The San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum’s (SAAACAM) Church History Harvest Project is a showcase of African American living history and Black church culture. By giving community members an outlet to share their oral histories, we aim to build a bridge between the past founders of the churches and the present members that stand on their shoulders.
ABSTRACT: The historical Black churches in San Antonio date back to as far as 1886 and were founded by the Freedmen's Bureau shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Still under the shadow of slavery, these churches were not just sites for worship but were powerful tools in aiding the African American community in their fight for civil rights and are unique examples of African American perseverance in the American South. In our history harvests, we gather digital and physical donations of photos and documents that display the history of the church, but the focal point of the harvests are the stories collected from the present members of these churches that help to better understand the legacy of the past, its impact on the present, and allow us protect and preserve it for the future. During these harvests, SAAACAM currently utilizes mobile scanners, camcorders, and audio recorders to capture the oral histories. We expect the interviews taken from this project will give the community a resource to learn about local Black church history, an opportunity to utilize audible transmissions of genealogy, and listen to anecdotes of church life in the mid 20th century. The African American story is often ignored and forgotten, SAAACAM’s goal is to change that and to not only collect, preserve, and share those stories, but to bring them to the forefront.The hope is that the audience will take away from the presentation that the practice of conducting oral histories should become normalized as something that is accessible and necessary; that all you need – a recording device like a smart phone and questions – are within reach. In communities of color where storytelling has always been a given, it’s especially important to normalize speaking to the older generations and getting their stories before they can no longer speak.
