black ink archives and networked community activities

In 1982, I signed on to a survey project involving the identification of historic sites relevant to African American history in Prince George's County, Maryland. The project was undertaken by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission's Department of Parks and Recreation within their History Division. It was an effort by the county to identify as many of its historical and cultural resources before losing such sites to new development. More than 500 historic sites were previously identified, and by the early eighties the county turned to the task of locating historic resources according to specific themes, such as aviation, African-American or Native American history. During my first year of work, my colleagues and I uncovered many new and exciting dimensions to the county's history that were previously undiscovered or unrecognized.

That first year required a great deal of initial "foot work" and "records searching". I received good advice from a former professors from the University of Maryland at College Park. My bachelor's degree is in African-American history. Professors such as Louis Harlan, editor of the Booker T. Washington Papers, were among the individuals whose advice I sought.

From 1982 to 1989, I followed the path of discoverying the richness of Black History and culture in this community - Prince George's County. After nearly eight years of work on the county's Black History Project, I became frustrated with my inability to disseminate the information I gathered in a quick and efficient manner in order to reach the largest number of people. Of course, the Internet was not the wonder that it is now. There was no World Wide Web of visually and textually rich information.

The idea for Black Ink Archives and Networked Community Activities was created out of my desire to bring life to the past, and to use the past to connect the present within my community.I created my first web site in 2000. My initial reason for creating a web site was to focus on local history and preservation. However, today, seven years later, Black Ink Archives is simply a "virtual door" to my own interest in history, culture, and community.