The Race and Change Initiative Dr. Kitty Oliver. Landmark Cross-Cultural Oral Histories – The Race and Change Initiative (Kitty Oliver Oral Histories) archive has a total of over 125 audio-taped and videotaped interviews of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians ranging from life histories of baby boomers – U.S. born and immigrants – who came of age with the Civil Rights Movement, to interviews in Ghana, West Africa. It is the only cross-cultural collection of its kind and scope in the U.S. where ordinary people reflect candidly on race relations experiences over the years and how society and they have changed. Some digital archives are housed in the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. The collection is part of the American Folklife Civil Rights collection.
Race and Ethnic Conversations On TV – Excerpts from public television and PBS productions show the range of candid conversations Dr. Oliver has conducted from discussions of interracial and intra-ethnic relationships, Latinos and skin color, and Caribbean and African American cultural differences, to international historical perspectives on race, negotiating conflicts, and envisioning the future.
Younger People Talk About Race – Voices of Race and hange: The Younger Generation, with over 50 stories of college students and teenagers of diverse immigrant backgrounds about their race and ethnic experiences today.
Memories of the Boomer Generation – Voices of Race and Change: Oral Histories and Podcast, exploring race relations from the perspective of older people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, including excerpts from the Race and Change Oral Histories archive.
Multimedia Race and Change Presentations – Dr. Oliver is a singer-songwriter and composer who blends music, memoir, and media with research and oral history storytelling into events for White, BIPOC, and immigrant audiences to bridge cultures, and leads intergenerational dialogues to spark wider conversations about social justice issues and working together for change.
