PRESERVING OUR STORIES: ORAL HISTORIES OF OHIOANS OF COLOR
FUNDED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE OHIO BAR FOUNDATION
Your Stories is a living archive that uplifts the voices of Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, immigrant, and New American Ohioans. Through oral histories, photovoice, storytelling in cultural tradition, multimedia interviews, participatory GIS mapping, and asset mapping, we document experiences often erased from public records and policy debates.
WHY YOUR STORY MATTERS
YOUR STORIES HELP REVEAL THE REALITIES OF:
- Deportation and family separation
- Racialized policing and discrimination
- Housing displacement and environmental injustice
- Health inequities and economic exclusion
- Loss of cultural knowledge and community memory
These lived experiences guide research, strengthen advocacy, and shape more just policies across Ohio.
SHARE YOUR STORY
We welcome submissions from community members of all ages—including photos, videos, voice recordings, written reflections, or requests for an interview.
YOU MAY SHARE:
📸 Photos
🎥 Videos
🎤 Audio recordings
📝 Written Stories
🎙️Oral History Interview requests
Your story honors the past, strengthens the present, and informs the future.
1. UPLOAD YOUR STORY
Submit photos, videos, audio, or written reflections using our online tool.
2. REQUEST AN ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW
Prefer to speak with a trained interviewer?
We offer trauma-informed, in-person or virtual recorded sessions.
3. PARTICIPANT APPRECIATION
All participants receive a gift card in gratitude for sharing their story.
YOUR RIGHTS & PRIVACY
YOU MAY CHOOSE:
- Full name, partial name, or anonymous sharing
- Text-only or voice-only formats
- To withdraw your story before publication
- Whether it appears online, in print, or in our graphic-novel collection.
Your story belongs to you—we honor your voice.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A WRITER. USE THESE PROMPTS TO GUIDE YOUR REFLECTIONS:
- Who are you? (background, community, family)
- What experience shaped you or your community?
- How did racism, discrimination, or exclusion affect you?
- What emotions did you feel then—and now?
- Where do you find strength, resilience, or cultural grounding?
- What do you want others to understand from your story?
Stories can be short or long—what matters is your truth.
NEED SUPPORT?
We can help with writing, editing, recording, translation, or preparing photos and media.
CONTACT: SUBMISSIONS@OHIOICC.ORG | DILLARD.19@ICLOUD.COM