Book Projects & Collaborations
Changemakers: San Francisco African American Histories and Lived Experiences
In Fall of 2015, the University of San Francisco students began researching the stories of African American leaders featured on the Inspiration Murals at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center in the Western Addition as part of their mission to explore local issue of diversity, inequality, social justice and social change. Students in both the Esther Madriz Diversity Scholars and the Martin-Baró Scholars Program devoted 3+ years of community-engagement work, research, and writing to bring to fruition a 200-page book that collects all 95 biographies of the leaders featured in the mural. The Changemakers community-engaged learning project results from more than 80 student contributors, multiple faculty members, research assistants, librarians, and countless community members who shared their knowledge and expertise in bringing the publication to print.
By telling these Changemakers' stories, we hope to spark inspiration and conversation toward creating a more inclusive and safer San Francisco as they did. The digital version of the book is available here, on our USF blog. If you have questions about the project or the biographies, please contact Professor David Holler at dholler@usfca.edu.
Lighting the Path Book Project
Lighting the Path – Letters from Black Men to Young Black Men and Boys is a vision from Thomas Simspon made a reality through a collaboration with fellow community leaders such as Joe Marshall and faculty and students partners at USF. Lighting the Path will be published in late 2023.
Learn more about our most recent book collaboration with Thomas Simpson of AfroSolo.