America as told by its elders

Marsha P. Johnson hands out flyers in support of queer NYU students.
Photo: Diana Davies / New York Public Library.

Last year we announced our partnership with Emerson Collective and Baldwin for the Arts to support acclaimed author Jacqueline Woodson’s I See My Light Shining: Oral Histories of our Elders. This ambitious oral history project seeks to preserve the stories of elders who have shaped America—from Civil Rights activists to Native American tribal leaders to survivors of Stonewall—before they’re lost to history. Though the project’s collection of narrators is diverse in geography and lived experience, each story is united by common themes of identity creation and migration.

Woodson has selected a remarkable cohort of writers to collect these stories in locales across the country. Ten writers will conduct around 30 interviews each—that’s a collection of nearly 300 interviews!

Given its complexity, managing this production is no small feat. Our very own Madeline Alexander, Project Manager, has been working diligently to make this cross-country undertaking possible. Managing all of the project’s elements—including training, budgeting, interview logistics, and transcription—Alexander has successfully brought the project well into its interview phase.

As recordings and transcripts from across the country arrive at her desk, Alexander is already witnessing the project’s potential firsthand. “I See My Light Shining is an homage to the bravery, experiences, and essence of our elders,” Alexander says. She adds:

“We seek to uplift the narrators’ voices by investigating migration throughout the United States as a geographic access point to identity creation. We plan to honor and create accessibility to life stories, because as we have found, each story is a talisman to the understanding of our own histories, identities and connections with each other.”

I See My Light Shining poses important confrontations to issues of authority and representation, which Alexander notes, are central to Incite’s mission: creating knowledge that leads to more just, equitable, and democratic societies.

The experience has also been transformative for the project’s ten writers. Project writer and Stonewall Book Award winner Carolina de Robertis reflects on their experience: "I've been blown away over and over by this work, and look forward to seeing it (and my amazing colleagues' interviews) shared with the world."

We share in Carolina’s sentiment, and look forward to updating you on the project’s progress and public rollout later this year.