South Florida African American HistoryMakers included in groundbreaking archives move to the Library of Congress

South Florida African American HistoryMakers included in groundbreaking archives move to the Library of Congress

    The HistoryMakers, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive (www.thehistorymakers.com), is proud to announce that effective immediately the Library of Congress will serve as its permanent repository.

This unique collection of thousands of hours of interviews captures African American life, history and culture as well as the struggles and achievements of the Black experience. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress says: “The HistoryMakers’ archive provides invaluable first-person accounts of both well-known and unsung African Americans, detailing their hopes, dreams and accomplishments – often in the face of adversity. This culturally important collection is a rich and diverse resource for scholars, teachers, students and documentarians seeking a more complete record of our nation’s history and its people.” The HistoryMakers Founder & Executive Director, Julieanna Richardson adds: “The HistoryMakers represents the single largest archival project of its kind since the Works Progress Administration’s initiative to document the experiences of former slaves in the 1930. This relationship with the Library of Congress represents a momentous occasion for our organization.  With the Library of Congress serving as our permanent repository, we are assured of its preservation and safekeeping for generations to come.”

    Some of the HistoryMakers in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area whose life stories are included in our collection are:

·       Atty. George Allen — Civil rights activist and lawyer W. George Allen was born on March 3, 1036 in Sanford, Fla. In 1962, Allen earned his J.D. degree from the Univeristy of Florida Law School. He was the first African American to earn a degree at the University of Florida.

·       Interior designer, Ce-cil Hayes was born April 25, 1945, in Malone, Fla. Graduating from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in 1963, Hayes received a B. A. in art education from Florida A&M University in 1967. She was chosen as one of the Top Female Interior Designers in South Florida. Hayes is recognized by Who’s Who in Interior Design.

·       Entrepreneur Andrew Ingraham was born on Aug. 20, 1954 in Nassau, Bahamas. He completed his studies before moving to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. President and co-founder of the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers created to increase the number of African Americans developing, operating and owning hotels in America.

·       Corporate executive and lawyer James Blakely Lockhart was born in New York City on May 27, 1936. After high school, Lockhart at-tended Boston University, earning his B.S. in 1957 and his J.D. in 1959. After serving in the Army until 1963, Lockhart went to work for the Treasury Department as an attorney in the office of the chief counsel, where he remained until 1965. He is the past chair of the Bay Area Urban League and he is currently the chairman of the social action committee of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity and vice chair of the Boule Foundation.

Some of the HistoryMakers in the Miami, Fla.  area whose life stories are included in our collection are:

·       Avis T. Bailey — A captain and ship pilot, who founded the Captain Avis T. Bailey Mariner’s  Foundation to mentor inner-city youth and educate them about maritime careers.

·       Hon. Edward W. Brooke, III — Served in the U.S. Senate for 12 years, and helped write the 1968 Civil Rights Act.

·       Albert E. Dotson, Jr. — An attorney specializing in land use and zoning, and federal and local government procurement contracts and compliance.

·       Patricia Stephens Due — led a lunch counter sit-in, and served as field secretary for CORE in their first voter education and registration project in North Florida, registering more Blacks than anywhere else in the South.

·       Dorothy Fields — Founded the Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida, and also successfully restored the landmark Lyric Theater in the historic African American community of Overtown.

·       Evan Forde — Was the first African American scientist to participate in research dives aboard a submersible, and remains one of only a handful of Black oceanographers in the United States.

·       Valerie Norman-Gammon – A media executive and Emmy Award-winning television producer, who has won three NAACP Image A-wards for her work with The Essence Awards.

·       Enid C. Pinkney — A community activist dedicated to ensure that the role of African Americans in Miami’s history is acknowledged and preserved.

·       Dr. James Rosser — A hospital chief executive and medical professor specializing in minimally invasive surgery.

·       Garth Reeves — Was named the publisher and chief executive officer of the Miami Times, founded by his father in 1923.

The HistoryMakers’ collection is housed in the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation, a state-of-the-art facility located in Culpepper, Va. The HistoryMakers is also working to make the collection available to users world-wide through its ground-breaking digital archive (http://www.thehistorymakers.com/digital-archive) that currently has users in 51 countries across the globe.

For more information on The HistoryMakers and its video oral history collection, please visit www.thehistorymakers.com.