Latino Virginia Oral History Project

Latino Virginia is a multidisciplinary collaboration between academics, students, and community organizations. The project seeks to improve our understanding, research, and teaching about the Latino community of Virginia. The project focuses on the experiences of first- and second-generation Latinos relating to community building, COVID, immigration, labor, gender, political changes, race, and life in Virginia. The Latino community benefits from the establishment of a platform for the presentation of their stories, we would use this database as the basis for research and publication on immigration to Virginia, and VCU students would benefit by gaining skills in interviewing and field research. This community-engaged project creates links between VCU and the Latino community and their organizations, opening a window into an increasingly multicultural state.

The Latino Virginia Project is an ongoing research project that collects interviews and oral histories in collaboration with community partners to understand the challenges facing the Latino community of Richmond and Virginia. This work is leading toward the establishment of research and an archive or database of interviews. As part of their training, BA and MA students conduct some of the interviews and build and maintain a website that would host both archival and published pieces on the community. As the project grows over time it will publish oral histories, podcasts, photographs, film interviews, community resources, and more. The archive itself would document the community, provide sources for multidisciplinary research, and offer a basis for community engagement, becoming a major resource to the Latino community.