Gis Mapping And Virtual Exhibition : Analysis of African American History , Localization and Digital Media

The idea behind my GIS mapping is to pinpoint and localize the many Black history and relic items in which occupies these spaces. In addition to the way we look at Blackness in the 21st century lens and the proactive digitizing of this history and looking at the relevance of this past history to now. By looking at mapping and pinpointed areas of where current or existing Black residential have existed. Mapping and pinpointing historical sighting places of Black people you can see a geological relevance and or mapping of historical places, by doing this you reduce the hyper visibility and invisibility of Black history and the Black people. 

You can use the gis mapping points in this story to not only look at complexities of unknown history but also the geolocation mapping of identifying the unspoken and unknown to others. I argue that while Black are not monolithic, the localization of Blackness in confined spaces spatially, historically, economically and physically has led to the resistance, growth and violence that African Americans have endured while being in America.  The historical events, people and areas surrounding this localization of Blackness can be seen with pinpoints placed on my Gis story mapping. In regards to how this mapping is set up , it’s not in chronological order but historical markers showing spaces in time of the history of Black people and how current technology can be used to trace these events and preserve them. My Gis mapping isn’t used as an historical reference to show history surrounding African American disparities but to show where Localization had begun, the time periods and areas in which African American occupy these places so others can see the localization. Localization can be defined as the process of making something local in character or restricting it to a particular place. Using this framing I employ that since African Americans have been here in the U.S this localization has been a constant tug and pull factor on Black people since Arriving here in 1619 , which is an example of an historically prominent time in the U.S used in my mapping.

 To strengthen the idea of this localization of African American, I use historical imagery of these events, places or people to show the idea of what it was like in those time periods and or to show where these patterns have repeated contrast to time. One question that could arise is : How is this relevant to localization and the history of African Americans ? My answer to that is the idea of looking at the map as reference to what has changed and stayed the same and the difference. Using imagery gives visual representation of how localization can be looked at differently from others about Blackness. My goal is to raise the awareness surrounding this localization and how preserving this history and digitizing can be beneficial to understanding our past history and reduce implicit bias, negative stereotypes and ignite others to want to learn more about the history of African Americans and the local people they live around.

To strengthen my idea of localization and the history of this process in Black people's lives I used Historymakers as an additional source to hear first and second experience of the importance of  these events and how it changed them.  

Stated by The Historical Digital Makers website “The HistoryMakers was founded to address the lack of documentation and preservation of the African American historical record. Prior to the start of interviews in 2000, there was only one large-scale methodic attempt during the 20th century to capture African American history from a first-person perspective – the WPA Slave Narratives, housed at the Library of Congress. Nearly a century of African American achievements and struggles had gone undocumented at the time of our founding. The HistoryMakers was born our of our founder’s dream to address this problem, by capturing – one person at a time – the untold personal stories of both well-known and unsung African Americans, and by creating a priceless video collection giving those involved their special place in history. The testimonies captured in The HistoryMakers Collection – conducted in homes and offices across the United States and abroad – reveal the broad scope of narratives of African American men and women who have made significant contributions to American life, history, and culture during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries (thehistorymakers.org).” Using this framework I use this mapping and historical records to be an exemplar of this preservation and localization that faced Black historians , sociologists , civilians etc. To provide this mapping framework, historical photos and historical records of prominent African Americans my argument hopes to build an more define understanding of localization and understanding of hypervisibility (i.e low understanding and presence  of historical importance, racial progress and futuristic impression) and invisibility (i.e lack of teaching ,representation) by using creating an GID Mapping story map of historical places and events.

In conclusion, using the GIS story maps allows you to build and develop creative ways to help define or build a story. For my story I decided to turn localization and African American history as the focus of the fixture. Using this fixture you can map how localization has played a huge effect in which Blackness has grown and shaped itself. The History Makers is another example of how Blackness can be preserved, recorded and digitized can be beneficial in understanding the past, present and future. Mapping of localization can also play a huge role in education, helping improve the understanding of racial inequalities, history of violence and oppression of African Americans who occupy these communities. By using my story map , you can grab a fundamental understanding of how localization plays a huge role in shaping Blackness and how confusing history to a digital mapping form others can find a way to fight injustices of localization. Preserving history acts as an integration process of all of American history and by keeping these oral recordings and pictures there’s hope in the future.