Racial Reckoning

Collection Content Scope

• Memories of individuals’ experiences participating in contemporary protests against police brutality, for racial justice, etc.
• People’s reactions to seeing contemporary protests and news coverage
• People’s thoughts and experiences relating to memorials to slavery or slaveholders, the Confederacy, and white supremacy
• Reactions to and questions about the George Mason statue on George Mason University’s Fairfax campus and other locations
• Reactions and questions about the planned Enslaved People of George Mason memorial, scheduled to open in 2022
• Memories of past protests against racial injustice
• More broadly, people’s reflections on experiences involving racism, white privilege, structural inequality in its many forms (income, healthcare, education, employment opportunities, real estate, etc.), or police brutality

Temporal and Geographic Scope

Racial Reckoning collects the above digital materials from the broader Mason community (students, staff, faculty, alumni) from the university’s 1949 inception through the present day. Our main focus is on the events of the summer of 2020 and beyond.

The immediate geographic focus is on George Mason’s campus in Fairfax, Virginia, and the broader Northern Virginia region, including Washington, DC. Submissions by members of the Mason community who are living or working elsewhere are also welcome, as are submissions pertaining to statues of George Mason IV that are located elsewhere.

Digital Materials Solicited and Accepted

• Audio recordings, voice memos, oral histories
• Written statements
• Photos of protest materials like posters, T-shirts, art, or streetscapes
• Screenshots (of a contributor’s own social media posts or content which they created)
• Digital file formats accepted include: .jpg, .tiff, .mp3, .doc, .docx, .pdf, .mp4

Materials not Solicited

• Physical objects: persons wishing to contribute physical objects will be referred to the George Mason University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center for more information
• Photos with images of people must not have identifying features unless the image is of the contributor and/or the contributor’s close family or friends who have given their permission
• Images containing identifying features of protestors who have not given permission will be blurred using image scrubbing software to protect privacy
• Unsolicited social media posts or screenshots, or content not created by the contributor

Researcher Use of Collections

CML makes every reasonable effort to ensure that materials that are submitted to Racial Reckoning do not violate the intellectual property rights of the creators of the content submitted, and that they do not violate the privacy rights of any individuals depicted or described in these materials. When constructing a publicly sourced digital archive, we are not always able to identify intellectual property questions or adjudicate all possible privacy concerns. We welcome any such information from contributors or visitors to this site. We will correct any information or remove materials from public access upon being informed of any copyright, intellectual property, or privacy violations.

CML does not hold the copyright to the materials submitted to the Racial Reckoning collection. It is the responsibility of any researcher or other user making use of this collection to obtain permission from the publishing party when making use of the included materials. CML makes no warranty or representation that any reproduction, distribution, performance, display, preparation of derivative works, or usage of the material here under is or will be free from infringement of the rights of third parties. By making use of this collection, a researcher or other user agrees to accepts full responsibility and agrees to indemnify the Center for Mason Legacies, University Libraries, and George Mason University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that his or her copyright protection has been infringed upon.[1]