On November 14, Don’t Shoot Portland and University of Oregon Libraries celebrated an evening of community engagement, soul food, and spiritual nourishment as we listened to newly unearthed oral histories from I Dream a World—a sweeping archive of interviews with 75 of the most influential Black women in American history, recently acquired by UO’s Special Collections & University Archives. Created in the late 1980s by photographer Brian Lanker, this body of work features voices such as Toni Morrison, Coretta Scott King, Maya Angelou, Angela Davis and many others whose wisdom, courage, and lived experience shaped the political, cultural, and artistic landscape of the 20th century. The rarely heard interviews are now available for the first time, coinciding with a poignant opportunity for reflection and courage to create a better world. We are honored to host this intimate listening session centering these rare interviews, exclusively granted by the Lanker Estate and the University of Oregon Libraries. 

This event was generously sponsored by the Oregon Humanities Center, the UO Library Diversity Committee, and UO’s Special Collections & University Archives.

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