Emmanuel George Collection, 1962-2023
Collection context
Summary
- Extent:
- 1.5 Hollinger Box 1 and a half Hollinger boxes and 6 paintings.
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
The Emmanuel George Collection, African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Broward County Library.
Background
- Scope and content:
The Emmanuel George Collection contains correspondence, photographs, printed materials, certificates, short videos and artwork related to African Americans in Broward County, Florida. Correspondence contains cards written to Emmanuel George about his internships with Encore and the Lake Wales Public Library African American Archives Project. Crispus Attucks High School materials include a yearbook, student report cards, commencement programs, and class reunions. Photographs display African American individual and group portraits in Broward County. Printed materials include newspaper articles about African American neighborhoods in Broward County, specifically Hollywood, an African American Research Library and Cultural Center brochure, signed Legacy of Broward trading cards, funeral programs, and a magazine article featuring Emmanuel George at Sistrunk-A-Fair. Awards includes a certificate from the City of Miami awarded to Emmanuel George for his participation as a featured artist in the "Reimagine the Neighborhood" campaign in April 2022. Paintings of African Americans include the following: Tamara James, Attucks High School alumni (30 x 30), Kitty Oliver (36 x 36), Cannonball Adderley, Dr. James Sistrunk, and Esther Rolle.
- Biographical / historical:
Emmanuel George is a Dominican- American archivist, film maker and arts organizer based in Hollywood, Florida. Emmanuel's love of history began in childhood when his father Emanuel George Sr. would teach him Black history in efforts to highlight what he thought Emmanuel would not be taught in public school. Emmanuel credits his father's teachings to his ability to seek out overlooked narratives.
In 2015, after taking a leave of absence from pursuing his Bachelors in Film from Full Sail University, Emmanuel found himself joining a group of local activists in Miami -Dade County who were advocating on behalf of its residents to fight displacement. During this time, Emmanuel spoke with local residents and learned about the history of Black Miami. This curiosity led Emmanuel to begin submerging himself in learning the Black history of his home community, Broward County.
In 2016, Emmanuel George produced his first film under the Black Broward Film Project, entitled A Tale of Sibling Communities; Danie and Liberia a documentary about the shared relationship between two Black communities in Broward County. The film featured oral interviews of local pioneers and historical landmarks that are staples to the community. Emmanuel followed this up with his 2021 film entitled Stories from our Ancestors: An Ode to Attucks High School; a film focusing on how the closing of a historically Black High school impacted the community of Liberia and its neighboring communities: Danie, Carver Ranches, Hallandale, Ojus, and Davie.
In 2021, under the mentorship of esteemed historian Kitty Oliver, Emmanuel landed a fellowship with Lake Wales Museum where he interviewed and archived stories of residents from the historic Lincoln Avenue community. From there, Emmanuel would complete a fellowship with Cogenerators (formerly Encore) and work with Florida International University's Wolfson Public Humanities Lab, the Delray Beach Historical Society, the African American Research Library and the Old Dillard Museum, further expanding the ways he shares and preserves local Black history. Most recently, Emmanuel completed a fellowship with Temple University, serving as the Community Archivist for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Currently, Emmanuel founded and runs the Black Orchid Foundation, a non-profit centered on preserving the stories of Black high schools in the south that were phased out after the supreme court case of Brown vs. Board of Education, ruling that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. Emmanuel is also the youngest person in Broward County to have his own special collections archive, the Emmanuel George Collection at the African American Research Library, where he actively collects physical and digitally archived data on the history of Attucks High School.
Emmanuel's goal is to continue bridging the generational divide by connecting the youth from the rising Black Student Union populations in Broward County with the pioneers from the Historic Black High Schools (Attucks, Dillard, and Blanche Ely) through an Oral History workshop, in hopes to inspire young archivists to narrate their own stories and preserve their history at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center.
- Processing information:
This collection received file processing. This finding aid may be updated to reflect new descriptions as well as acquisitions to the collection.
- Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 6 series: Series I. Correspondence, Series II. Attucks High School, Series III. Photographs, Series IV. Printed Materials, Series V. Awards, and Series VI. Artwork.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
The Emmanuel George Collection is open for research.
- Preferred citation:
The Emmanuel George Collection, African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Broward County Library.
- Location of this collection:
-
African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Broward County Library2650 Sistrunk BoulevardFort LauderdaleFL33311USA
