January 11, 2012, marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay—the first of what would be nearly 800 prisoners to cycle through the camp. One hundred and seventy one are still there. Despite President Obama’s pledge, the facility remains open, a prisoner of fear-mongering and politics—and it continues to be a symbol of mistreatment and missteps in the prosecution of the war on terror. Vanity Fair has interviewed dozens of people associated with Guantánamo—lawyers, soldiers, diplomats, former detainees—in order to tell the story in their own words. Click here for full story.
Category: OHAA QLD Blog
LGBTQ History discussed at Chicago conference
As part of the American History Association’s recent conference in Chicago, a great deal of discussion was devoted to the emerging interest in LGBTQ history. An early-morning panel discussion confronted many of the problems and the successes with LGBTQ history and its dissemination to the popular masses. Professor Kevin Murphy, with the University of Minnesota, discussed his recent tribulations when putting together an oral history of the Twin Cities, saying, “We collected over 100 oral histories of the Twin Cities LGBTQ community. Historians, sociologists, geographers and ethnologists tried working together but found it difficult to create a work that would make their work interesting to the masses.” The resulting book, Queer Twin Cities, was not well-received by the media or the intended target audience. Murphy admitted that not even the local Minneapolis gay press reviewed the book after its 2011 release. He said that it was “heartening to see the localized interest in GLBT history” but that, ultimately, the work seemed to alienate readers. Click here for full story. This site has a number of useful links.
American Civil Rights Oral History Program
Margaret Block, a civil rights activist, spoke at a function last week as part of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, an organization which strives to preserve oral history. One of the students in the audience pointed out that learning about civil rights from a textbook is a totally different experience than hearing it firsthand. For full story, click here.
Memories of Iran’s Islamic Revolution
Manager of the oral history department of Islamic Revolution’s literature office said: “Information which is gathered as memories resembles pieces which will finally present a complete picture of the Islamic Revolution. If the matter is considered more seriously, a complete picture of the Revolution’s oral history will be gained.” For full story click here.
Haiti Earthquake Project
Two years after Haiti was rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake near Port au Prince, a New York University (NYU) graduate student and staff at the University of Kentucky Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History are teaming up to capture, save and share the stories of survivors of the terrible event and its aftermath. For full story, click here.
The Forgotten Australians
Can you put a price on a childhood? The federal government did: after the apology it set aside $26.5 million in the 2011 budget. That’s $53 per person for the half million affected. That money has gone to a national oral history project, an exhibition coming to Sydney this year and a hotline for “streamlined” access to government services. The NSW government set up Wattle House, a drop-in counselling facility in Harris Park. The input of Forgotten Australians was sought into the colour of the walls. Counsellors, historians, bureaucrats, lawyers and tradesmen got paid; the victims didn’t. The Forgotten Australians are getting older, with the looming spectre of institutional aged care causing many deep and renewed anxieties about their future. The time to do the right thing by these people is running out. For full story, click here.
Latest on Boston College oral history project issue
A last-minute stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has blocked efforts by British authorities to obtain documents from an oral history project, the Belfast project, at Boston College. While the college was prepared to turn over the documents, as ordered by a lower court, a stay was obtained on behalf of those involved in the oral history project. For more, click here.
Thomas Jefferson’s Slaves
Peter Fossett, 11, was among Thomas Jefferson’s slaves sold to pay his debts. He recalled he was “born and reared as free, not knowing that I was a slave, then suddenly, at the death of Jefferson, put on an auction block and sold to strangers.” Fossett’s story is one of many included in several new projects to shed light on the slaves who lived and worked at Monticello. A website launching Jan. 27 will showcase oral histories of the slaves in an online project called “Getting Word: African American Families of Monticello.” For full story click here.
Recent US War Veterans’ Oral Histories
The American West Center at the University of Utah has interviewed more than 500 veterans of World War II, plus smaller numbers from conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, as part of the oral-history endeavor. But Matthew Basso, director of the American West Center and an Army vet, decided not to wait decades before recording oral histories from Utah vets returning from the latest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “It’s important,” Basso said. “We don’t believe Americans have a full sense of the complexities in the experience of war.” For full story, click here.
Teaching oral history in schools – U.K.
2012 sees two big events in Britain: the celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games. As a teacher you may already be thinking of how to bring these to life in your lesson planning, and one way of doing so would be through oral history. Oral history is a wonderful way of encouraging pupils to engage with the wider community and offers the chance of learning new skills. Interviewing, editing audio, project management, web design, creating a display, writing a play, archiving – these are all skills that can be learnt through oral history. For full story which includes useful links, click here.