For the last 80 years, African-American and Latinx barrios in New York City have suffered the drastic effects of racist urban policies and neoliberal agendas now mirrored in hypergentrification. Consequently, their historical sites, cultural hubs, and family businesses in the five boroughs have experienced a silent erasure. 

In order to continue remediating historical obliteration due to the danger of gentrification, displacement, and harassment, “Where We Were Safe”, in collaboration with Archivistas en Espanglish, is offering a storytelling workshop that explores the intersection between archives, oral history, and social cartography. During the workshop, participants will learn about a methodology to develop place-based oral history and social mapping projects such as the one used to develop “Where We Were Safe”. Participants will walk away with knowledge surrounding the ethical and practical creation of public history projects in order to develop a similar practice in their contexts, barrios, and communities.

In this 3-hour theoretical/practical workshop, participants will:

• Understand the connection between archives, oral history and social cartography (Oral Mapping). 

• Discuss critical approaches towards defining what is “cultural space”, why it is important to our communities, and why it is worth preserving.

• Learn to use “oral mapping” to locate, document, and preserve the histories of meaningful community spaces and landmarks.