Daughter Dialogues Oral History collection of Reisha L. Raney, 2020-2021
Overview
Oral history interviews of women with African American lineage who descend from Native American, Black, and white men and women that contributed to the American Revolution.
Dates
- Creation: 2020-2021
Creator
- Raney, Reisha L. (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the records of the Daughter Dialogues oral history created by Reisha L. Raney is held by Reisha L. Raney during her lifetime. Upon the donor's death, copyright will be transferred to Carolyn Raney. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Extent
12.23 Gigabytes ((200 digital files), plus archived web site content)The Daughter Dialogues Oral History collection contains audio recordings and summaries of the oral histories Reisha Raney conducted with members of color of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The material related to each interviewee also includes a short biography, photographic portrait, chapter marker spreadsheets, and a list of proper nouns. The chapter marker spreadsheets contain time stamps with associated content notes to serve as an aid for listeners or researchers to locate particular points of interest within the recording, and the list of proper nouns provides the correct spelling of names and places mentioned during the interviews.
These oral histories document the lives of the interviewees, as well as the lives of their families, and their Daughters of the American Revolution patriot ancestors. Reisha L. Raney describes the research objectives for this project on her Daughter Dialogues website as "Documenting narratives of members of color and descendants of patriots of color in the DAR. Examining the historical context of members of color in the DAR. Examining the changing perceptions amongst non-DAR members in response to the research." Reisha L. Raney's Daughter Dialogues web site is being captured periodically as part of Schlesinger Library's web archiving program. For more information related to the Daughter Dialogues project, see Raney's website, https://www.daughterdialogues.com/.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by interviewee, followed by administrative records related to the oral history project. These administrative records include a guide to file names, a preliminary interview form, and release forms for each interviewee. These interviews were conducted remotely over the internet.
BIOGRAPHY
Reisha L. Raney is an entrepreneur and podcast host from Fort Washington, Maryland. She received a BA in engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a BS in mathematics from Spelman College. After spending several years as a systems engineer and business analyst, she founded Encyde Corporation, a systems engineering company, in 2001. Inspired by the Henry Louis Gates PBS special, African American Lives, Raney began conducting genealogical research and discovered family ties to President Thomas Jefferson's uncle, Thomas Turpin, through an enslaved woman named Mary. On the basis of her connection to Turpin, who served in the Revolutionary War, Raney became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in 2010 and in 2018, she became the Maryland State Society's first African American state officer. In 2015, she founded the Daughter Dialogues to document the experiences of members of color in the DAR. Her work on the project was rewarded by a fellowship from the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 2022-M60
The Daughter Dialogues Oral History collection of Reisha L. Raney were given to the Schlesinger Library by Reisha L. Raney in 2022.
Processing Information
Processed: November 2022
By: Cat Lea Holbrook
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
This finding aid contains terms originally used by the participants, such as "Negro," "mulatto," "slave," and "slave owner" in the interview descriptions found below. Schlesinger archivists may choose to retain language that may be harmful, offensive, or outdated in archival description under the following circumstances: 1) such language is an original term used in the archival material being described; 2) reflects historical and/or contextual value; 3) aligns with the preferences of the creator or donor and; 4) facilitates discovery and access.
Creator
- Raney, Reisha L. (Person)
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by gifts from the Zetlin Sisters Fund, the Jane Rainie Opel ’50 Fund, and the Gerard Schlesinger Library Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch02183
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.