TSHA 2010 March 4-6, 2010 Marriott Quorum Hotel Dallas, Texas Look for more details from TSHA.

Annual Meeting

Using Oral History to Document Civil Rights Movements in Texas

The three papers in this session will stimulate understanding on the topic of African American and Mexican American civil rights in Texas.

1. "Oral Histories of African American Educators from the Era of Segregation," presented by Robert Edison, Dallas ISD director of social studies.
As the title suggests, this presentation stems from Edison's many oral history interviews with black educators from the segregation era and documents an important chapter in early civil rights organizing in Dallas.

2. "The Development of Racial Consciousness: Austin African Americans Narrate the Emergence of a Racial Sensibility," presented by Martha Norkunas, professor at Middle Tennessee State University.
This paper highlights history gleaned from the University of Texas African American Texans Oral History Project, a collection of more than four hundred hours of recordings with Texans of African descent.

3. "The Bracero Oral History Project," presented by Kristine Navarro, director of the University of Texas at El Paso Institute of Oral History.
This paper stems from a collection of more than four hundred oral history interviews with Bracero participants from both sides of the US-Mexican border. The Bracero program, a federal guest worker program initially intended to address labor shortages during World War II, brought more than two million Mexicans to the US to work.

Details of the program--day, time, place--will be announced by TSHA in early January. In the meantime, mark your calendar for this special event and plan to join us in Dallas early next spring.