Global Curatorial Project: Unfinished Conversations oral histories and records (Ms.2022.010)

The Unfinished Conversation series is an archival collection of oral histories gathered by institutional partners in multiple countries that were impacted by the Atlantic slave trade with communities who can speak to the untold histories, memories, and narratives related to the history of racialized slavery and its afterlives. It is part of the larger Global Curatorial Project that is jointly led by the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery (also known as the Simmons Center) at Brown University and the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC). The collection is comprised of external hard drives and their digital contents and the scope of the materials varies by location as it meets the needs of the local institution and community. The accessible material described in this finding aid consists of interview videos, interview transcripts in multiple languages, sound files, photographs of interviewees; b-roll footage of interview locations and artifacts; interview summaries by student researchers and documentation of the progression of the project from inception to the end of the grant.

Series 1. Africatown, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 18 interviewees in Africatown, Mobile, Alabama, US regarding topics like environmental racism, land development, and community growth.

Series 2. Belgium, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 10 interviewees in Brussels, Belgium regarding topics such as Afro-Belgian culture, and oppressive legacies of colonialism in Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Series 3. Brazil, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 12 interviewees in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil regarding topics such as Afro-Brazilian culture, samba, and education access.

Series 4. Curators, includes videos, photographs, and audio files filmed in Washington D.C., and Dakar, Senegal documenting contextual history given by 8 project curators regarding the project and global racial slavery.

Series 5. Democratic Republic of Congo, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 21 interviewees in Kinshasa, DRC regarding topics such as spirituality and Kimbanguism, oppressive legacies of Belgian colonialism, and political activism.

Series 6. Foundational Documentation, includes meeting minutes, agendas, notes, photographs, and professional correspondence regarding the initiating and conducting of the Global Curatorial Project on behalf of the Simmons Center and the John Hay Library.

Series 7. Jamaica, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 8 interviewees from Jamaica regarding topics such as slavery in the Caribbean, Maroon communities, and music.

Series 8. Liverpool, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 10 interviewees in Liverpool, UK regarding topics such as Pan-Africanism, Afro-Caribbean heritage, and systemic inequality and racism in England.

Series 9. Senegal, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 39 interviewees in Senegal regarding topics such as oppressive legacies of colonialism, social classes, displacement, and intergenerational knowledge and trauma.

Series 10. South Africa, includes videos, photographs, audio files, and transcriptions documenting the lives of 21 interviewees from Cape Town, South Africa regarding topics such as farm worker's political activism, oppressive legacies of colonialism and slavery on wine farms, and self expression through poetry.