Book Description

African Americans have a long tradition of preserving their histories through archival projects. The purpose of the thesis is two-fold: to place African Americans in the history of community archiving and create tools to aid in creating these spaces for African descendants. The theoretical framework used to explore this topic is Africana Critical Theory. This thesis makes an effort to place African American Studies and Library Science in conversation to explore how and why African Americans have sought to preserve their histories, especially how their archival projects can be considered a part of the history of community archiving. In researching this history, one begins to uncover the importance of these projects and what community archives can mean for African American communities. Because of the importance of these spaces, this thesis showcases a model of a community archive using the African American community in Monroe County featuring a collection of African American barbers and hairdressers as a tool to aid in creating these spaces. It is made using a method developed by the author. The method incorporates a modified version of a community analysis borrowed from developmental studies and is described in the thesis. Following the model is a framework built on other existing frameworks and the archival projects of others. The framework, Creating Digital Community Archives: Community Spaces for African Descendants, is a set of four principles - Cultural Sensitivity, Participation, Empowerment, and Sankofa. The framework, along with the model, is meant to guide creators in building digital community archives for African American communities that can serve as decolonizing spaces. This work raises many questions. The future directions of the research portion of this work provides suggestions for later studies that will further aid in creating sustainable, decolonized spaces for African Americans to preserve their histories, empower and build community.