Black Holyoke: Uncovered Stories of the Fuller & Jarvis Families Online Program

There is a nuance to the history of Holyoke. Much of the Black history in the city has not been fully documented. One such history is the story of Bushman Fuller and his descendants. This is a tale that goes back further than the establishment of Holyoke as a city. In this talk, scholar Erika Slocumb will tell the story of Bushman Fuller, William Jarvis, their families, and their contributions to the city of Holyoke. This is an online virtual event. Please register for this free event in order to receive your invitation to the virtual event.

Erika Slocumb is a mother, artist, and scholar-activist. She is a doctoral candidate in the W.E.B. DuBois Department at UMass Amherst. Her research titled “Reliquary of Blackness,” focuses on the use of oral histories, and community storytelling to retell, reshape and reclaim history in spaces where Black stories have been obscured, specifically reclaiming the narratives of Blackness in museums and other repositories of history and culture. She has curated an exhibit on oral histories of the Black community in Holyoke, MA and continues to work toward collecting histories and artifacts of the community.