Project Overview
Your Stories is a living archive dedicated to preserving the voices, histories, and lived experiences of Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, immigrant, and New American Ohioans. These stories reflect the realities of families and communities shaped by systemic racism, deportation, political targeting, housing displacement, health inequities, environmental injustice, and economic exclusion.
For far too long, the firsthand experiences of impacted communities have been overlooked, erased, or excluded from legal, historical, and policy conversations.
This project changes that.
Through oral histories, interviews, and recorded testimonies, OhioICC is building a permanent record that honors truth, uplifts resilience, and strengthens the movement for racial justice in Ohio.
The stories we gather will be published in a graphic novel-style book, available in print and digital format, and used as:
Why This Matters
Racial and immigrant communities in Ohio continue to face:
By uplifting personal narratives, this project ensures that community members define their own histories—and that these histories guide the work of justice.
Share Your Story
We invite community members, families, elders, youth, and advocates to contribute experiences that reflect the complexity, trauma, joy, resilience, and survival of Ohioans of color.
You may submit:
📸 Photos
🎥 Videos
🎤 Voice recordings
📝 Written reflections
🎙️ Interview requests
Your contribution will help ensure future generations understand both the challenges we face and the strength we carry.
How to Participate
1. Upload Your Story
Use the upload tool below to add photos, videos, audio recordings, or written testimonies.
2. Request an Oral History Interview
Prefer to tell your story one-on-one with a trained interviewer?
We offer recorded in-person and virtual interviews supported by trauma-informed facilitators.
Request an Interview →
Featured Story Clips
🎥 Video Spotlight
A short clip of a community member describing the impact of deportation on their family.
🎙️ Audio Testimony
A two-minute voice recording from an elder reflecting on life in a redlined neighborhood.
📸 Photo Story
A portrait of a family telling their experience with environmental injustice.
Safeguarding Your Story
All submissions are handled with respect, confidentiality options, and community-centered consent.
Story contributors may choose:
Your voice belongs to you. We honor that.
Want Help Preparing Your Story?
We offer support with:
Contact: submissions@ohioicc.org or dillard.19@icloud.com
The Final Book: Coming Soon
The completed collection—Preserving Our Stories: Oral Histories of Ohioans of Color Affected by Systemic Racism or Deportation—will be published statewide as both:
📘 A print edition
💻 A digital and downloadable edition
It will include artwork, interviews, essays, photography, and community reflections.
“Funded by Ohio Bar Foundation. “