Archival Amnesty: In Search of Black American Transitional and Restorative Justice
Title
Archival Amnesty: In Search of Black American Transitional and Restorative Justice
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.24242/jclis.v1i2.42
Description
Abstract:
Archives as memory institutions have a collective mandate to document and preserve a national cultural heritage. Recently, American archives and archivists have come under fire for pervasive homogeneity - for privileging, preserving, and reproducing a history that is predominantly white and further silencing the voices and histories of marginalized peoples and communities. This paper argues that as such, archives participate in a continuing amnesty that prevents transitional and restorative justice for black Americans in the United States. Using the history of lynching in America as a backdrop, this article explores the records and counter-narratives archives need to embrace in order to support truth and reconciliation processes for black Americans in the age of #ArchivesForBlackLives.
Archives as memory institutions have a collective mandate to document and preserve a national cultural heritage. Recently, American archives and archivists have come under fire for pervasive homogeneity - for privileging, preserving, and reproducing a history that is predominantly white and further silencing the voices and histories of marginalized peoples and communities. This paper argues that as such, archives participate in a continuing amnesty that prevents transitional and restorative justice for black Americans in the United States. Using the history of lynching in America as a backdrop, this article explores the records and counter-narratives archives need to embrace in order to support truth and reconciliation processes for black Americans in the age of #ArchivesForBlackLives.
Subject
Racial Justice
Creator
Sutherland, Tonia
Source
"Critical Archival Studies,” eds. Michelle Caswell, Ricardo Punzalan, and T-Kay Sangwand. Special issue, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 1, no. 2 (2017).
Date
2017
Rights
CC BY-NC
Language
English
Type
Text
Collection
Citation
Sutherland, Tonia, “Archival Amnesty: In Search of Black American Transitional and Restorative Justice,” Antiracism Digital Library, accessed April 18, 2024, https://sacred.omeka.net/items/show/336.
Comments