We hear a lot about immigrants in the media. It’s a story we all think we know about how times in Mexico and Central America are hard and how this hardship drives men and women to cross borders and take other people’s jobs. Many of us want to help, some of us want these people to return to their country of origin, but few of us take the time to ask questions and listen. Mainstream media rarely let immigrants speak for themselves.

StoryCorps, the national oral history project, is launching the Justice Project – an initiative that will amplify and preserve the stories of people whose lives have been impacted by mass incarceration and the justice system nationwide   We hope to use this and other Groundswell spaces to generate response, engagement, and reflection as we build this project.  Please help us build the best project possible.  

On May 26th, seven women-identified oral history practitioners gathered for May’s PSN, Self-Care for Social Justice Oral Historians. Our sharing circled above a loving attention to our bodies and the ways in which they communicate their profound knowing to us. In the social justice and oral history communities in which many of us operate, the idea of caring for ourselves is regarded as an afterthought, internalized as secondary to “the real work”. 

The first thing that struck me about  Listening through Time and Place: An Oral History Exhibit was the size of it. The information to wade in was both wide and deep. An average of four—and often more—five- to 10-minute excerpts of life history interviews featured in each of twelve exhibits may not sound overwhelming until you realize that each excerpt is designed as a gateway not just to that person’s life, but to an entire zeitgeist. 

On March 10th, 2016, twelve people participated in the PSN Chat titled “Success Stories: From Oral History to Social Change”. Practitioners Alisa del Tufo, Manissa McCleave Maharawal, and Mark D. Naison shared their experiences in successfully engaging oral history in service of social justice. Here is a video report back of the chat.

Before you read further, please google the phrase East Garfield Park. Okay, aside from the ubiquitous Wiki entry, what did you find? Our guess is you saw mostly hits that involved crime and gentrification in some way. The mainstream dominant media portrays this community in the heart of Chicago’s West Side as crime ridden, poverty stricken, and little else.  East Garfield Park organizations and residents strive to rewrite this narrative. 

We’re thrilled to introduce you to two new members of our Groundswell team. Amaka Okechukwu (a core member of our GS2015 planning team this past year) will be joining Sarah Loose as one of our Co-Coordinators and Maggie Von Vogt has come on board as Groundswell’s new Blog Coordinator!  

Become an Official Sponsor for Groundswell’s 2015: Oral History for Movement Building Network Gathering, June 17-18th, Detroit, MI!