On the Shoulders of Giants(cont.)
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STONE: First the Web site, now the book. What's next? Where do you
plan to take this?
POUSSAINT: We're trying to broaden what we're doing to the larger community.
We want to get into school curricula. We did a pilot program with oral histories
from prominent graduates of Dunbar High School in D.C., and the material is now
in that school's courses on local history. Another part of our plan is to provide
a Legacy Guide, step-by-step instructions so the average person will be able to
collect and add their eiders' stories to a national archive. This is not just
for future interviews, but can be used for work that's already been done and may
be sitting in somebody's basement or attic.
STONE: There's a sense of urgency in your work. Do you feel you need
to hurry?
COSBY: There is a sense of urgency, particularly for the folks in their
late eighties and nineties. One gentleman had a fainting spell at the end of interviewing;
I think he was 96. And we have lost people before we could interview them, like
jazzman Lionel Hampton and Joe Black, the famous baseball player. If we don't
get our elders' stories, this history will be misinterpreted, if it's interpreted
at all.