successful alumni stories. As of […]
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Mississippi Freedom Project
The Mississippi Freedom Project (MFP) is an award-winning archive of 200+ oral history interviews conducted with veterans of the civil rights movement and notable residents of the Mississippi Delta. The collection centers on activism and organizing in partnership with the Sunflower County Civil Rights Organization in Sunflower, Mississippi. Upcoming MFP Trips: MFP 2023: In July […]
Native American History Project (NAHP)
Native American history initiatives at SPOHP have focused on tribal history in the Southeast, archiving hundreds of interviews with the Catawba, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Lumbee, Seminole, and Pamunkey since 1967. NAHP Project Origins Archival Collections Oral history transcripts for the Native American collections, including the Lumbee, Cherokee, Catawba, and more, are available online at […]
Pandemic Oral History Project
In March of 2021, the coronavirus pandemic changed all of our lives. Samuel Proctor Oral History Program quickly adapted to continue documenting oral histories for all projects. As the lockdowns were implemented, the new social conditions required the creation of a project that would capture how the pandemic impacted people’s lives. The result is the […]
Welcome to Reanimating African American Histories of the Gulf South
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP), UF Department of Linguistics, and George A. Smathers Libraries are proud to announce the establishment of an NEH-funded collaborative project entitled, Reanimating African American Oral Histories of the Gulf South (RGS). The project’s foundation is the Joel Buchanan African American Oral History Archive, which is ongoing and currently contains over 1000 […]
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Tidewater Main Street Project (TMP)
The Tidewater Main Street Project (TMP) is dedicated to documenting the traditions, folklore, and history of the rural communities in the tidewater region of Virginia through student fieldwork and community engagement. Since 2014, SPOHP has been leading student fieldwork trips to Virginia to build upon its 200+ oral history collection. […]
Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Project
The Network to Freedom Underground Railroad Oral History Project (URP) gives voice to one of America’s most pivotal and under-documented social movements: the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad conducted people seeking freedom from slavery to safety along a secret network, until at least the end of the Civil War. A partnership between SPOHP and the […]
Veterans History Project
The Veterans History Project, founded in 2000, is a collection of 300+ oral history interviews with veterans from military conflicts from the Civil War to present day in partnership with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. American Women And Military Service Archival Collections Oral history interview records, including interview logs and select audio, are […]
White Anti-Racist Activism Digital History Project
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP) is proud to announce the establishment of the White Anti-Racist Activism Digital History Project. The White Anti-Racist Activism Digital History Project consists of interviews and artifacts donated by individuals who participated in social justice movements over the past 40 years in states of the Gulf South and present […]
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2023 Internship Courses
HIS4944 Introduction to Oral History: Stories of Freedom Seekers and Freedom Conductors offers students training in the field of oral history, best practices and ethics, and fieldwork and processing. This in-person, 3-credit internship is structured around our partnership with the National Parks Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program to record interviews with descendants of freedom seekers and freedom conductors along the Underground Railroad. Students will attend weekly seminars for group discussion and instruction, and will also design and undertake their own oral history projects. Email spohp@clas.ufl.edu for more information by December 1st, 2023. We will cap the course at 10 participants*.
SPOHP Volunteer Program
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida is dedicated to providing public history support as a research center for students, faculty, and community members. Volunteers contribute several hours each week to program collections, working on individual goals to learn new skills in a guided and supportive environment.
Establishing an Oral History Project
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program offers workshops in oral history practice, methodology and fieldwork for community groups, academic institutions, and other organizations interested in beginning oral history projects. Introduction to Oral History from Dr. Paul Ortiz Dr. Paul Ortiz, director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, prepared the following outlines to conducting successful […]
Oral History Academic Internship Program
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida offers semester-long academic internships, available to graduate and undergraduate students for 3 credit hours, which serve as an introduction to the field of oral history. Intern duties include learning oral history methodology and field research techniques, including conducting, transcribing, and audit-editing interviews. In addition to […]
Community Partners
We work by the motto, “One Community, Many Voices.” Our program is driven by the support of our growing community in Gainesville, as well as statewide in Florida and around the United States. Thanks to our many sponsors and research allies! To access oral history interviews, podcasts, documentaries, and research media made possible by partnership with these […]
Oral History Degree: 4+1 BA/MA
The UF History Department and SPOHP announce a new combined Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Program in oral history, now open to students for admittance. Open to students working in any field of modern history, the program is designed to train students in oral history practice to make history accessible to a broad audience and connect scholars and departments […]
The Julian Pleasants Travel Award
On a bi-yearly basis, the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program grants a researcher with the Julian Pleasants Travel Award, designed to promote cutting edge oral history research at the University of Florida and recognize innovative scholarship. The award was created in honor of Dr. Julian Pleasants, Director Emeritus of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program […]
Visiting Scholars
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program partners with sponsoring institutions to promote emerging oral history research, and supports scholarly with the Robert Zieger Scholarship Fund and bi-yearly Julian Pleasants Travel Award. Dr. Julian C. Chambliss, Julian Pleasants Fellow, 2017 Dr. Julian Chamblis is a professor of History at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and is primarily known as […]
University Scholars
The University Scholars Program at the University of Florida introduces undergraduate students at the University of Florida to the exciting world of academic research. In the program, students work one-on-one with UF faculty on selected research projects, taking away an understanding of and appreciation for the scholarly method. To contact scholars about their work and inquire […]
Robert and Gay Zieger Social Justice Scholarship Fund
Dr. Robert Zieger (1938-2013), Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Florida, was one of the preeminent labor historians of the United States. Bob was a spirited and highly esteemed historian and two-time recipient of the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award who introduced countless scholars, students, union members, and community organizers […]
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FALL 2020 INTERNSHIP
Anti-Racist Resources
African American History at the University of Florida and Beyond The University of Florida’s African and Native American History Task Force was created by President Kent Fuchs in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s death, and the killing of emergency room medical […]
Blood Type: Red Lips & Big Hoops
What does it mean to be a person of color? Seriously. I’m confused. I can’t count the number of times I have opened my laptop and google searched “Are Latin folks people of color?” Without fail, I always read something along the lines of “POC refers to people that are not White.” I then stare […]
Solidarity Sessions: Bringing Community Conversations Back to our Institutes
During my 4 years at the University of Florida, I have seen an enormous need for a space where the tough conversations are had. In the fall of my freshman year, the Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, better known as La Casita, was torn down and we were left with the Hispanic-Latino Engagement Center (also known […]
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Veterans, Ethnicity, and Citizenship
When I began to read from those who have served in the United States military, I quickly realized that the portrayals I have been exposed to in mainstream media and popular culture offer an extremely limited glance into the actual experience. While listening to the stories Hispanic and Latinx veterans (and more broadly folks from […]
CHOMP TRUMP: Experiencing the Trump Jr. Protest as a First Generation Latinx Student
As a first-generation student born to Cuban Immigrant parents, I don’t exactly have a pearly view of higher education institutions in the States. On the one hand, attending University meant everything to my parents. It meant everything to me to make their sacrifices worth it. They didn’t immigrate here to live with distant relatives in […]
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I’m Non-Binary and I’m Latinx: What that means to me (Part I)
As a non-binary person who grew up in the US, non-binary identity is one I claim as a rejection of a binary gender system. I don’t believe that there are only two genders and I also don’t view gender on a spectrum with a perfect example of a man on one end and a perfect […]
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FALL 2019 VETERANS HISTORY INTERNSHIP
For the Fall Semester of 2019 SPOHP is offering an internship through UF’s History Department (HIS 4944) that will focus on U.S. military veterans and Homefront experiences in different eras, from World War II to currently enlisted personnel. Students enrolled in this internship will apply Ethnic Studies and oral history approaches to veterans history and conduct primary research in the form of publicly-archived interviews. The internship will be led by VHP coordinator Ann Smith and SPOHP Associate Director Ryan Morini.
FALL 2019 AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES INTERNSHIP
For the Fall 2019 Semester, SPOHP will have an additional internship focused on social movements, AFA 4940, sec. 01B4, which does not require an application, but which students can also contact Dr. Ryan Morini at Pugh Hall 241 if you have any questions, or contact him by email at ryan.s.morini@gmail.com.
An Interview with Gerardo Reyes Chávez: “If Everything Was Fair There Would Be No Need”
by Aliya Miranda The first words Gerardo Reyes Chávez learned in English were, “Single file,” while on a 234-mile march from Fort Myers to Orlando in 2000. This was his first action as a part of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), which has been advocating for worker-led programs committed to ensuring living wages, combating […]
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SUMMER C 2019 TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION INTERNSHIP
For the Summer C Semester of 2019, SPOHP is offering a fieldwork-centered internship that centers on the truth and reconciliation efforts currently underway in Alachua County. Students will conduct interviews that go into SPOHP’s public archives, and will have opportunities to travel for interviews and community engagement both within and beyond Alachua County. This internship is offered through African American Studies, and meets Tuesdays during periods 2-3 (9:30am – 12:15pm). Please see the flyer for additional details.
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Fair Food has come to town!
BY LDAPFAMILIA This spring over one hundred farmworkers and their families traveled from Immokalee, Florida and gathered here in Gainesville, Florida where they marched accompanied by students, faith leaders, and community members through the University of Florida campus. These farmworkers were on the last leg of the 4 for Fair Food tour, where they visited […]
A Salvadoran Righteous Among the Nations
José Arturo Castellanos (1893–1977) By Francesc Morales In 1993 hundreds of thousands of people discovered the story of Oskar Schindler (1908–74) through the eyes of the Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List. That very same year he and his wife Emilie were named Righteous Among the Nations, an honorific title used by the State of Israel […]
Beat I.C.E.
BY LDAPFAMILIA Today is a gray day, a dark moment: I.C.E, an agency that has detained, deported, harassed, tortured, and killed our community is turning 16 years old. 16 years of deceitful operations. 16 years of lawlessness. 16 years with no accountability. 16 years antagonizing our communities in our homes, workplaces, and daily commutes. 16 […]
SPRING 2019
SPOHP’s Spring Semester 2019 internship will focus on Memory and the Black Freedom Struggle in Florida, and will dovetail with our March 21-23 national symposium, From Segregation to Black Lives Matter. Students will work closely with our African American oral history interviews and other archival materials, and help us to conduct and transcribe new interviews […]
The Power of Names
That’s Not My Name My name is Omar. No not Omar, Omar. When you read that I bet that you were reading oh-maar, but my name is pronounced oomahd. It’s funny I’ve been going by both names for most of my life. Almost like I’ve been living a double life, but I didn’t choose the […]
David Chalmers Library
UF History Emeritus Professor David Chalmers, a noted historian of the Ku Klux Klan and Southern History, recently gave to SPOHP a remarkable collection of primary source documents and books from his personal library, including original editions of Stetson Kennedy, Thomas Dixon, and Albion Tourgee. The Primary Source Collection follows the ebb and flow of hate […]
Mississippi Freedom Project Panel
Mississippi Freedom Project Panel, which took place on October 17, 2018
“LA CASITA” ENCUENTRO (REUNION)
“La Casita” Encuentro (Reunion), which took place on October 3, 2018
FALL 2018
SPOHP’s Fall 2018 internship focuses on the narratives of women, queer folks, and people of color in the DIY Punk scene both in the U.S. and throughout the wider world. It also focuses on why and how people create these spaces for themselves. We will publicly archive oral history interviews to allow people of color, women, and queer punks to describe their experiences in their own words and voices. What kinds of spaces for resistance and social justice can people create when they overtly reject social norms?
Welcome to the Ottoman Greeks of the U.S. Digital History Project
The Ottoman Greeks of the United States project (OGUS) is a multifaceted endeavor to preserve and promote the history of immigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States. The OGUS project focuses on the chronological period of 1904 – 1924 in order to illuminate the peak in immigration from specific regions of the Ottoman […]
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Fall 2018 Internship- exploring Punk Rock:
SPOHP started recording interviews with people involved in the punk scene, prioritizing the voices of women, people of color, and queer punks who have always been part of the scene but are not always visible in popular representations of it. We are also making an effort not only to interview band members, but also general […]
Summer 2018 trip to the Poarch Creek archives:
In the summer of 2018 a SPOHP team of undergraduate students, graduate students, and SPOHP alumni returned to Atmore, Alabama to conduct interviews with members of the Poarch Band of the Creek Indian Nation. Students learned the technical skills necessary to set up cameras, lighting, and audio equipment at the tribe’s archive building, as well […]
Art of Aging
Since its inception, the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program has been an ally and resource for older persons, from its home base at UF to the far corners of the globe. Not only does SPOHP provide narrators the adequate time and space, in a world so full of speed and sound bites, to tell […]
Accessibility in Higher Education for Latinxs (Wanting to Run)
I want to make my Mami proud. I want my mother to be able to say that her daughter graduated with not one, but two Bachelors and that her Certificate in Latin American Studies shows that she has not forgotten her roots. I imagine my Mami and Abuelita in the stadium, screaming my name when […]
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Malcriada
They call me malcriada, malagredecida, berrinchuda, y una sinvergüeza. I tell them that to make it in the United States, the double E of double U, you gotta be un poco malcriada. Because they won’t hand you anything. They lied to Mami when they said that the roads were paved in gold. They lied to […]
How I Am Portrayed as a Queer Latino
How I am portrayed by Richard Lainez 1.4 million. That is the number of Latinxs that identify with the LGBTQ+ community; at least as of 2013. At first glance, the number seems big. It seemed big to me the first time I saw it. But then I realized that it isn’t, this number isn’t so […]
Meet the Coordinators, Meet Your Familia
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora is a fourth year English and History major with a Certificate in Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. Her previous involvement includes being an ambassador at the Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, being a part of the Membership Leadership Program for the Hispanic Student Association, programming Hispanic Heritage Month’s Forum event, and […]
The Fear of Liberation Education
Knowledge is power. Despite this fact, the United States education systems continue to perpetuate gaps cemented in segregation, failure to invest adequate funding and the denial of complete human capacity of minority American citizens. History is particularly important for nation building and collective memory. Ethnic studies should not be an alternative to education. It is […]
What is LDAP?
The Latino Diaspora in the Americas Project (LDAP) at the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program seeks to navigate the multi-layered and complex narratives of the Latinx community. This project seeks to demonstrate the already long standing relationship between the United States and Latin America. We cannot escape the long history of colonialism and exploitation between […]
DAVID JONES, ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION MARTHA ROSS TEACHING AWARD, 2015
In Fall 2015, David Jones, American history teacher at Eastside High School in Gainesville, was awarded the Martha Ross Teaching Award from the Oral History Association for his longtime work teaching International Baccalaureate American history students to conduct local oral histories. In 2013, SPOHP, the UF Center for European Studies, and Mr. Jones’s IB Junior Class collaborated on […]
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Veterans for Peace Helmet Award, 2015
In Fall 2015, the Gainesville chapter of Veterans for Peace awarded Deborah Hendrix their annual Peace Helmet Award at December’s Winter Solstice Concert. As the award narrative details, “Deborah Hendrix is known in Gainesville as the People’s Videographer. She has produced countless hours of documentary film programs on issues such as immigrants’ rights, environmental history, African […]
Oral History Association Elizabeth B. Mason Award, 2015
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 […]
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Society of American Archivists Diversity Award, 2015
In Spring 2015, the Society of American Archivists recognized SPOHP’s ongoing commitment to social justice research initiatives, including the recent Latina/o Diaspora in the Americas Project, with the 2015 Diversity Award. Founding coordinator Génesis Lara accepted the award in August 2015 at the SAA conference in Cleveland, OH. The Society of American Archivists is one of the largest […]
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University of Florida Institute of Hispanic/Latino Cultures Best Cultural Event Award, 2014
In April 2014, UF’s Institute of Hispanic/Latino Cultures awarded SPOHP “Best Cultural Event” at the annual Noche de Gala ceremony for production of the documentary, “Siempre Adelante: A Look at Faith and the Immigrant Struggle.” The Institute of Hispanic/Latino Cultures advocates on behalf of Hispanic Latina/o populations and offers support to the University of Florida and […]
Falana McDaniel, Oral History Association Martha Ross Teaching Award, 2013
In Fall 2013, McComb Legacies teacher Falana McDaniel was awarded the Martha Ross Teaching Award from the Oral History Association for her efforts to bring civil rights oral history into the classrooms of McComb High School in Mississippi. McComb Legacies is a youth leadership program that provides middle and high school youth with the opportunity to learn […]
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LDAP 10 Commandments
We want our people to know who they are and be active participants in their history and future. We want our people to be unapologetic for who they are and create spaces for themselves. We want justice for every person in every instance of unfair treatment due to race or prejudice. We want people from […]
Oral History Association Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi (“Voice of the People”) Award, 2013
In October 2013, the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program was recognized by the Oral History Association with the Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi (“Voice of the People”) Award for outstanding achievement in using oral history to create a more humane and just world. Teaching partner Falana McDaniels, of the McComb Legacies Project at McComb High School in Mississippi, was […]
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