The Black Liberation Mosaic: South Africa and Mississippi

In 2008, students from Dickinson College conducted dozens of interviews in South Africa and Mississippi as part of a semester-long comparative oral history project studying the movements that challenged white supremacist governments in South Africa and Mississippi. Interviewees included educators, political activists, historians, archivists, musicians, politicians, and business leaders. Students completed supplementary coursework in the fields of oral history, African and American history, and ethnomusicology in order to provide an interdisciplinary foundation for the fieldwork components. In 2010, the Oral History Association recognized The Black Liberation Mosaic with the Postsecondary Teaching Award for "incorporating the practice of oral history in the classroom in an exemplary way."