Documenting Indiana’s fight for racial equality, how you can help

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – State historians are asking for help in documenting the recent protests over police brutality.

Through a new collecting effort called Project Take A Stand – Listening to the Voices of Protest, the Indiana Historical Society (IHS) hopes to tell a bigger story about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the protests that followed, IHS has been vocal about the power of history.

“If you don’t know your history, you’re bound to repeat it. Good and bad,” said Susan Hall-Dotson, coordinator of African American history at IHS.

Dotson says documentation matters because it provides evidence for a specific time in history and while we can’t change history, documentation can add to the narrative.

“Where one person sees a protest, someone else sees a riot,” Dotson adds.

With the power of social media on its side, IHS is looking for anything that can help tell the narrative of what’s been happening in the cities and streets of Indiana.

“The goal is to digitize those images, videos, poems, music, whatever people share with us. We want to look back in 10 or 50 years and say, ‘This is where we were,’” said Dotson.

Those interested in submitting resources can do so here.