The Afros & Knives podcast was the audio documentation of the labor, brilliance, and the literal backbone of an industry that has a habit of forgetting who built it.
I have over 60 interviews—sommeliers, chefs, justice organizers, and educators. But audio files on a hosting platform are fragile. If a subscription lapses or a platform folds, that history vanishes.
I am transitioning Afros & Knives into a formal Oral History Project.
Black voices are systematically erased from archival preservation. Only 3% of professional archivists in the U.S. identify as Black. When we don’t own our archives, our stories are labeled “underrepresented” or “concealed.” I am initiating a counter-move to that erasure.
Why This Matters
Oral history projects counter erasure by capturing first-person narratives before they’re lost—but only if they’re properly preserved and made accessible. By funding an Archive Box, you aren’t just supporting a “creator”; you are funding a primary source for future generations.
The Infrastructure of Memory
Your contributions directly fund the heavy lifting:
- Human-Led Transcription: No AI. We need searchable, citable text.
- Independent Hosting: A dedicated home that doesn’t rely on third-party whims.
- Professional Audio Restoration: Ensuring every voice is clear, leveled, and preserved in high-fidelity for institutional standards.
The Vision:
Physical & Digital Permanence This isn’t just about keeping the lights on. It’s about:
- Human Transcription: Turning audio into searchable, citeable text for researchers and students.
- Institutional Presence: Creating physical media (vinyl, CDs, and hard drives) to be donated to libraries and Black cultural institutions.
- A Permanent Home: Independent hosting that doesn’t rely on third-party whims.
Introducing “The Archive Box”
The centerpiece of this podcast evolution is The Archive Box—a physical time capsule.
I am moving beyond the digital “cloud” to create physical artifacts that cannot be deleted or “un-clicked.” The Archive Box will include:
- Physical Media: Interviews preserved on vinyl, CD, and cassette—ensuring these voices exist in formats that outlast technological shifts.
- The Metadata: Printed, human-verified transcripts and narrative guides that allow these stories to be cited by researchers, students, and historians.
- Institutional Placement: These boxes aren’t just for shelves; they are for the record. We are fundraising to produce and donate these units to libraries, universities, and Black cultural institutions.
Consider this your initiation into this project. Your role—as the community, the researchers, and the supporters—is to engage and sustain it.
