Celebrating Black History Month during February, we welcome scholar, artist, and community organizer, Erika Slocumb. Currently, she is doing a research on the Wistariahurst archives, with the purpose of cataloging, document, and uncover the stories of the black community in Holyoke, from the 18th Century to the present. This project is titled Black Holyoke: Uncovering the History of the Black Community in the Paper City.

On this episode, we talk about the project, its importance for our community, the experiences so far, and the invitation to the community to help to build the content of this historical archive, on a collection day scheduled for Saturday, February 24th from 10am to 1 pm at the Wistariahurst Museum, 238 Cabot St. Holyoke, MA. There will be a collection of documents, records, memories, photographs, and oral stories (captured on audio or video).

You can find more information about the Collection Day at the Wistariahurst’s website:

https://wistariahurst.org/events/black-holyoke-uncovered-archival-leads-collection-session/