2005 Campus-Community Partnerships

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The Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace and Heritage Center Oral History Project

Abstract:

The Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace and Heritage Center Oral History Project is Phase One of a long-term process of creating community based oral historians and collecting oral histories on the Central Avenue and Dunbar Hotel community in South Los Angeles. The birthplace of the Los Angeles Black community, the area is not well-documented in academic literature or community based archives.

The Phase One goal is to collect a series of oral histories focusing on Dr. Bunche's life in Los Angeles and his broader national/international significance, including the importance of his 1950 Nobel Peace Prize, being valedictorian of UCLA,and growing up in South Los Angeles. The UCLA Oral History Program will train 5-10 community youth to become effective interviewers through research and oral history collection methods. Youth-focused training curricula on oral history collection and the community will be developed, along with commemorative booklets. Students from Dunbar EDC's Bunche Youth Leadership Academy will digitally archive interviews and memorabilia. These items will be permanently displayed at Dr. Bunche's boyhood home (owned by Dunbar EDC), now a house museum near his alma mater, Jefferson High School.