The Historian's Role: Reflecting on Knowledge and Access in/about Oakland
Black Panther Party Collections at AAMLO
I care deeply about academic access and digital scholarship because of how I view my role as a historian. I do not believe the historian’s role is to simply produce new knowledge about the past. I’ll admit I’m a nerd at heart. I geek out over history for history’s sake. There’s nothing wrong with the joy one gets from pure intellectual curiosity, in those moments of sacred solitude between a scholar and the records of the past. At the same time, for me at least, the historian’s journey should never stop there. I’m most excited about history when I can share the knowledge I learn with others.
Earlier this summer, as a graduate research fellow at the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO), I created a spreadsheet database of all the museum’s holdings related to the Black Panther Party. To be clear, this spreadsheet is not an official AAMLO resource. I created the document for myself to navigate the collections for my fellowship, but I imagine it may prove useful to others interested in the Black Panthers. There are a range of resources related to the Party at AAMLO for all ages, from archival collections and oral histories to children’s books and photo albums.
In my database, I’ve included links for digital materials that can be accessed online through Calisphere, including the Commemorator Newspaper Collection. Calisphere is an online repository from the University of California which provides free access to historical materials related to the state’s history, including some of AAMLO’s collections. The Commemorator newspaper was printed in South Berkeley starting in the 1990s by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party (1966-1982). The newspaper collection consists of 54 issues of Commemorator newspaper printed from 1990-2012.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll write some more blog posts to delve into different aspects of AAMLO’s holdings related to the Black Panther Party. Check back on Thursdays for new blog posts on Black Beyond Borders!
History for Today
The contemporary moment calls for museums and other historical institutions dedicated to Black history in the Bay Area to identify findings in their collections relevant to the nation's pressing issues and promote them widely in accessible ways. Historians, archivists, and curators should ask themselves not just what they find most intriguing or meaningful to collect, preserve, and disseminate. We must go a step further and ask ourselves what our community needs. What does Oakland need at this moment? I believe activists and community organizers want to better understand the city’s past to create change in the present.
I’m not just projecting my inclination toward history onto other people. I heard this sentiment first-hand when I attended a rally for racial justice in my neighborhood earlier this summer. Before marching downtown, the high school students expressed their feelings and convictions about this moment in our nation’s history outside of Oakland Technical High School in North Oakland. Oakland Tech, as it is more commonly known, has a storied history in the city, especially in the Black community. Among other trailblazers, the founder and visionary of the Black Panther Party Huey P. Newton walked Oakland Tech’s halls.
-Matthew Alexander Randolph is a PhD Student in History at Stanford University specializing in the history of the African Diaspora.
(Follow Matt on Twitter @m_alexrandolph)
I care deeply about academic access and digital scholarship because of how I view my role as a historian. I do not believe the historian’s role is to simply produce new knowledge about the past. I’ll admit I’m a nerd at heart. I geek out over history for history’s sake. There’s nothing wrong with the joy one gets from pure intellectual curiosity, in those moments of sacred solitude between a scholar and the records of the past. At the same time, for me at least, the historian’s journey should never stop there. I’m most excited about history when I can share the knowledge I learn with others.
Earlier this summer, as a graduate research fellow at the African-American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO), I created a spreadsheet database of all the museum’s holdings related to the Black Panther Party. To be clear, this spreadsheet is not an official AAMLO resource. I created the document for myself to navigate the collections for my fellowship, but I imagine it may prove useful to others interested in the Black Panthers. There are a range of resources related to the Party at AAMLO for all ages, from archival collections and oral histories to children’s books and photo albums.
In my database, I’ve included links for digital materials that can be accessed online through Calisphere, including the Commemorator Newspaper Collection. Calisphere is an online repository from the University of California which provides free access to historical materials related to the state’s history, including some of AAMLO’s collections. The Commemorator newspaper was printed in South Berkeley starting in the 1990s by the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party (1966-1982). The newspaper collection consists of 54 issues of Commemorator newspaper printed from 1990-2012.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll write some more blog posts to delve into different aspects of AAMLO’s holdings related to the Black Panther Party. Check back on Thursdays for new blog posts on Black Beyond Borders!
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| Calisphere main page. "Calisphere is a gateway to digital collections from California's great libraries, archives, and museums. Discover over 1,750,000 images, texts, and recordings—and counting." |
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| Screenshot from Calisphere website showing AAMLO's Commemorator Newspaper Collection. |
History for Today
The contemporary moment calls for museums and other historical institutions dedicated to Black history in the Bay Area to identify findings in their collections relevant to the nation's pressing issues and promote them widely in accessible ways. Historians, archivists, and curators should ask themselves not just what they find most intriguing or meaningful to collect, preserve, and disseminate. We must go a step further and ask ourselves what our community needs. What does Oakland need at this moment? I believe activists and community organizers want to better understand the city’s past to create change in the present.
I’m not just projecting my inclination toward history onto other people. I heard this sentiment first-hand when I attended a rally for racial justice in my neighborhood earlier this summer. Before marching downtown, the high school students expressed their feelings and convictions about this moment in our nation’s history outside of Oakland Technical High School in North Oakland. Oakland Tech, as it is more commonly known, has a storied history in the city, especially in the Black community. Among other trailblazers, the founder and visionary of the Black Panther Party Huey P. Newton walked Oakland Tech’s halls.
At the rally, I heard high school students evoke Huey's name and I couldn’t have been more proud to be in Oakland at that moment. These students knew their history. They knew they were following the footsteps of many who came before them as they challenged police brutality and sought to hold those in power in their community (and the nation) accountable. They knew that looking into the strengths and setbacks of past struggles for social justice is the way to imagine a more just world today.
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| Oakland Technical High School. Image credit: Oakland Tech website. Huey Newton graduated as part of the class of 1959 and founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. |
-Matthew Alexander Randolph is a PhD Student in History at Stanford University specializing in the history of the African Diaspora.
(Follow Matt on Twitter @m_alexrandolph)
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