Digital PV Panther Project

Malachi McMahon GPR
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Finding Unmarked Graves at PVAMU

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Finding Unmarked Graves at PVAMU

 

 

On March 12 and 13, 2024, Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc. invited ground penetrating radar specialists Dr. Chet Walker and Aundrea Thompson to visit the campus of Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) and conduct several geophysical examinations of the historic burial ground of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery.

 

 

This project is funded through the Summerlee Foundation.

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Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker met with project director and PVAMU Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore to learn more about the grant from the Summerlee Foundation.

Aundrea Thompson, Dr. Chet Walker, and Dr. DeWayne Moore

Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker met with project director and PVAMU Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore to learn more about the grant from the Summerlee Foundation.
Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker

The archeologists

Aundrea Thompson & Dr. Chet Walker
Dr. Moore's son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project--Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley

Student Engagement

Dr. Moore’s son, Noah, surveys the cemetery with students workers on the Digital PV Panther Project–Noah Jackson, Zynitra Durham, and Jaylynn Brantley
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The archaeologists

In the spring of 2006, Dr. Walker founded Archaeo-Geophysical Associates, LLC, an archaeological consulting firm specializing in geophysical prospection. Since that time, he has collected geophysical data on over 150 archaeological sites, now totaling much more than 1,539 Acres of Gradiometer, 115 Acres of Ground-Penetrating Radar, and 484 Acres of Electromagnetic Induction Meter.

Aundrea Thompson studied at the University of Wyoming, and she has worked as a forensic archaeologist on numerous projects in the past ten years. For more on one project, in which she located the remains of a World War II soldier and brought his remains back to the US for burial, please click HERE

Aundrea Thompson's Graduate Work
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Hauling their geophysical prospection equipment in a large pick-up truck from Palestine, Texas, where they had been working at another archaeological site, Aundrea and Chet planned to spend two days on campus before driving to Magnolia, Texas to collaborate with the Houston Archaeological Society on a dig site.

At PVAMU, Chet and Aundrea planned to run the ground-penetrating radar over the entire five acre field to determine the size of the burial ground. In addition, they intended to scan the field with an electromagnetic induction meter as well as LIDAR [or Light Detection and Ranging], which is attached to a large drone and scans an estimated 120 acre area.

Chet Walker Locates Remains in Alabama
In this image, you can see how running the GPR looks on the grass. Making an imprint similar to that of a lawn mower, Chet and Aundrea covered the entire field, hoping to determine the size of the burial ground.

Ground Penetrating Radar

In this image, you can see how running the GPR looks on the grass. Making an imprint similar to that of a lawn mower, Chet and Aundrea covered the entire field, hoping to determine the size of the burial ground.
By scanning the entire field, the teams intends to use the data from GPR to corroborate data obtained during the pedestrian survey in October 2023. We hope to determine the locations of graves and the size of the burial ground.

Scanning the Entire Field

By scanning the entire field, the teams intends to use the data from GPR to corroborate data obtained during the pedestrian survey in October 2023. We hope to determine the locations of graves and the size of the burial ground.
LIDAR DRONE 001

The cemetery

The burial ground is associated with and named after an African American church founded in the 1890s by Reverend George W. Wyatt, a one-time school teacher and politician who represented Waller and Fort Bend Counties in the state legislature in the 1880s. Based on slave schedules, Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery might contain hundreds of graves of enslaved people, formerly enslaved people, and their descendants. It sits on the former slave labor plantation of Jared E. Kirby, who, in 1860, owned more enslaved people (159) than any other planter in Austin County. No one made a formal record of these burials, however, and the historic burial ground, which is located behind University Village Phase III, was over time abandoned, especially after 1961, with the establishment of nearby Prairie View Memorial Gardens. Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery contains only a handful of marked graves, but it holds forever close the remains of three United States military veterans. 

THE WYATT CHAPEL CEMETERY PROJECT
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Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)

LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
Chet and Aundrea have several drones that can carry up to 22 pounds of equipment.

Drone with LIDAR

Chet and Aundrea have several drones that can carry up to 22 pounds of equipment.

Pre-Set Navigation

With pre-set navigational controls, the drone flies back and forth in straight lines, capturing data about the contours of the earth over a 120 square mile area.
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Chet and Aundrea completed the data collection using ground penetrating radar for the entire five acre field, and they obtained LIDAR data using the drone, but they plan to return later in March 2024 to complete data collection with the magnetometer. Once all the data is collected, they will analyze their findings independently and objectively, and they will submit their findings to Dr. Nesta Anderson, of Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc., who will meet with Dr. Moore and Pamela Morgan, of the Wyatt Chapel Descendants Committee, to compare the results to the findings from the pedestrian survey. 

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Digital PV Panther Project
John B. Coleman Library
Room 111
Prairie View, Texas 77446

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 936-261-3512

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CEMETERY PROJECT
We cleaned the headstone of veteran Milo Wilson with D2 biological solution in October 2023, and it looks amazing in 2024.

The Headstone of Milo Wilson

We cleaned the headstone of veteran Milo Wilson with D2 biological solution in October 2023, and it looks amazing in 2024.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

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Wyatt Chapel after GPR
MIlo Wilson Headstone after D2
Noah & Aundrea Walking Wyatt
Noah at Wyatt
thoughtful black man writing in notebook sitting at table in outdoor cafeteria
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Students now, Alumni forever!

Students now, Alumni forever!

“Years have passed, yet the diploma hangs perfectly centered behind my chair and the graduation ring sits proudly atop my finger…constant reminders of the formative years I spent as an undergraduate.”

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“For the record, I did not attend Prairie View A&M University, but I did attend an HBCU that provided me with a hefty dose of the Black experience and, more importantly, a better understanding of the giving-back concept. Ordinarily, one would consider these lessons to be indicative of an HBCU education, but my epiphany occurred during a freshman-week session called ‘students now, alumni forever.’

Alumni, as defined by Webster, are graduates, former students, or old pupils. My college said, “Anyone can matriculate through college, earn a degree, and become a graduate but our alumni do that and so much more. They are individuals who completely embrace the uniqueness and importance of an HBCU education by beginning their support now and continuing it forever. Which kind do you want to be?”

By Nelson Bowman, alumnus of Morehouse College

Andre Evans - 2007

Andre Evans republished this article in a 2007 issue of the student newspaper, the Prairie View Panther, and he explained, “I am still an undergraduate and I cannot fully explain to you the invigorating experience received from giving back to your alma mater, so I gave you a testimony from someone who could. True, I am attempting to foster within the students an altruistic spirit, but I would never limit that to monetary donations. When you reach the point of self-actualization, you will realize that you have so much to offer other than money. Your support, love, and even presence can be a contribution.”

Evans closed by encouraging students to join the Pre-Alumni Association, but I will encourage students who are truly interested in giving back to the university to start by submitting an article, short story, or poem for consideration to be published on our website.

We have lost so much in the absence of the student newspaper, and the Digital PV Panther Project wants to amplify the voices and creative spirit of students at the oldest public HBCU in Texas. Our mission is to eliminate the silences and prevent the erasure of history at PVAMU, and we have made great strides when it comes to historic preservation in the archives. The students who work on the project have devoted their time and attention to processing and digitizing some of the most important documents that remain housed at this institution, and I am so proud of their monumental achievements since we hired the first group of eleven undergraduates in the summer of 2022. We have received external support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas State Library & Archives Commission, and the Summerlee Foundation, and we have received internal financial support from Dr. Krishnamoorthi through the RISE program and Dr. Musa Olaka, the esteemed director of John B. Coleman Library. My heart is truly full.

But the truth is that we simply cannot fulfill our mission without the support and contributions of the students. The students are the bone, the sinew, the very life’s blood of this great campus. So come see us in Room 111 of the library–past Dunkin Donuts on the right–or send us an email at [email protected]. 

Help us Preserve the Now!

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Pedestrian Survey of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

Pedestrian Survey of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

By Evelyn Todd
PVAMU students and alumni as well as members of the Waller County Historical Commission and the Prairie View Heritage Committee prepare to begin the survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
PVAMU students and alumni as well as members of the Waller County Historical Commission and the Prairie View Heritage Committee prepare to begin the survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]

On October 21, we met with the Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc. team at the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery. We began the second phase of the cemetery study, where we conducted the Archaeological Pedestrian Survey.

The archaeologists led a team of student volunteers in an intensive pedestrian survey of the project area. We anticipated to cover 3-5 acres in size. Archaeologists worked with small groups of students, teaching them basic pedestrian survey techniques. After the pastor of the Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church prayed and blessed the team, the survey began.

 

A community volunteer searches for unmarked graves [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
A community volunteer searches for unmarked graves [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
Nesta Anderson documenting unmarked graves with PVAMU students [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Nesta Anderson documenting unmarked graves with PVAMU students [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]

As we marked and mapped out the gravesite, the archaeologists also worked with the students to record the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery as an archaeological site. This will provide it with a state-registered trinomial. Students worked with archaeologists to record the burial ground in the field on a TexSite form. We plan to submit and contact the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) in Austin to obtain the trinomial.

The small groups walked the project area in transects spaced 30 meters (m) apart, looking for evidence of grave markers, grave tending artifacts, depressions, or other potential indicators of the presence of burials. After we marked these features with pin flags, the archaeologists taught participants  how to map the burial site with a handheld Trimble GPS unit. Since we hoped to disturb the burial ground as little as possible, we did not collect any artifacts as part of the pedestrian survey. Instead, we photographed grave marker and grave tending artifacts in the field.

Rows of possible unmarked graves marked with flags [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
Rows of possible unmarked graves marked with flags [Photo © Evelyn Todd, 2023]
Lindsay Boknight looking for unmarked graves during the pedestrian survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Lindsay Boknight looking for unmarked graves during the pedestrian survey on October 21, 2023 [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
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Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols explaining to students and alumni the process of recording unmarked burials in a cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols explaining to students and alumni the process of recording unmarked burials in a cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]

There were a few surprising finds during the survey. We were shocked to realize how large the gravesite was compared to the estimations. Students marked off graves along most of the fence lines. We also found grave tending materials around a tree closer to the front of the walking path than expected.

 

The headstone of Elsie Bailey after initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The headstone of Elsie Bailey after initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The broken headstone of Albert "Pap" Colling [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The broken headstone of Albert “Pap” Colling [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
We also learned a new technique for determining burial spots. Using the pin flags, we were told to push them into the ground in areas we believed marked a grave. If the pin flag was restricted from going too far into the ground, that was used as a point of interest to where someone may have been buried. Using this method, we found areas in the cemetery where there appeared to be parallel rows of burials. This method also helped us find possible burial sites near a group of 3 trees. At these trees, students also found a large cluster of grave tending materials and grave borders, which tends to signify a family was buried there.

 

Based on reports in the early 2000s, this gravesite was unknowingly being used as a dumping ground. Once this was found out, the powers that be had the trash moved. However, the trash was bulldozed further back and to the right onto that land and fenced in. As we worked on the Pedestrian Survey, we could get a whiff of the trash behind the fence as we got closer to the fence or if the wind blew. The pastor of Wyatt Chapel Baptist Church and others from the community believe that cemetery extends to where the trash now sits.

 

The military headstone of Luther B. Felder over a year after cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The military headstone of Luther B. Felder over a year after cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The headstone of Milo Wilson Jr. after the initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
The headstone of Milo Wilson Jr. after the initial cleaning with D2 biological solution [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Towards the end of the survey, Nesta Anderson and Melanie Nichols–of Legacy Cultural Resources, Inc–went over the fence and performed an examination of the trash pile. We plan to report our findings to the Texas Historical Commission, which will offer guidance on the removal of the trash.  In doing this, it will help us to get written authorization from the THC to remove the garbage and survey that land as well.

 

Melanie Nichols, Gregory Newton, Nesta Anderson, and Sabrina Francis record the last of the unmarked burials in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Melanie Nichols, Gregory Newton, Nesta Anderson, and Sabrina Francis record the last of the unmarked burials in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Gregory Newton leans over to examine one of the many field stones uncovered in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Gregory Newton leans over to examine one of the many field stones uncovered in the cemetery [Photo © T. DeWayne Moore, 2023]
Overall, the second phase of the cemetery study was successful, and the team plans to move on to the third phase in the upcoming spring semester. 

 

 

 

The Digital PV Panther Project looks forward to receiving feedback from both Legacy Cultural Resources and the Texas Historical Commission in 2024!

 

 

Our mission at the Digital PV Panther Project is to eliminate historical silences through digital storytelling and prevent the erasure of African American history through historic preservation at PVAMU.

 

 

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Texas Made Hip Hop: A Sonic Journey through 50 Years of Lone Star Flavor

Texas Made Hip Hop

A Sonic Journey through 50 Years of Lone Star Flavor

By Kendall Douglass

Texas Made Hip Hop

A Sonic Journey through 50 Years of Lone Star Flavor

By Kendall Douglass

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“Hip Hop 50 on the Hill”

Prairie View A&M University’s Department of Languages and Communication hosted a spectacular event – the Texas Made Hip Hop Seminar, aptly titled “Hip Hop 50 on the Hill.” Alongside fellow students and esteemed faculty members, I immersed myself in this symposium, delving into the extraordinary odyssey of hip-hop. 

DJ Screw shifting through records.
Deep Impact

The indelible mark that Texas has left on this dynamic genre cannot be ignored, with its distinct and influential contributions resonating throughout the last five decades. The Lone Star State has embraced hip-hop and cultivated its unique brand, weaving a rich tapestry of culture, diversity, and resilience. Join us on a sonic expedition spanning the past 50 years of Texas-made hip hop, exploring the genre’s evolution from the heart of the South.

Titans of Industry

Renowned speakers Lance Scott Walker and Maco Faniel took us on an immersive journey through their personal experiences as flourishing professionals in the hip-hop industry, unveiling the temporal layers of hip-hop’s emergence. Our voyage commences in the late ’80s, a pivotal era when pioneers like the Geto Boys emerged from Houston, laying the foundation for Texas hip hop.

Their raw and unapologetic lyrics mirrored the harsh realities of urban life, etching a distinctive Texan voice into the genre’s narrative. 

Lance Scott Walker and Maco Faniel 
Lance Scott Walker and Maco Faniel 
The Geto Boys circa 1980s
The Geto Boys circa 1980s
Dirty South

The 1990s introduced us to the legendary DJ Screw, whose groundbreaking “chopped and screwed” technique altered the tempo and texture of tracks, birthing a unique subgenre synonymous with Houston hip-hop and leaving his imprint on artists nationwide. As the ’90s unfolded, Texas assumed a central role in shaping the Dirty South sound. Artists like UGK (Underground Kingz) and Scarface infused their music with Southern pride, drawing attention to Texas’s distinct flavor to the hip-hop landscape.

Millennials Not Liminal

The 2000s ushered in a new wave of Texas artists, with figures like Chamillionaire, Slim Thug, and Paul Wall achieving national acclaim. Their success underscored the resilience and adaptability of Texas hip-hop, showcasing an ability to evolve alongside the industry’s ever-changing currents. Venturing into the 2010s, artists such as Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, and Post Malone propelled Texas hip-hop onto the global stage. 

Chamillionaire & Paul Wall
Chamillionaire & Paul Wall
Certificate of Screwthenticity awarded to Earl Davis Jr (DJ Screw)
Certificate of Screwthenticity awarded to Earl Davis Jr (DJ Screw)
Polyvalent & Janus-faced

Their cross-genre collaborations and chart-topping hits served as a testament to the versatility of the Texan sound. Texas hip-hop continues to thrive today, boasting a vibrant scene that celebrates diversity, authenticity, and innovation. Artists hailing from every corner of the state contribute to a mosaic of styles, ensuring that the Lone Star legacy endures in every beat and rhyme.

The narrative of Texas hip-hop unfolds as a captivating tale, underscoring the profound impact music wields in mirroring, influencing, and surmounting cultural confines. It serves as a testament to the significance of maintaining authenticity to one’s origins while embracing adaptability and cooperation within the expansive tapestry of globalized musical expression. Through the lens of Texas hip-hop, we glean insights into the dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation, highlighting the enduring power of music to shape and be shaped by the ever-evolving cultural landscape.

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Veteran’s Day Exhibit in Coleman Library

Veteran’s Day Exhibition

November 2023

In early November 2023, Acquisitions Librarian Sharon Barnes and Library Associate Sabrina Francis coordinated the efforts of a host of students, staff, and, scholars to curate an exhibition for Veteran’s Day in the John B. Coleman Library.

The exhibition was truly a team effort. It included contributions from Delorse Hawkins, Cesselly Churchill, Ruben Nchama, Karl Henson, Musa Olaka, Phyllis Earles, Evelyn Davis, Susan Streety, Neal Bostwick, James Williams, and Digital PV Panther Project team leader Noah Jackson, who created a slideshow of digital images pertaining to military history on campus.

On November 16, Sharon Barnes sent a congratulatory email to the team, which exclaimed:

I cannot express how honored I am to have worked with you all on this project. The Veterans Day display was a hit! None of this could have been possible without you.  😊

Thanks,

Sharon

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Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023
Case 4
Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023
Book Display 1
Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023
Case 1
Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023
Case 2
Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023
Case 3
Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023
Vet Slide Show
Photo © Sharon Barnes 2023

Thank You!

We want to thank Sharon Barnes and Sabrina Francis for coordinating this effort, and we look forward to working together in the future to put the history of PVAMU on display for the public!

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Dr. George Ruble Woolfolk, “Prairie View: A Success Story” – 1981 Homecoming Convocation

The Golden

Anniversary

Homecoming

Convocation

 

October 29th, 1981

Dr. George Ruble Woolfolk – “Prairie View: A Success Story”

George Ruble Woolfolk circa 1950s
George Ruble Woolfolk circa 1950s

 

Analog tape digitized by Michael Lee at Rare Records in Winchester, TN in Fall 2022

Digital audio transferred from the Google Drive to Microsoft Teams by Lindsay Boknight on February 10, 2023

Edited by Jaylynn Brantley on November 10, 2023  

Edited and Curated by T. DeWayne Moore on November 12, 2023

 

LINK to the 1981 Convocation Program

Alice Clemons, Miss Prairie View 1981-1982, delivers the introduction of Dr. Woolfolk.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to introduce our speaker for the occasion. I know the speaker was born, raised, and educated in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Louisville Municipal College and the University of Louisville, the Master of Arts in History from Ohio State University, and the Doctor of Philosophy in History from the University of Wisconsin.

This learned historian is a member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, a member of the Board of Editors of The Journal of Negro History, a member of the Executive Council of the Texas State Historical Association, the technical advisor to the Waller County Historical Commission and vice chairman of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Texas. I could go on and on with his many professional involvements, but [I] would like to mention a few of his publications.

Included among his numerous publications are “Cotton, Capitalism, and Slave Labor in Texas” in the Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, June 1956; “Taxes and Slavery in the Antebellum South,” in the Journal of Southern History, May 1960; “Social Literacy, the Social Studies, and Negro Youth,” in The Texas Standard, June 1962; “And The Word Became Flesh,” in The Journal of Negro History, Spring 1966; a book entitled The Free Negro in Texas 1836-1890, published in 1976, and perhaps his most special treatise, published in 1962. Prairie View: A Study in Public Conscience, 1878-1946.

Our illustrious speaker, who is married to the former Douglas G. Perry, has one son, George Jr. At this time, I take great pride in presenting to you the chairman of the History program at Prairie View and an outstanding member of the Prairie View family since 1943, our speaker Dr. George Ruble Woolfolk.

[Pause for applause]
At 3 minutes and 3 seconds, Dr. Woolfolk begins his address:

I’d like to speak briefly this morning on the general subject, “Prairie View: A Success Story,” in keeping with the theme of the golden anniversary for this year. At the homecoming convocation, it is fitting that we review the accomplishments of this institution.

It is [fitting that we] take pride in its development, in what it has done, and how our students have contributed to the great development of the state, nation, and their particular localities. I said in some writing a few years ago, in thinking about the institution:

One hundred years is a long span in the life of a man or an institution. What do the years mean? For a man or an institution; if they are filled with the honest sweat of service to humanity–with the patient following of that higher law of unflinching fidelity to the dictates of a calling–the years are a benediction.

Prairie View is an institution. A public institution. But an institution is an empty thing without the beating hearts and the yearning souls of mortal men. And down the 100 years of Prairie View’s existence, men have lived and dreamed here until every blade of grass and every rock, in that wise primordial way in which the primitive earth knows and cares, has joined the choir invisible to bless their memory. For every man whose foot has touched his hallowed soil has found his spirit and has broadened and deepened it until what started out as an ambitionless meandering stream has become a purposeful river upon whose tide, now turbulent, now tranquil, floats the destiny of countless hopes and dreams.

The spirit of an institution is a compound of many things—a strange and often quixotic amalgam of unrelated, sometimes contradictory, elements. Founded, symbolically, upon the ruins of the slave plantation, this university was authorized in the spirit of fair play of the Constitutional Convention of 1876, where wisdom would not allow vengeance to triumph over justice. The men of the parent school at College Station, growing ever wiser with the years, have translated the sense of justice into an ever-broadening channel. The humble student—from every nook and cranny in the land—has left the echo of his laughter upon the wind. His hopes within the lurking shadows of our halls and byways.

The giants [and] the world shakers have stood on our hill to mingle their search for truth with the fledging hopes for life. And men of dedication have worked here–worked to bring a new heaven and a new earth often with only faith and their hands–often without the spiritual and material compensation that their sacrifices merited–but always with a sense of mission–with a sense that somehow, someway, time would reward their efforts–would give to those to whom they had given their minds the victory of a new world–of an enlightened society.

And it is within the context of that quotation, which I wrote several years ago, that we would like to cast the evaluation of this Golden Anniversary Convocation. Because in it is to be seen the true thrust of the meaning of an institution, which is evaluated in spiritual terms, terms of the minds and the hearts of those who dream of it, who bring to it their vision and their awareness.

We have been very fortunate here in the dreams of the leadership of the men who have headed this institution. There have not been many. Some have been of long duration. But all of them had within their heart and their mind some concept of what our people might become, and we pay tribute to them today. Because those who will be returning over the next few days are a living memory of what they dreamed. They bear in their bodies the mark of those dreams.

Though L.W. Minor was not here long, he was the first of the dreamers. He opened the school in the plantation house. And here on Kirby’s acres, they planted the seed. And the two Anderson brothers. One [E.H. Anderson] died soon. L.C. [Anderson] dreamed of an institution that would lead…the leaders, the Black leaders of this state in a consortium of educational men, who would bring to bear their strength in the uplift of their people.  He created the state teachers, the Black State Teachers Association. And he gave a long arm to the institution. He would leave here and go on to Austin, where they named Anderson High School in Austin for him. And his name is Laurine. Our Anderson Hall is named for him.

And then came our Edward Lavoisier Blackshear. The immortal Blackshear. Dreaming the Tuskegee dream. Are the people capable, strong, able because they could come to grips with economic realities of poverty and lack of opportunity? Blackshear wrought well and was well-loved.

And then [came] John Granville Osborne, who created the four-year college here. His tenure was short. But for the first time, this institution operated under his management as a college institution. And I told his family that were here for the last convocation in the spring, how fortunate they were to join in the continuing recognition here on this path of their relatives. It made such a signal contribution to the ongoing of this institution. His was a great dream. He dreamed of medical schools here. He was a medical man. He brought the hospital here. He brought the nursing program here. He brought the four-year college here. His was a dream of excellence, and his was the dream of total service.

And then he was followed by that tall, gaunt, determined man, William Willett Rutherford Banks, who claimed that the entire state of Texas was his campus. And whose motto, “Prairie View serves Texas,” became the byword. Who served…who sought to serve every need. Was it medical? Was it educational Was it spiritual? Whatever. Come to Prairie View. We will be the focal point of your program. Was it research? The first fledging research program merging as a dimension of the black educational ethos began with the Banks administration.

And then, of course, he was followed by another dreamer, Edward Bertram Evans, who carried the institution into the international realm…who himself personified what it meant to serve on the world scene. Recognized by both the federal government and the United Nations as an authority competent to operate in the international arena and to advise both in Africa and the [Middle East], he became a symbol of excellence in a period when Prairie View became the symbol of world significance.

 

We have never retreated from that position.

His successor, Alvin I. Thomas, has not retreated from that position. He dreams larger dreams than have ever been dreamed before on this campus—a dream of first class…of joining the mainstream of American life. He dreams beyond all dreams, a dream that has no limits of race, of color, of creed. This president has dared the lightning by dreaming a dream that says Black men have no limit, have no boundary. Black men have no barrier. We shall turn this institution into a place and into a situation where the world…and the concerns of the world, and the occupations of the world will be its concerns and its infancy.

And so all of the men who have headed the school have been pioneers. They have been a step ahead of the awareness of their people. They have dreamed for their people. Dreamed great dreams. Great thoughts. And those who come back, they come back to dreamland, and that truly is the function of an institution of higher learning. It is the place of dreams. Because the scriptures have truly said, “Without a vision, the people perish.” And, of course, Prairie View is a success story because the university continues to expand its interest in research. I dare say, from these fledgling days of the Banks administration, the administration of Dr. Thomas has emphasized strongly experimentation, research…both sponsored research by government and by foundation as a part of the normal program and the normal dimension of the institution of higher learning. Where we used to receive pittance, now we receive millions of dollars for research.

Because without the money to stimulate the mind of researchers, without the inquiring mind, an institution is sterile. Without the inquiring mind, an institution has nothing to put back into the stream of knowledge to justify its existence. Without the inquiring mind that can produce both theoretical and functional knowledge, an institution does not live.

And then we continue to contribute to society. We now know that we must stay on the frontier of opportunity for our people. If we will, if we ought to escape that peculiar position of becoming the underclass, where there are no job opportunities for our people at all, we must continue to pioneer in the economic arena. Opening more doors, expanding minority opportunity into new areas of opportunity. And we go forward now in the areas of engineering and the other new technological fields that are opening for Black people, and we must continue to go forward in these areas if we ought to, ought to keep abreast all the time, and to keep young black men and women alive and alert. If we do not pledge ourselves to continue our contribution of graduates both to our traditional areas and to new areas, we will die. The question of what we will do—our functional significant—will be settled.

So there is something fitting, therefore, in the fact that after 100 years or more, we are the university is returning to the full realization of its founding as an agricultural and mechanical emphasis. We are now operating in instructional areas, which the system to which we attach [had] better understand, admissions of the two institutions now coincide more and more with the better concern for creativity and knowledge than we had before. We have come from a small fledgling institution to a modern university with concerns which are worldwide.

We enter our 2nd century in this Golden Anniversary with a deep concern for our nation. And we hope those who come back to us for this convocation do the same. And we are also aware that we have a debt to our people, but our success is imperative. We must be a success because we serve Black youth and Black youth will only understand the success of Black men. We must be a success here, because our success is necessary. In the concept of success—as all youth know what success is—we must furnish the role model, because Black youth can understand the success of Black men. And to that success, we commend you. We are proud of the heritage of the success at this institution.

On this golden convocation, on this golden convocation anniversary, we present to those who come back to us a pride, a continuing pride in achievement, a heritage which they can come back and bask in the glory of, confident that their institution has a continuity, a purpose, and a function that will never die.

Photo by Michael Lee, 2022
Photo by Michael Lee, 2022
Richard Jackson, successful melon demonstrator of Sunny Side Community, Waller County 1937
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Summer RISE with the Digital PV Panther Project

Summer RISE with the Digital PV Panther Project

By Evelyn Kay Todd

Above: Richard Jackson standing in his melon field in the Sunny Side community, Waller County, 1937 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]

 

In June, the PVAMU Division of Research & Innovation provided me funding through the RISE program, and Assistant Professor of History DeWayne Moore gave me the opportunity to join the Digital PV Panther Project (DPPP) team! I had found out about the project through social media, when I began to pay attention to their Twitter posts. When I read the blog post of Malachi McMahon about the 1971 student uprising at PVAMU, I sent it to my family in shock. I learned that my mother and grandparents lived in Prairie View at that time while my grandfather attended the university. I had always known that my family had history with PVAMU, as I am a 3rd Generation PVAMU Alumnus, but I did not know how deep it ran. (I will tell you more about that in a different post.) Excited about the DPPP, I reached out to the team to share some of my family history, and I asked about how I might contribute to the project. Soon after, I was invited to join the DPPP team as a Graduate Research Assistant through the RISE Program.

What I Accomplished this Summer

I started to work in June 2023. For the first month, I focused on scanning documents, and I digitized and processed 154 archival folders from four counties using a CZUR Document Scanner from the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection. Following the archival processing system implemented by DPPP team prior to my arrival, I picked up where the students before me left off. Each one of the grey archival document boxes contains numerous acid-free folders filled with documents, maps, reports, and correspondence from Cooperative Extension agents. Using the metadata written on each  folder, I created names for each of the digitized documents in the CZUR Scanner system, and then, I would determine the appropriate settings to scan the documents. At the end of the day, once I had scanned all the documents in the folders, I copied them from the hard drive to the cloud in Microsoft Teams. The shared drive provides the team access to the digitized documents.

Texas Counties in the CE&HD Collection

Documents digitized and processed:

1. Matagorda County – Box 1, Box 2 (55 folders total)

2. Montgomery County – Box 1, Box 2 (63 folders total)

3. Nacogdoches County – Box 1 (6 folders total)

4. San Jacinto County – Box 1 (30 folders total)

4-H Club Dress Revue Models in 1959 Bowie County [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
4-H Club Dress Revue Models in 1959 Bowie County [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]

Proudly, I learned new skills on the DPPP. I had no idea that archival processing required specific tools for removing old paperclips and staples from documents, but it proved crucial to avoid tearing the often brittle old documents dating back the 1920s. I also discovered a host of misplaced documents, which had belonged in other boxes. As a student who appreciates an efficient research process, I made sure to bring the errors to the attention of Dr. Moore, and I kept an eye out for anything that might seem out of place.

About halfway through the summer, Dr. Moore decided to switch it up a bit, and I got to change my focus from document scanning to photographs. In the Fall semester, we plan to curate digital touchscreen exhibitions and display them on our new 86″ and 66″ touchscreen displays. Thus, I started using the Epson 12000XL flatbed scanner to scan all the maps, photographs, and newspaper articles from various counties in the CE&HD Collection. As of August 3, I have digitized almost 300 items from thirteen different counties. In addition, I created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel and recorded the metadata about each item–name, location, date, and other information. The CZUR Document scanner looks very different than the Epson 12000XL, but each of them requires a similar settings process. The Epson, however, allows me to preview my scans and create boxes around each item on the scanner bed. I have scanned, for example, up to eight photographs at once using the Epson. It’s a efficient feature, because it allows me to scan the photographs while I enter the metadata in the spreadsheet. At the end of each day, once again, I uploaded the digital images to the cloud in Microsoft Teams. Not only does this provide the team access the images, but it also provides redundant storage in case the computer hard drive fails.

Digitized Images from 1937-1963

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Herman Arthur, of the Clear Creek Community, working on his pecan trees for summer budding, 1937 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
Mrs. Mattie Fuller shares cake baking tips
Mrs. Mattie Fuller shares cake baking tips, 1948 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
Richard Jackson, successful melon demonstrator of Sunny Side Community, Waller County 1937
Richard Jackson was a successful melon demonstrator from the Sunny Side Community in Waller County, 1937 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
4-H Club Dress Revue Models, Bowie County 1959
The women in a 4-H Club Dress Revue in Bowie County, 1959 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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A demonstration in setting out pine seedlings, January 18,1947 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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A pruning demonstration being conducted in Colony community on farm of Volnar Derry, in a demonstration orchard, 1937 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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Gregg County Home Demonstration Bake Show where seventy-five Cakes were exhibited, 1948 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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Winning Ladies of the first Bread Show for the Negro Home Demonstration Clubs in Guadalupe County, 1947 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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Mrs. Laila Watson is being given a demonstration on making a candlewick spread by her Home Agent, 1949 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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Handdrawn Map of Jasper County, 1959 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]
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Alpha Boys vaccinate hogs, Dallas County, 1942 [Courtesy of the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection, the Special Collections & Archives Department, John B. Coleman Library, Prairie View A&M University]

As the summer comes to an end, I stopped scanning photographs long enough to write this blog post. With funding from the RISE program, Dr. Moore and I moved forward historic preservation in the library. We intend to share the digitized documents, photographs, and maps on the DPPP website as well as the library’s Digital Commons, and I look forward to sharing more updates about our work on the DPPP. Our efforts to digitally preserve the Cooperative Extension & Home Demonstration Collection is vitally important to the university. The PVAMU archives contain other rich manuscript collections that detail the institutional history of PVAMU, and I look forward to building upon our success this summer!

Visit the Office of Research & Innovation at PVAMU to find out more on the RISE Grant Program

Visit Research at PVAMU to find out more on the RISE Grant Program

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Promotional Article on PVAMU website

Substantial NEH grant helping to eliminate silences, erasures surrounding history of PVAMU
The Special Collections & Archives Department at Prairie View A&M University has received a $450,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The funds helped establish the Digital PV Panther Project, which aims to eliminate the silences and erasures surrounding the history of PVAMU. The project is taking deliberate and conscious steps towards what Princeton University digital archivist Jarrett Drake calls “a radically inclusive historical record.” By preserving, processing and promoting research in the archives, the project will begin to eliminate the silences and erasures surrounding the history of PVAMU.
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DPPP logo
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HIST 3312 – Digital Storytelling

Introduction to Digital Storytelling

Black Digital Humanities

HIST 3312

John B. Coleman Library – Room 111

 

“The black digital humanities help to unmask the racialized systems of power at work in how we understand the digital humanities as a field.” – Kim Gallon

 

Instructor Information:

Dr. DeWayne Moore

Assistant Professor of History

Division of Social Sciences

Office: Coleman Library Room 111

Office Hours: MTWThF – 9am-11:30am or by appointment

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @digpvpanther

 

Description: 

This course will introduce students to digital storytelling as well as the emerging field of Black Digital Humanities. It will also help students understand the relationship between digital humanities and African American History. In addition to assigned readings, students will attend lab sessions and learn digital technologies and skills, such as blogging, digital exhibition curation, social media management, ArcGIS mapping, and digital content management. The lab sessions will allow students to apply theory to praxis.

In lab sessions, students will learn to use digital exhibition software (such as PassItDown, Wordpress, and ArcGIS StoryMaps), mapping software (such as ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Survey 123, and ArcGIS Experience Builder), digital content management systems, and social media management tools. Students will also conceptualize a Black Digital Humanities project by the end of the semester and write a grant application for potential funding.

 

Course Website:

We will use the course website for blogging. The syllabus is also available there as well. The website is: https://pvpantherproject.com/hist-3312-digital-storytelling/

 

Expectations:

  • Students are NOT expected to have specific technical knowledge prior to this course.
  • Students are expected, however, to be independent learners who strive to solve technical and historical problems.
  • Students must engage substantively with readings on the history, theories, and methods of digital humanities as well as African American History. Thus, students must read the materials prior to class and be prepared to discuss them.
  • Students must respond to emails from myself and their cohort in a timely manner. Due to meeting only once per week, it will be necessary to communicate outside of I recommend strongly that you link your PVAMU email account (which is what is connected to Canvas) to your personal email so that you receive all correspondence.
  • Students are required to have access to either a laptop or tablet. If you do not have a laptop or tablet, you can borrow one from John B. Coleman Library. Talk to the librarians at the circulation desk to find out how.

Objectives:

Students who take this course will…

  • Achieve a higher historical consciousness and a better understanding of the major issues, theories and methods in Digital Humanities, Black Digital Humanities, and African American History.
  • Learn to navigate and critically analyze digital technologies as well as curate digital stories using them
  • Conceptualize and develop a Black Digital Humanities project
  • Write a grant proposal to fund their project

 

Assignments:

  • Blog Posts: Students will respond to readings and labs throughout the semester and publish their responses online. Rather than provide summaries of the readings, students will demonstrate their critical thought process and analysis of scholarship and digital tools. The blog posts are due at noon on the day of class. Students must also read the blog posts of their cohort and comment on at least one each week prior to our class meeting. See Blog Post Guidelines for more information!
  • Digital Humanities Historiography: Students will write a short paper analyzing two or more readings on the development of digital humanities.
  • Analysis of a Digital/Public Humanities Project: Students will critically analysis one of the Black Digital Humanities projects at this link – https://pvpantherproject.com/2022/09/black-digital-humanities-projects-resources/
  • Digital Projects for the Public Proposal: Students will also conceptualize and develop a prototype for a Black Digital Humanities project and write a grant proposal to fund

We will use the Digital Projects for the Public grant available from the National Endowment for the Humanities as our guide [LINK]

 

Attendance and Participation:

Students must have completed the readings and assignments prior to attending class. Students must also be prepared to actively participate. If you cannot attend class, please let me know at least 24 hours before class (except in the case of emergencies).

 

Academic Integrity:

I strictly follow the University’s rules regarding plagiarism and other academic irregularities. Please consult me if you have any questions about what is and is not appropriate regarding the use of sources or citation.

 

Blog Post Guidelines:

The syllabus contains several assignments marked “blog post.” These weeks will require that students write a blog post analyzing or responding to one or more of the readings for that week.

Requirements:

  • Summarize the argument of each author
  • Respond to one or more ideas in the articles and connect them to current events, other readings, or your research interests.
  • Provide a creative, exciting title
  • Curate the posts using images, gifs, or videos with captions to illuminate
  • Make sure the blog posts are between 250-500 words in length.
  • Comment on at least one other student’s blog post each

The writing does not need to be academic and formal. Indeed, blog posts are most engaging when they capture the voice of the author. So please have fun with these assignments. Remember, you will be publishing them on a publicly available website. So be generous in your critiques of the readings.

If there is any reason why you cannot publish these posts under your own name, please let me know. Due: blog posted by 12pm on Wednesday; comment posted by class time on Wednesday

 

Grading:

  • Participation and Attendance: 10%
  • Blog Post Reading Responses: 20%
  • Historiography of Digital Humanities Essay: 10%
  • Analysis of a Black Digital Humanities Project: 10%
  • Analysis of ArcGIS Map: 10%
  • Digital Projects for the Public Proposal: 30%
  • Peer Review: 10%

Late Assignments:

I expect assignments to be completed on the day they are due. Any late submissions without an approved excuse will lose a half-grade every day it is late.

 

Required Texts:

There are three books you may buy or borrow for this course. I will also provide digital copies of the introduction to each book on Canvas.

We will also discuss readings from the open access digital book:

If an article or chapter examines a specific digital humanities project, students need to examine the project as well. I have provided links to all the readings or made them available on Canvas.

 

Weekly Schedule:

August 21 – 25 / Introduction

How to publish a post on Wordpress: https://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_Posts

Google “Black Digital Humanities” and read through some of the results. For your first assignment, write a paragraph or two on what you think the term means.

 

August 28 – September 1 – Intersections

Due: Blog Post

 

September 4-8 – Historiography

  • “Interchange: The Promise of Digital History,” Journal of American History (2008). (Canvas)
  • Susan Hockey, “History of Humanities Computing,” A Companion to Digital Humanities (2004). [LINK]
  • Sharon Leon, “Complicating a ‘Great Man’ Narrative of Digital History in the United States,”

Bodies of Information. (Canvas)

Due: Blog Post

 

September 11-15 – Historiography

  • Risam, New Digital Worlds, chapters 1 & 4

Due: Digital Humanities Historiography essay

 

September 18-22 – The Digital Humanities Project

Due: Please submit in Canvas at most a one page abstract about your project, covering the topic, the ultimate goal, the project’s significance, and digital tools

 

September 25-29 – Critical Engagements with Technology and Culture

  • Noble, Algorithms of Oppression, chapters 1 & 3

Due: Blog Post

 

Practicing the Digital Humanities

October 2-6 – African American Spaces and Geography

  • Saidiya Hartman, “An Atlas of the Wayward,” Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments (Canvas)
  • Katherine McKittrick, “On Plantations, Prisons and a Black Sense of Place,” Social and Cultural Geography, v 12, no. 8, December 2011 (Canvas)
  • Stephen Robertson, “Putting Harlem on the Map,” in Writing History in the Digital Age. [LINK]

Due: Blog Post

 

October 9-13 – Mapping (Lab)

Guest presentation by Dr. Iyanda, Assistant Professor of History & GIS, PVAMU

Read the “About” section and navigate the site

Read the “Homepage” and “About” sections and navigate the site

Due: Analysis of a Black Digital Humanities Project

 

October 16-20 – Metadata

Guest Presentation by Henry Koshy, Digital Scholarship Librarian, John B. Coleman Library

  • Lauren Klein, “The Image of Absence: Archival Silence, Data Visualization, and James Hemings,” American Literature. V 85 (4) December 2013. (Canvas)
  • Sarah Whitcomb Laiola, “Markup as Behavior toward Risk,” American Quarterly, 70, no. 3, September 2018: 561-587.
  • Amy Earhart, “Can Information Be Unfettered?: Race and the Digital Humanities Canon,” Debates in the Digital Humanities. [LINK]

Due: Blog Post

 

October 23-27 – Metadata, Categorization, and Wordpress (LAB)

Due: Blog Post

 

October 30 – November 3 – TBD

Due: First Draft of Grant Proposals – Humanities Content, Creative Approach, and Audience, Distribution and Evaluation

 

November 6-10 – Peer Review

Peer Review of Grant Proposals

 

November 13-17 – Social Media and Social Movements

  • Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas, chapters 1&5

Due: Blog Post

 

November 20-24 – Peer Review of Complete Project Proposals

  • Miriam Posner, “What’s Next? The Radical, Unrealized Potential of the Digital Humanities,” [LINK]

 

Final Proposals DUE: TBD

Due: Post your project abstracts to the course blog

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