ACHS recruits 2 new fellows

The Ramsey County Historical Society, Anoka County Historical Society, Dakota County Historical Society and Hennepin History Museum have partnered to establish the Arthur C. McWatt Fellowship Program.

Arthur C. McWatt (1926-2012) was an African American researcher, writer and educator who taught history and social studies for 33 years. He wrote “Crusaders for Justice” celebrating heroes of the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota as well several articles for Ramsey County History and Minnesota History magazines.

The partner organizations hired seven fellows to expand their work with African American communities and advance the preservation and presentation of African American history in Minnesota. 

The two fellows selected to work with the Anoka County Historical Societty are Ben Mchie (pronounced Mac-hi) and Adem Ojulu.

Mchie serves as the founder and director of the African American Registry (aaregistry.org), which hosts articles for the public, as well as a Teacher’s Forum subscription service to help teachers include diverse content in their curriculum daily.

AAR supports a project called Street Teams, which is where partnership with ACHS will focus.

During the next 15 weeks of the fellowship, Mchie will help ACHS develop curriculum and identify potential locations for this after-school program. The object of Street Teams is to connect students with community elders to engage in conversations and record stories of generational significance.

Not only will relationships be built between the participants, but the stories will help fill a void in the collections at ACHS.

Ojulu received a degree as a sociocultural anthropologist and has worked with the Minnesota Historical Society and Hennepin History Museum in addition to Memorialize the Movement.

Ojulu has an immigrant family legacy that will fuel the project with ACHS — collecting oral histories from African immigrants, acquiring 3-D artifacts for the collection or on loan to photograph, and curating a display in the ACHS exhibit hall.

One of the project outcomes during this 15-week period is to articulate a template of relationship building, information collection and display that will serve ACHS in the years to come.

Through the Facing Change initiative of the past three years, the ACHS board of directors has discussed how it can best represent the residents of Anoka County and ensure their story is preserved for future generations.

Recording the lived experience of people, businesses, organizations and nonprofits that exist today rose to the top as a tangible method of understanding our community now, but also providing context for those who come after.

We look forward to using our podcast, History 21, as a platform to feature community members and their stories, as well as our website for online exhibits.

Our social media can act as a platform for short videos submitted by residents to document their stories, language or food traditions.

All together, we have a unique opportunity to crowdsource our gathering for the collection, leaving a more complete and detailed history of Anoka County for years to come.

If you have a great story to share, please email the Anoka County Historical Society at rebecca@anokacountyhistory.org or submit the “tell your story” form on our website, AnokaCountyHistory.org.

Rebecca Ebnet-Desens is the executive director of the Anoka County Historical Society.

Ben Mchie

Adem Ojulu