Racial Justice Reading Group – Cupertino Historical Society + Museum

Racial Justice

Black Lives Matter Protest, Cupertino, June 6, 2020 Photos Courtesy of Mayor Darcy Paul

We stand with the City of Cupertino in solidarity with black communities. It is difficult to find the words to express our indignation, and we heartily acknowledge that social media posts and personal outrage are weak opposition to systemic racism. People have been hashtagging #blacklivesmatter for eight years, but young black men and women are still being targeted and brutalized. We realize our position of privilege as a cultural institution, and we hope to make our support more than performative. Our position as a museum affords us the opportunity of engaging with the tough and messy conversations necessary to address the root causes of systemic racism. These are the conversations that will actually help to bring about change.

We challenge our friends and supporters, as we challenge ourselves, to look closely at the institutions, corporations, and HISTORIES that have allowed the current brutalities against black, immigrant, and other people of color to occur. As an organization whose primary focus is education, we will strive to feature more immigrant and diverse voices in our exhibits and public programming. Until we are able to resume normal activities, we hope to be a source for opening up dialogue in your homes and daily lives. To that end, we are compiling a reading/film list for our membership on the history of racism and police violence in this country. We are also beginning a virtual reading group on these topics, interest form to follow.

Anyone can post on social media, but true activism requires action. Join us as we chart new territory in the City of Cupertino, our organization, and our museum.

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (PBS)

This site explores the variety and complexity of the African American experience. Using film clips from the series The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, this resource offers lesson plans that explore the evolution of the African-American people from slavery, to the Harlem Renaissance, to the Civil Rights movement and beyond.

Documenting the American South

Documenting the American South (DAS) is an impressive collection of sources by the University of North Carolina on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. DAS supplies teachers, students, and researchers with a wide range of titles they can use for reference, studying, teaching, and research. Currently, DAS includes ten thematic collections of primary sources for the study of southern history, literature, and culture including Oral Histories of the American South, True and Candid Compositions: Antebellum Writings, First-Person Narratives.

Chinese and California: 1850 – 1925

This research collection from the Library of Congress includes 8,000 images and pages of varied primary source materials. It focuses on experiences of Chinese immigrants in California along with a section on westward expansion. This link takes you directly to the “Chinese and Westward Expansion” section of the American South, and North American Slave Narratives.

Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project

Densho collects and shares in an online digital archive the life stories of Japanese Americans incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II. The web site offers more than 500 hours of indexed and transcribed video interviews, 9,000 historical photographs and documents, contextual articles and exhibits, and standards-based curricula. All these resources are provided free of charge to students, educators, historians, and the general public in the interest of promoting knowledge of our history and respect for civil liberties. Beyond Internet access, Densho’s public lectures and presentations, teacher training workshops, and collaboration with schools, museums, and community groups expand the impact of this innovative heritage organization. Among other honors, Densho has received an ABC-CLIO Online History citation from the American Library Association.