The Weaving Voices Archives Project was started in the fall of 2012. Its purpose is to document and make public the histories of students of color on Smith’s campus, with a focus on recording past and present student activism and promoting communal healing. Carro Hua ’13 and Andrea Kang ’13, founders of the Weaving Voices Open Mics and Senior Monologues, started the project after a series of racist incidents and student responses in Spring 2012. They began by gathering oral histories: centering student of color voices, building institutional memory, and planting a seed that has grown into this still-expanding archive. When they graduated, other students took up the work, advised by Professors Jennifer Guglielmo and Michelle Joffroy. In 2015 the Weaving Voices Archives Project became a part of STRIDE, a research program for incoming first years, as a way to help ensure the longevity of this important work and its accessibility to new students.
The histories presented on this website currently only go up to 2014. We are working on actualizing our records and making public the oral history components of the project through the Smith College Archives.
This is an intergenerational work in progress. However, this space and these stories are all long overdue.
Why are we doing this?
Part I:
“We must leave evidence. Evidence that we were here, that we existed, that we survived and loved and ached. Evidence of the wholeness we never felt and the immense sense of fullness we gave to each other. Evidence of who we were, who we thought we were, who we never should have been. Evidence for each other that there are other ways to live–past survival; past isolation.” ~Mia Mingus
Part II:
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ~George Santayana
First, listen to Smith’s histories.
Then, let’s talk.
Students who have built the Archives project over the years: Carro Hua ’13, Andrea Kang ’13, Sarah Orsak ’16, Julia Greider ’16, Cecelia Lim ’17, Kayla Foney ’17, Monica Gonzalez ’17, Cai Sherley ’19, Sarah Arnold ’19, Amy Olson ’20, Razi Beresin-Scher ’20, Adena Collins ’21, Emily Talpey ’21, Amanda Carberry ’21, Stefany Alicea ’20
Weaving Voices Senior Monologues organizers across the years: Carro Hua ’13, Andrea Kang ’13, Elaine Kuoch ’15, Rebecca Lee ’15, Monica Munoz ’15, Yolandi Cruz Guerrero ’16, Rachel Litchman Castaño ’16, Alyssa Mata-Flores ’16, Read Davidson ’16, Cecelia Lim ’17, Monica Gonzalez ’17, Raven Fowlkes-Witten ’17, Traci Williams AC, Sabrina Ko ’18, Marisa Pinero ’19, Aminata Diallo ’19, Cai Sherley ’19, Denisse Velázquez ’19