Southern Memory Workers Institute
In the summer of 2023, 16 memory workers from across the South gathered at the Highlander Research and Education Center for the inaugural Septima Clark Learning Center's Southern Memory Workers' Institute. The following year in April 2024, 19 more memory workers joined us.
Highlander's librarians and archivists, Ashby Combahee, Susan Williams, and Maranda Perez, and Georgia Dusk co-founder Dartricia Rollins hosted participants on the hill to train on archival, documentarian, and other memory work skills, as well as Highlander's six methodologies.
Memory work is a critical intervention for restoring and sustaining the collective memory of our liberation movements. Sessions included trainings and presentations facilitated by participants on public history tours, personal journaling practices, community-based archives, archival digitization, documentary photography, oral history, zines, and community mapping.
2023 Inaugural Cohort. Pictured left to right: Laura Rosado, Audrey Oliver, Dianna Freelon-Foster, Karma Mayet (seated), Margaret Lawson, Sophie Ziegler (back), Garrett Blaize, Dartricia Rollins (seated), Matthew Slaats, Aljosie Aldrich Harding, Terence Price II (seated), mónica teresa ortiz, Whitney Jaye, Ayshea Khan, Deyadira “Dee” Arellano, Ashby Combahee (seated), Mariama Eversley, Nedra Deadwyler, Anna Malinowski
2024 Cohort. Pictured left to right: Cherice Harrison Nelson, Leilani Carden, Karma Mayet (kneeling), LeeAnn Idell Chisolm Morrissette, Tyler Barbarin, Victor June Omni, Moses Hernandez McGavin, Dartricia Rollins (seated), Sarah Sloan, Victoria Garcia (kneeling), Daniel Horowitz Garcia (back), Brittany “B.T.” Paschall, Ashby Combahee (seated), Nubia Lateefa (kneeling), Briana Bivens, Maranda Perez (seated), Adreonna Bennett (seated front), William Isom (back), Dani Brockington, B Carrie-Yvonne (kneeling), Andrew Zonneveld (back), Alsie Parks, Sierra King (front), Angela LeBlanc-Ernest, Nana Korantema
