Hey!! Welcome to the AAP Summer 2021 Team Blog! As the Project Manager and an avid journaler I thought it was super important for us to record our progress over these next eight weeks as an avenue for reflection and perspective. While we have larger goals for the project, at the end of the day my hope is that each team member ends this summer feeling accomplished in the work that they did, educated and equipped with new research skills, and supported by the rest of the team; so much so that they always look back on these eight weeks fondly. This blog is a way for us to track these points along with our larger goals, share with our current community the work that we are doing, and give future researchers insight into how this summer looked on a day-by-day basis. 

I started working on the ABC Archives Project during the spring semester of my freshman year. Jovante Anderson ‘19, the Historian of ABC at the time, had put out a call to the general body asking for folks’ participation in an archival project to commemorate what we thought was the approaching 50th anniversary of ABC. Jovante organized summer research for us, and we spent six weeks together doing research during visits to Special Collections, cleaning through Porlock’s basement, and trips to Lehigh and the Sigal museum. With a huge shout out to the folks who work in Skillman, we also received our digitization request of over 100 objects that are currently housed in Special Collections. 

That fall, I stepped into Jovante’s role and became the leader of the AAP. Through a reinvigoration of ABC during the school year and the pandemonium that abruptly cut it short,   national uprisings, interpersonal conflict, and an adjustment to zoom university - collecting and preserving the history of this organization and Black students generally at Lafayette never left a place of importance in my mind. I think it is so, so necessary that current Black students, faculty, and staff see themselves reflected in history, and that we leave behind as much information as possible so that future generations can do the same. Amongst other things, white supremacy highkey functions off of forgetfulness. Creating a platform where all Black people can be reassured and reaffirmed in their experiences, advocacy, and community and ultimately always reminded that they are not the only or the first to move through Lafayette College is really why I have been steadfast in continuing this project. 

I am most excited about making the website public during this summer. I really enjoy working within the digital humanities and with having such a connection to the AAP for so long finally having something tangible to show the community will be super awesome to see come into fruition. I am most excited about learning more about the folks I’m on this team with, more niche facts about the Black community at Lafayette (like the fact that in the late 70s folks took over the radio station every Saturday night and it was their *thing*), and how to do cool programming stuff within Scalar.

Here you can find the document I created for the team to understand the expectations for this blog: