A synopsis of the history of African American women wouldn't be complete without mentioning leaders like Coretta Scott King and Harriet Tubman.
The history of African American women itself, however, is hardly done justice with only an overview, according to Barbara Nevergold, Ph.D. and Dr. Peggy Brooks-Bertram, P.H., Ph.D.
Their project, "Uncrowned Queens," is a collective history of the important - yet largely unrecognized - contributions of African American women to their communities.
Bringing to light the accomplishments of these women allows for increased cultural pride and recognition, Nevergold said.
"We don't get an opportunity to see ourselves in the fabric of community history," Nevergold said. "This allows us to see ourselves intertwined in the fabric."
To give the project staying power and incorporate it into an academic framework, the duo developed a model for "social history," viewing historical evidence to establish social trends.
"It is a model not just for African American women, but for women in general and different ethnic groups," Nevergold said. "It becomes a model that is replicable - every (society) has community builders that are unsung, that have stories to tell, that in many regards are in danger of being lost."
According to Brooks-Bertram, the development of the academic model allows historians to create a more accurate portrayal of cultures.
"If historians want to tell the story of a people, it is not enough to do a broad sweep, because then you will only get a certain portion," she said. "Bubbling just beneath the surface are the women we are dealing with. You need to go region by region, and only then can you weave together the social fabric of a given era."
In 1999, Nevergold and Brooks-Bertram were members of a focus group for a 100-year celebration of the 1901 Pan Am Exhibition. What they stumbled onto was a rich history waiting to be unearthed.
"When we formed the focus group, we wanted to focus on black women in the Pan Am," Brooks-Bertram said. "We began to see their incredible contribution to communities and realized the importance of showing the world what they had done."
The ripple effect of the project has been "inspirational" to Nevergold and Brooks-Bertram. From Buffalo, N.Y. to a large-scale project in Oklahoma, as well as discussions for one in Russia, the effects of the project are immeasurable.
In addition to content on their Web site, www.buffalo.edu/uncrownedqueens, the two have written several books on the subject.
"We had a book signing at the history society, and many women who were in the book came," Brooks-Bertram said. "Those are the things which continue to inspire us."
After receiving funding from individuals, organizations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Tops Markets and various other partnerships, Nevergold and Brooks-Bertram approached UB in September 2005, and began to work officially through the University in July 2006.
"(UB's) assistance was an upward trajectory the whole time. It never wavered. There has never been a glitch - except for the recent snowstorm," Brooks-Betram laughed.
The duo will also be airing the oral histories of some women who participated in the project, and their national radio program (airing locally on WBFO) is slated to begin in February 2007. They encourage students to get involved with the project and are always looking for more biographies to add to the project.
"We're not interested in a moment of Black history - little factoids every now and then," Brooks-Bertram said. "We are creating a historical reference point - the social context in which things happen."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
