Acknowledgements
Deverrick Macallister and Johan Cavert - that one radio show reshuffled everything in my mind. Thank you for talking everything through together, it was such a joy to be present for that moment. Randy Clancy, thank you for helping me acknowledge my whiteness, for making the space to understand my role in this project, and for giving academia context.
I would like to thank Liz Schultz, Maren Mckee, Ken Grossi, Megan Mitchell for helping me comb through the archives. The time that you each gave me was astounding, you have shown me what joy and excitement lies within archives. Thank you for letting me glimpse into your world of expertise. A huge thank you to Brooke Bryan and the 2020 OHLA cohort. Sitting in that warm room in Yellow Springs, Ohio could not have been more enjoyable. Thank you for the crash course on oral history and storytelling.
To Dr. Kofi Lomotey, Ms. Phyllis Yarber, and Ms. Yakemba Padilla, thank you for sitting down with me to share your stories. Thank you for responding to endless emails and looking through transcripts. I am incredibly grateful for the excitement, care, and joy you brought to this project. Your generosity was endless.
I am eternally grateful for the education I recieved from Professors Pablo Mitchell, Renee Romano, Herrod Suarez, Ellen Wurtzel, and Tamika Nunely. Your courses have encouraged me to think differently, listen more patiently, and love literature more fully. Thank you for challenging me, for working with me, and for being there even when I say the wrong thing. You have each taught me how to wait calmly at the front page of a book, to allow its characters to tell their story, and to acknowledge the beauty that lies within complexity.
I must thank Tania Boster and Amy Margaris for working with me for nearly a year and a half on this project. They have given me every form of support, curtailed every idea that certainly would not have worked, and have led me through dark paths of theory and academic literature. Thank you Tania and Amy, you have been the best role models anyone could ask for.
Julia Rohde, thank you thank you thank you. Thank you. Its almost impossible to synthesize what your presence has meant to me over the last year (without using passive voice, but I'll try...). Endless hours sitting in front of a microfiche were suddenly fun, transcribing interviews not excruciating, staying engaged in class a possibility. The love, joy, and silliness you brought to this project gave it life. I underestimated how difficult it would be to do a project on my own, thank you for telling it to me exactly as it is.
To my family, thank you. Mom, Dad you have given me space to do the work I need, to encourage me, and to facetime just enough. It is impossible to express in words what the support you have given me over the years has been. You have both encouraged me to think for myself, to find creative solutions, and to always find the humor in whatever I do. Ruby, thank you for bringing me back to earth when I've needed it most (and for the endless kitty pics). Thank you for being my best best friend. You're the greatest bug.
Endless late-night gratitude to you, Liz Amber and Noa Gordon-Guterman. Sitting three to a couch that barely holds one has brought about the biggest belly laughs, nilla-wafer combinations, and foot-holds. The feeling of home that your voices bring to me makes my heart breathe big. I could not comprehend this exact flavor of happiness until you both came into my life in exactly the way you have. It is incomrpehsible the ways we have rotated around one another for so long. The way that we have landed is oh so sweet.
To Simon Printz - if I could fit it on a postcard I would, but there are both too many words and not nearly enough.