Sat, 30 Jan 2016 21:38:52 -0500

Call for Paid Summer Research Assistants

Civil Rights in Black and Brown: Oral History of the Multiracial Freedom Struggle in Texas

A Collaborative Research Project Housed at TCU – Texas Christian University – crbb.tcu.edu

Project Overview

Not one but two civil rights movements flourished in mid-twentieth century Texas—and they did so in intimate conversation with one another. While most research on American race relations has utilized a binary analytical lens— examining either “black” vs. “white” or “Anglo” vs. “Mexican”—this project bridges cultures by collecting and interpreting four hundred new oral history interviews with members of all three groups, simultaneously. Covering the period since the onset of civil rights era, the interviews with African American, Mexican American, and white activists located in fifteen sites throughout the large, diverse state will add new depth to the study of “black/brown” relations past and present. In addition to archiving the full oral histories and using them as the basis for scholarly works, the project features a free, publicly-accessible digital humanities website that displays short digital video interviews clips, each with its own metadata to allow for easy searching across the entire collection. The project is directed by Max Krochmal (TCU), Marvin Dulaney (UT-Arlington), Todd Moye (University of North Texas), and Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez (UT-Austin). For more information, visit the project website, crbb.tcu.edu.

Summary of Position

Research Assistants (RAs) will be assigned to selected field sites in Texas for eight weeks of full-time oral history fieldwork. With assistance from the project directors, RAs will contact gatekeepers, consultants, and community leaders and then interview a wide range of activists who contributed to the black and brown freedom struggles (broadly defined) in their respective cities. RAs will also manage and process digital video interview data to add the project website. Work will begin with a two-day training and workshop at TCU on June 2-3, 2016; will continue with fieldwork taking place June 6 to July 30 (including a retreat around the 4th of July); and conclude with a two-day wrap-up meeting and data processing at TCU on August 1-2, 2016.

Compensation

Research Assistants will receive a minimum $5,000 stipend for almost nine weeks of work as well as living and traveling expenses. RAs will also be invited to contribute to an edited anthology or other works stemming from the project.

To read more about this Call, please check the link below