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Senior citizens launch oral history project on blacks in Broward County

About 30 black seniors gathered Friday at the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale to start an estimated two-year project to tell the history and achievements of Broward County blacks and black communities. Follow-up individual interviews will be done later.

The effort will culminate in a book and oral histories on video tape.

''The risk is [the history] will be lost,'' said Marvin Dunn, a retired Florida International University professor and author of books on Florida's black history.

So, on Friday, seniors told stories of places and people from the past and recounted what life was like in the bygone days of Broward.

''It's a rich history,'' said Patsy Bragdon Barnes, ``and we have to get it right this time.''
Read entire article at Miami Herald