"As a displaced and former resident of the Robert Taylor housing projects, and now residing in Englewood on the south side of Chicago, I hope with this research opportunity I will develop a unique understanding of the anthology of gender, labor, citizenship and lives of African Americans from reconstruction to the Civil Rights era, that illuminates the pattern of their vulnerability to state control."
- Troy Gaston
Thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in support of the Oral History Archive and Corps, and a partnership with Laura Nussbaum-Barberena at the Roosevelt University Policy Research Collaborative (PRC), the Museum has hired another group of paid interns. PRC interns include Troy Gaston, Sophia Gallo, and Juanairis Castaneda as well as graduate assistant Victoria Limón, who is participating for the second time. While their areas of study range from clinical psychology to sustainability studies, the team’s steadfast commitment to social justice has brought them together to learn how oral histories can be used to create innovative public policy solutions.
The team will be working with Artist As Instigator Tonika Lewis Johnson, using oral history methodologies to engage Chicago's Greater Englewood residents around the history and current impact of racist housing policies and practices such as Land Sale Contracts, as a part of Inequity for Sale.