Julieanna L. Richardson, Founder and Executive Director, The HistoryMakers

Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by Leshell Hatley in American Studies, Law, Scholarly Celebrations, Theatre

Born June 10, 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Julieanna L. Richardson created a unique path to heading up the largest national collection effort of African American video oral histories on record. With a diverse background in theatre, television production and the cable television industries, she combined her various work experiences and her passion for history to conceptualize, found and build The HistoryMakers.

Education

Richardson graduated from Brandeis University in 1976 with a B.A. in Theatre Arts and American Studies. It was during her studies at Brandeis that she first experienced the power of oral history, while conducting independent research on the Harlem Renaissance. While exploring the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, Richardson interviewed Butterfly McQueen and Lee Whipper as part of her project. Having access to these poignant life stories “made the history really come alive for me,” says Richardson. From this early exposure, the seeds for The HistoryMakers project first took root.

Career

Richardson received her J.D. in 1980 from Harvard Law School. She worked as a corporate lawyer at Jenner & Block prior to serving in the early 1980s as the Cable Administrator for the City of Chicago’s Office of Cable Communications. There she established the Chicago Cable Commission, the City’s regulatory body. She went on to found Shop Chicago, a regionally based home shopping channel. For eight years, her production company, SCTN Teleproductions, managed three local cable channels for TCI, the nation’s largest cable operator. SCTN Teleproductions served as the production arm for C-SPAN. Its clients also included GATX, Peoples Energy, ESPN, the Economic Club of Chicago, AT&T Broadband, and Prime Cable.

The History Makers

The HistoryMakers is a national, 501(c)(3) non-profit educational institution based in Chicago, committed to preserving, developing and providing easy access to an internationally recognized, archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories. Richardson serves as the Founder and Executive Director of The HistoryMakers.

Richardson founded The HistoryMakers in 1999, which over seven years has quickly grown into a vibrant national initiative. The goal of The HistoryMakers is to create, over a five year period, a unique, one-of-a-kind national video archive of 5,000 first person narratives of African American HistoryMakers, both well known and unsung. This would represent the single largest archival project of its kind since the recording of former slaves during the WPA period of the 1930s. The purpose of this archive is to educate and to show the breadth and depth of this important American history as told by the first person; to highlight the accomplishments of individual African Americans across a variety of disciplines; to showcase those who have played a role in African American led movements and/or organizations; and to preserve this material for years and generations to come, creating a priceless collection. The HistoryMakers website can be found at www.thehistorymakers.com.

Julieanna Richardson resides in Chicago. The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute recently named Julieanna Richardson the first Vernon D. Jarrett Fellow.

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Photo & Bio Courtesy of The HistoryMakers

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1. Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad: African-American Studies Professor and New Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
2. Kelly Miller: First African-American Mathematics Graduate Student and Influential Founder of Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
3. Dr. John A. Powell, Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

Tags: African American video oral histories, AT&T Broadband, B.A. in Theatre Arts and American Studies, Brandeis University, Butterfly McQueen, Cable Administrator for the City of Chicago’s Office of Cable Communications, Chicago, Chicago Cable Commission - the City’s regulatory body, corporate lawyer, ESPN, GATX, Harlem Renaissance, J.D. in 1980 from Harvard Law School, Jenner & Block, Julieanna L. Richardson, Lee Whipper, Peoples Energy, Prime Cable, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, SCTN Teleproductions, Shop Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago, The History Makers