A vital component of the National Visionary Leadership Project’s Legacy Initiative is the creation of the National Registry of African American Oral Histories.
An unprecedented, accessible, online database, this registry serves as a searchable catalogue of all oral histories collected by individuals using the Legacy Guide, as well as previously completed interviews of African American elders. This powerful instrument allows individuals to search records in the database, and obtain the location of each completed interview (i.e. the repository that houses the tapes of the interviews and other historically significant documents.)

Simple to use yet comprehensive in scope, the database allows users to conduct searches using key words, such as “name,” “city of birth,” “occupation,” and “year of birth.” After you complete the online search form, the database generates a list of all interviews that contain those key words.  All records will contain the location of the repository where the material is archived and contact information.

The National Registry of African American Oral Histories is an invaluable resource to scholars, researchers, and the general public. You can explore this vast database to learn more about the collective wisdom and life experiences of extraordinary African American elders. As a research tool, the database eases the time intensive process of attempting to locate information from many sources. The database will become more powerful as it grows, allowing people worldwide to access the tremendous life stories of our elders.