Institutions of slavery and racism attempted to silence generations of African Americans. However, oral history became a means of maintaining identity, surviving, and resisting oppression and exploitation, as well as a tool for achieving freedom. Through oral history people told personal stories and reflections, and offered African Americans a platform from which to define experiences [...]

Spoken word is a form of artistic performance in which lyrics, poetry, or stories are spoken rather than sung. Often done with a musical background, the emphasis is always on the speaker. Spoken word is a term that has roots all the way back to the time of Homer reading “The Odyssey and today the [...]