Project
In November 2019, Jake Northington, then a student at California State University San Marcos, participated in an oral history with the University Library's Head of Special Collections. The founding of the Black Student Center came up during the interview. After some reflection, Jake approached the Library with the idea of conducting an oral history of the Black Student Center; specifically, the story of its advocacy and implementation, as told by alumni, staff, and faculty that were on campus and witnessed that period in our campus's history.
A project team was convened, and John Rawlins III, Director of the Black Student Center, contacted eleven narrators describing the project and asking for their participation. With funding from CSUSM's Instructionally Related Activities Fund, three student interviewers were hired in February of 2021, and in March, working with members of the Library's Special Collections, those students were trained in the art and method of oral history.
Due to pandemic-related campus closures, the student interviewers began remotely interviewing narrators in April 2021. All interviews were conducted via Zoom. The narrator's oral histories can be found on their narrator pages.