Emma Jo Donnelly, NCEJN’s Public Historian
I inherited my strong commitment to justice from my parents and my grandmother. My grandmother was the first woman to become president of her union, and my parents are labor lawyers who represent workers in their struggles to expand and enact their rights and benefits. Inspired by the powerful changes my parents contributed to, as a young person I thought I might follow in their footsteps and become a civil rights or labor lawyer. But as an undergraduate at the University of Florida, I fell in love with a different approach towards social justice: community-based oral history. Legendary activist scholar Dr. Paul Ortiz trained me in this methodology at the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. I became enthralled by the ways in which communities used their histories to support their activism and pass down strategies to their youth. And I felt deeply moved by the ways in which Dr. Ortiz always managed to keep community interests as the priority. By the time I arrived at North Carolina State University as a master’s student in Public History, I knew I wanted to use my skills in oral and public history to support historic preservation and storytelling efforts among communities engaged in grassroots social justice struggles. My incredible advisor Dr. Ajamu Dillahunt-Holloway connected me with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN), explaining that NCEJN was in search of someone to help the Network build an archive to preserve the history of environmental justice and racial justice in North Carolina. Moved by NCEJN’s community-driven methodologies, I immediately knew this was the project I wanted to pursue.
In the summer of 2024, NCEJN hired me as their first-ever Archival and Curatorial Intern. In that role, I began building a digital archive and database to hold documents, photographs, and records related to environmental justice in North Carolina. I also began an oral history project to record the life stories of activists in the environmental justice movement. These materials have become cherished records of community strategies, accomplishments, and memories. When my internship ended, NCEJN asked me to continue working on the NCEJN Archive and oral history project. My current role is NCEJN Public Historian.
The NCEJN Archive stands as a community-managed alternative to traditional institutional archives, which are often owned by governments, corporations, and universities. From the outset, the NCEJN Archive has always been devoted to the best interests of our community partners. It is of the utmost importance that we ensure that we utilize historic preservation to support communities’ needs.
Now moving into summer 2026, the NCEJN Archive is entering a major expansion phase. The NCEJN Archive has resources to help communities preserve their histories. We plan to record oral history interviews with community members who want to preserve their memories for future generations. We will also have the capacity to create and store scans of documents and photographs so that community members will have backups of their hard copies. These oral history recordings and digitized documents can become crucial historical resources for communities. Additionally, for communities who desire to make these materials available to the public, the NCEJN Archive may make these oral history interviews and documents publicly available online. Either way, the NCEJN Archive offers a range of options to support communities with their historic preservation efforts. We look forward to listening to your stories and helping you preserve your community’s history for future generations.
If you, your fellow community member, or your community organization is interested in recording an oral history interview and/or preserving your documents in the NCEJN Archive, we would be happy to help. If you have any questions or would like to participate, please contact NCEJN Public Historian Emma Jo Donnelly at emma@ncejn.org or (352) 281-3264. Thank you for your interest in sharing your stories.
