Projects / Emory University,
Transforming Community Project
PIs: Leslie Harris, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies, Chair, Department of African American Studies; Gary S. Hauk, Vice President and Special Deputy to the President, Emory University.
Location: Department of African American Studies and the Office of the President.
The Transforming Community Project (TCP) will use research and community deliberation to unearth narratives about the complex history of race at Emory. The goal is to give this generation of Emory community members, as well as future generations, knowledge of its traditions. Knowing the “family story” of Emory will provide the wherewithal to help the community negotiate “difficult dialogues.” The Transforming Community Project will examine Emory's role in slavery, segregation, integration and the civil rights movement. The project will combine academic theory and reflective practice in an effort to use race as a more frequent topic for discussion in the classroom and throughout the academic disciplines. Other objectives to be met during the project include: the production of written interpretations of Emory’s history; the creation of a more open environment, where frank conversations about race can take place; and the development of special exhibitions, theatrical productions and concerts that draw on archival material or address, through creative and artistic means, the issues at the heart of the Transforming Community Project.