THF INITIATIVES

THE AWUJO FORUM

Once per calendar year, The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute will convene THE AWUJO FORUM, a congress of descendant-led organizations, on behalf of collaboration, community, and collective action.

THE DESCENDANTS’ FUND

The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute seeks to join forces with foundations, institutions, and individuals committed to liberatory and collaborative approaches to documenting and sharing “whole-truth history. ” The THF Descendants’ Fund will provide research and engagement micro-grants, capacity-building grants, planning grants, and implementation grants to Descendant-led organizations, initiatives, and projects.

THE PRACTITIONERS’ WORKSHOP

The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute will convene three public history Practitioners’ Workshops per annum. At each event, workshop attendees will have an opportunity to share and receive feedback about the roles of data and descendant engagement in their organizational objectives, website design, public messaging, community outreach, and long-term strategic plans.

FREEDOM’S IMAGINARIES SUMMER FIELD SCHOOL

Freedom’s Imaginaries Summer Field School will introduce and develop the next generation of stewards in data ethics and descendant engagement. Open to undergraduate and graduate students from interdisciplinary fields. Terms span 2-12 weeks, convening domestically and abroad.

K-12 EDUCATORS’ SUMMIT

During the annual K-12 Educators’ Summit, Turner-Hines-Franklin Distinguished and Innovator Fellows will work with educators to collaboratively design digital humanities curriculum to implement in their classrooms.

DIGITAL DEFRAGMENTATION OF THE ARCHIVE

Data built from slavery’s archive allows us to connect multiple sources, producing narratives of enslaved ancestors’ lives, not just snapshots. The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute will lead efforts to render records documenting enslaved people’s lives freely accessible in digital and searchable form.

DESCENDANT DATA SOVEREIGNTY

In partnership with Descendant communities, The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute develop and implement a new model for the data of slavery and its legacies: one built around Descendant-led data sovereignty.

FAMILY ARCHIVES POWERED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Through its partnership with Kinfolkology, the THF Institute will design Remembering Kinfolk, a database of remembrance of enslaved ancestors.

Turner-Hines-Franklin two-year DISTINGUISHED FELLOWSHIPS will be awarded to a new cohort of ten senior scholars and practitioners every two years.

Turner-Hines-Franklin two-year postdoctoral INNOVATOR FELLOWSHIPS will be awarded to a cohort of four junior scholars every two years. Innovator Fellows will be selected through an application process. Applicants from all disciplines are welcome.

THE FELLOWS’ SEMINAR & FREEDOM’S IMAGINARIES

Turner-Hines-Franklin Fellows (Distinguished Fellows & Innovator Fellows) will meet three times per year at the Fellows’ Seminar to present work on behalf of Freedom’s Imaginaries, a digital edited volume and exhibit featuring articles and essays (fiction and non-fiction) and art contributed by Distinguished and Innovator Fellows.