EJOHP Special Projects
In addition to our smaller and broader oral history collections, the EJOHP has developed targeted partnerships with community-based organizations who have identified storytelling and archival support as a critical need in their advocacy work. In partnership with these organizations and academic institutions, the EJOHP has developed specialized collections that combine a multitude of storytelling methods (oral history, journalism, social media, mini-documentary film, community preservation efforts, and more) to tell more comprehensive stories of joy, resilience, land-based connection, and environmental justice in the U.S. and U.S. South.
Click below to view the collections!
Piney Woods Free Union is a beautiful and unique settlement, believed to be one of the oldest examples of uninterrupted Black land ownership south of the Mason Dixon line. The property was settled prior to the Civil War by people of mixed African, Croatan, Tuscaroran, and Caucasian ancestry; it is a 300+ year-old agrarian freeman community established by folks who were never enslaved and that has existed in perpetuity as economically independent.
This collection documents the legacy of Piney Woods as an inspiring example of Black landownership and autonomy in the U.S. South as well as the revitalization work of local descendants as they attempt to combat climate change and industry encroachment.
The accomplishments and contributions of women in social justice movements is often underreported. Women stand in both the front and the back of Civil Rights and Environmental Justice Movements, representing the backbone of these movements in their role as organizers, cooks, caretakers, thought leaders, and so much more.
This collection focuses on the lived experiences and robust histories of some of the most prominent women-identifying activists in the Environmental Justice Movement. These women are legends in the fight against climate change and for clean water, air, and soil, representing multiple generations of movement leaders and activists.
Nestled within the rich leafy landscape of the Great Dismal Swamp exists a vibrancy and life reminiscent of a longstanding fight for freedom. Housed along the swamp’s borders are numerous culturally, ethnically diverse and thriving communities, descendants of African American and Indigenous peoples who used the swamp as refuge, safe have, and home. It is here, amongst the brambles and greenery, that many enslaved people sought freedom, built lives, and had families in defiance of a society that would see them in chains.
This collection documents the history of the GDS as a National Wildlife Refuge, Underground Railroad site, and meeting ground for numerous tribes. Further, this collection will document histories of land and labor exploitation in the Dismal and surrounding communities, connecting those histories to modern instances of environmental racism and climate injustice including in the Hampton Roads area.
Purposeful Partners: Indigenous Women and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Colonial North Carolina’s Borderlands, is a research project focused on the Indigenous identities and experiences of Indigenous women of central and Western North Carolina.
Inherent to many native experiences is a connection to place and nature-based practice. This collection focuses on the interaction of Indigenous identity and place, with additional documentation of oral history as a supplement to traditional historical academic research.
Agriculture is deep seated in Black American history. It is both a scar connected to the trauma of slavery in this country as well as an empowering source of income, wealth, land-ownership, and autonomy for formerly enslaved individuals and their descendants.
Black farm ownership in the U.S. peaked in the early 20th century before government disinvestment and the rise of corporate agriculture pushed Black farmers out of business.
This collection focuses on the legacy of loss and resilience among our forgotten farming communities.
Story Mapping the South, is a forthcoming EJOHP storytelling series that attempts to reduce the informational silos that exist within environmental movements, highlighting the often missing wisdoms of Southern advocates, ancestors, and movement building efforts.
The project will work with organizations across the U.S. South to develop a series of oral history story maps that combine oral history video, in-depth written history documentation, and geospatial visualization to build educational tools about environmental justice in the region.