Ponente
Descripción
Founded in 1967, the Interreligious Foundation of Community Organizations/Pastors for Peace (IFCO) has and continues to play an instrumental role in the movement for social transformation in the United States and abroad. Under the leadership of Rev. Lucius Walker, IFCO not only brought a faith-based perspective to the fight for reparations, Black political power, and economic justice, but IFCO also brought a faith-based perspective to the struggle against US imperialism. Though central to the African American freedom struggle of the twentieth century, IFCO and Rev. Walker remain overlooked and underappreciated in the historiography. This essay unpacks the significance and potential of having IFCO’s history be told and widely accessible to activists, educators, people of faith, and scholars through a digital platform. Having dozens of boxes filled with organizational records, VHS tapes, and audio-cassette tapes, IFCO is uniquely positioned to contribute to the growing tradition of using digital resources to tell the story of Black resistance. By examining the digital websites developed by Abdul Alkalimat on Malcolm X, the SNCC Digital Gateway developed at Duke University, and other digital projects on Black resistance, this essay offers a framework on how IFCO’s history can join the growing tradition of Black Digital Humanities. More directly, this essay will examine how a digital history project on IFCO can be in service to IFCO’s current organizing program. To conclude, the essay will offer ideas on how to actualize the potential of using digital resources to help tell the story of Rev. Walker and IFCO.
