1. Choose a current or recent (2015 or later) digital project to review. Make sure it is "live."

a. Brister English Project

b. Brister English Project Website

2. How would you classify the type of digital resource, based on guideline prompts?

a. The Brister English project classifies as an online archive, gateway/clearinghouse and digital community. As well as a teaching resource for K-12 level.

3. Who created it? When? For what purpose?

a. Walter English created the Brister English project December 25th, 2021. The purpose of this digital project is to help American descendants of chattel slavery connect with their past through genealogy. Their mission is to uncover the stories and legacies that have been lost, burned, lied about or forgotten over time. Walter English has a background as a genealogist and research historian.

4. Does it have an institutional affiliation?

a. No formal affiliation but in the past has accomplished a partnership with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History on the London Nelson initiative. The London Nelson Legacy initiative aims at tracing the descendants of Black individuals from the Gold Rush era.

5. What is the historical subject/content?

a. The goal of the historical subject/content is to bridge the gap between the past and present by making genealogical research accessible and meaningful. These resources include but not limited to collections of data:

i. Tracing ancestors guide

ii. Freedmens Bureau records

iii. Slave ship manifests, slave schedules and censuses

iv. Insurance policies, newspapers,

v. Asylums and Psychiatric Hospitals

6. I want to review this digital project because it serves as an active and current initiative to help connect the past with the present for American descendants of chattel slavery. In relation to my research on Afrofuturism, it operates within a cyclical understanding of time, looking to the past to help reimagine a future through a Black lens. In this sense, everything becomes an act of remembrance. The Brister English Project aims to fill the gaps that connect the present (the descendants) to their past (ancestors of chattel slavery). Establishing such connections through activities of remembrance and recovery can help propel and provide clarity on the descendants’ destiny. This project began as a personal journey and has turned into a public initiative; therefore, it is somewhat grassroots. This initiative originates from the community level rather than top-down directives. I’ve been following Walter’s Instagram account, also known as @formerlovepoet, for a while. He has a following of about 60k, and his reels and content have caught my eye, inspiring me to review his work for my digital history project. Also, Dr. French said we owe it to our peers to read and review their work because it validates it! So, I think doing a digital history review can provide buzz and validation around his initiatives. I will be following the guidelines of the The Public Historian - Digital History Project Review Guidelines .