Since 2000, The HistoryMakers (www.thehistorymakers.com) web campaign has been conducting interviews with prominent African-Americans in fields such as business, education, entertainment, law, music and religion. So far, 2,000 people in more than 80 U.S. cities and towns have been interviewed.
Two years ago, HistoryMakers founder and executive director Julieanna L. Richardson put a focus on the field of science with the mission of using the life stories of individuals in the sciences as a way to encourage people to enter professions in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. A $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation has made the ScienceMakers project a reality.
“The reference to a Black scientist is George Washington Carver,” Richardson says. “There is a huge lack of knowledge that our project is really committed to changing.”
The grant provides for partnerships with 10 science centers around the country, and there is an ongoing series of public events at which some of the ScienceMakers speak to enraptured audiences. In the coming months, the video interviews will become available for viewing on the web.
“Our project has the capacity to change the whole paradigm by introducing the world to the lives of these scientists,” says Richardson. “Up until now, the focus has been on subject matter, but not on the people.”
Each video recorded interview lasts about three hours, and the subjects are asked about everything from their childhood to their mentors. The goal is to interview 180 ScienceMakers. Thirty have been interviewed, and through collaboration with the Carnegie Mellon University Informedia Project those interviews are now edited and about to be placed online.
Starting next month, another round of video interviews will take place. The public programs and outreach efforts will increase.
