Oral Histories: The UCA Griotte Project

Project Overview

This collection contains interviews in French of people of African descent in Arkansas. This oral history project in progress is interviewing French-speaking Arkansans who are of African descent. This project is led by Dr. K. Adele Okoli, Assistant Professor of French, and Phoenix Smithey, Archivist for the University of Central Arkansas with advanced French students leading in various roles.

Our Team

A photograph of five service learning students engaged with this project

L-R: Emily Breniman, Caren Mongadji, Kerston Hadley, Aïcha Diare, Linda-Diane Bates

Our student-driven team come from a variety of backgrounds. We invite you to read their stories here.

If you are interested in sharing your story in an interview, please fill out this form and we will be in contact with you. For questions about this project, please contact archives@uca.edu

Informed Consent

The Institutional Research Board of the University of Central Arkansas has determined that this research is exempt for review as it poses no or minimal risk to interviewees. The consent form we ask that our interviewees review before being interviewed may be viewed here. Please contact the principal conductors of this study at Dr. Adele Okoli or Phoenix Smithey for further information.