Established by award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson, the Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project captures and celebrates the untold stories of 200+ elders—activists, storytellers, and community builders—who have witnessed and shaped monumental change in American public life.
Pictured: Jacqueline Woodson
A partnership between the Columbia Center for Oral History Research, the Emerson Collective and Woodson’s nonprofit, Baldwin For The Arts, I See My Light Shining offers a unique foray into the lived experiences of Black, Asian, Caribbean, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latino/a/x, dual-heritage backgrounds, and queer individuals across the United States.
Operating at the intersections of migratory trajectories and politics and history, I See My Light Shining is a collection of oral testimonies along with an array of ephemera including photographs and letters, that provide an essential memorialization of American life. Focusing on ten regions, the project examines topics from the emergence of social justice movements, to gender and diversity politics, to housing inequality and displacement, stories of protest, rebuilding, love, and liberation.
Elders’ oral histories were captured by Baldwin for the Art's inaugural class of Baldwin-Emerson Fellows who include award-winning writers: Caro de Robertis, Natalie Diaz, Eve L. Ewing, Denice Frohman, Caleb Gayle, Robin Coste Lewis, April Reign, Ellery Washington, Renée Watson, and Jenna ""J"" Wortham. Baldwin-Emerson Fellows have collected the narratives of more than 200 elders whose stories may have otherwise been lost with the passage of time. More than just an archive, I See My Light Shining is an invitation and offering to celebrate and honor the individuals who have contributed to shaping American history and culture."
The Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project is complete and will become available to the public on May 16, 2024.
Project team
Mary Marshall Clark, Co-director
Kimberly Springer, Co-director
Madeline Alexander, Project Manager
