ARC-OH. Avery Research Center Oral History Collections

Abstract The Director's Cut Oral History Project is a series of six video oral history interviews recorded in 2025 with current and former living directors of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Participants discuss a wide variety of topics including their professional lives, what brought them to Avery, accomplishments and challenges from their tenure, the role the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture and Averyites from the Avery Normal Institute played...

Abstract The Documenting the Arc Oral History Collection is a series of video oral history interviews conducted between fall 2021 and summer 2022 by Dr. Millicent Brown and Cedar Wolf Media using grant funds from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. The interviews document the experiences of activists, organizers, artists, clergy, journalists, and other community members who were members or affiliates of Black Lives Matter Charleston (2014-2018) and other local grassroots organizations in...

Abstract The Borough Project collection, bulk: 1986-2002 (1937-2002), documents the history of the Ansonborough Homes, a public housing community commonly referred to as the Borough by residents, on the East Side of Charleston. The Borough Project was an effort undertaken by sisters, and long-time Borough residents, Catherine Braxton and Rebecca Campbell to preserve the history and memory of the community as part of the 2002 Spoleto Festival USA through oral histories with former Borough residents....

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The Airbrush, Acrylic, and Acetylene Oral History Project contains three oral histories with three Charleston-area artists: Halim Abdul-Karim (jewelry designer), Elayna Shakur (visual artist), and Jafar Simmons (airbrush artist). The interviewees discuss their artistic practices, what brought them to the Charleston-area, why they decided to stay, and how they Lowcountry has impacted their artistic practices. The oral history project was conducted by Alada Shinault-Small in 1999.

Abstract The Orangeburg Massacre Oral History Project contains 18 oral history interviews conducted in 2001 and 2002 with students, professors, and journalists who were present during the 1968 police shootings of African American college students in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Interviewees discuss student organizing at South Carolina State College prior to the Massacre, the political climate of Orangeburg, the Massacre itself, the role of the press, the physical, mental, and emotional trauma from...

Abstract The South Carolina Civil and Human Rights Anthology is an oral history project containing 18 interviews conducted by the Avery Research Center in 2004 and 2007. Participants discuss their family history and their involvement in organizing and activism work in South Carolina. Topics discussed include labor organizing and labor strikes, demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement such as sit-ins and marches, voter registration and voter turnout efforts, the Orangeburg Massacre, and the...

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The Guy and Candie Carawan Sea Island recordings, 1960-1969, collection contains field recordings and oral history interviews documenting Gullah Geechee life and culture in rural Johns Island. The recordings were created, first, during the Carawan's time assisting the Island's Citizenship School and, later, when they lived on the Island from 1963 to 1965. The collection consists of reel-to-reel tapes, audiocassettes, and transcripts.

Abstract The Avery Research Center Lowcountry oral histories collection brings together individual oral history interviews mostly conducted by Avery Research Center employees with people who are from the South Carolina Lowcountry or lived and worked in the Lowcountry while adults. A handful of oral histories that were donated to the Avery Research Center, but not conducted by Avery Research Center employees, are also included in this collection. A wide range of topics are discussed in these oral...

Abstract The Avery Research Center Averyite oral histories collection brings together individual oral histories conducted by Avery Research Center employees with Averyites (students, graduates, teachers, and descendants) to discuss their time at the Avery Normal Institute and their professional and personal lives after they attended the school. A handful of oral histories with Averyites that were donated to the Avery Research Center, but not conducted by Avery Research Center employees, are also...