Visit Project Project Details
The digital exhibit surveys the Black history of Tennessee Tech University from its founding in 1915 through the present day. The rural university was the last higher education institution in the Tennessee Board of Regents system to desegregate. Integration has been a long, incomplete process, as Black students, faculty, and employees have struggled to be respected and supported on campus and in the broader Cookeville community. Despite the challenges the Black campus community has faced, students and employees have created spaces for joy and pride in themselves. The exhibit features over 175 photographs, oral histories, clippings, flyers, and other documents.
Subjects or Themes
African American, Modern History, African American college students, College students, African American college athletes, African American educators, African American college teachers, African American--Societies, etc., African American Greek letter societies, Universities and colleges--Employees, Segregation, College integration, Student movements
Project Language(s)
English
Time Period
Geographic Location
Project Categories
Content Type
Oral History, Images, Sound, Text, Biography, Database
Target Audience(s)
Creators
Hannah O'Daniel McCallon
Rhyannon Karney
Year(s)
2020-2021
Host Institution / Affiliation / Project Location
Tennessee Technologial University Archives and Special Collections
Software Employed
Labor and Support
The exhibit was a collaboration with the Tennessee Tech University Office of Multicultural Affairs and University Advancement as part of a year long celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Leona Lusk Officer Black Cultural Center on campus. This exhibit is one of 3 digital and 1 in-person exhibits curated for the anniversary. The curation of the exhibit began with research in June 2020 and culminated with the official publishing on April 21, 2021. Assistant Archivist Hannah O'Daniel McCallon worked on the exhibits nearly full-time (7.5 hour work days, 5 days a week) alongside regular reference duties during that time period. A paid student worker, Rhyannon Karney, assisted with digitization and research during the fall 2021 semester, for an estimated 25 hours.
Much of the labor that went into the curation involved work that is not directly visible on the digital exhibits website. With the assistance of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and our Alumni Center, the assistant archivist trained Black undergraduate student volunteers in the RACE PLUS program on how to research and conduct oral histories. The students interviewed Black alumni over Zoom from November 2020 to January 2021. The assistant archivist processed and transcribed the oral histories. The assistant archivist and student worker located and digitized pages from the student newspaper and yearbook that related to the Black campus community to build a digital subject file. Other collections that were useful for exhibit research included records from the Office of Communications and Marketing, Dean of Students, President's Office, Photo Services, University Assembly, Tennessee Board of Regents and Tennessee Higher Education Commission collection, and Tech Times. Staff digitized most of the items that informed the exhibit and have made them available on the digital collections website, in addition to the materials displayed in the exhibit. Over 175 items are in the digital exhibit, while over 2,000 items were digitized and published in the digital collections.
Project Cost
