Christina Huang Shares Her History 593 and SOHP Experience
(Also Shared in her LinkedIn Post)
Last weekend (April 5-6, 2024) I was invited to celebrate the 30/50 Anniversary Celebration hosted by the The Center for the Study of the American South. With only a few weeks remaining of my internship at the Southern Oral History Program at UNC Chapel Hill, I could not have had a better way to begin to close out the year and reflect on my time as a student intern.
From working on the digitization of Southern Mix, to preserve the history of Asian Americans in the South, to currently researching for the “Rooms Unvisited” digital exhibit, I’ve been fortunate to receive training as an oral historian and explore the nuances of public history. I have been relearning how to interpret and interact with history by reverting to the roots of storytelling.
I have also been so inspired by the power of prioritizing ordinary stories and amplifying minority voices. And how these efforts challenge bureaucratic barriers and elitist biases in archives, helping us fill in historical gaps and promote epistemic equity. This experience has also emphasized the importance of climbing down from the ivory tower of academia to build long term partnerships with community partners to collaborate on projects and work together to bring fruitful changes to our community.
Despite only being in North Carolina for two years, the Center for the Study of the American South has really become a home for me and has been transformative in my formative years of college. I look forward to continuing my work in a field that is dedicated to reclaiming and rewriting narratives and helping us to reimagine our futures.
I also could not have accomplished this work without the support from the folks at CSAS and SOHP. Special thanks to my lovely classmates from the past two semesters, and to my incredible instructor, Hooper Schultz, and mentor, Sophie To, both of whom are doing transformative work in their fields that is reshaping the historical landscape in the South.
Christina Huang