In today’s episode, I speak with Julieanna Richardson. She is the founder and president of The HistoryMakers. We talk about her life and her life’s work.

The HistoryMakers represents the single largest archival project of its kind since the recording of former slaves during the WPA period of the 1930s. The purpose of this archive is to educate and to show the breadth and depth of this important American history as told by the first person; to highlight the accomplishments of individual African Americans across a variety of disciplines; to showcase those who have played a role in African American led movements and/or organizations; and to preserve this material for years and generations to come, creating a priceless collection of 15,000-20,000 of recorded African American testimony.

Julieanna L. Richardson, Public Historian and Founder/Executive Director of The HistoryMakers and principal investigator for ScienceMakers has a unique and diverse background in theatre, television production and the cable television industry. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, where she double-majored in Theatre Arts and American Studies. After conducting oral histories on the Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes, Richardson attended Harvard Law School. After graduation, she worked as a corporate lawyer, prior to serving in the early 1980's as the Cable Administrator for the City of Chicago Office of Cable Communications. There she established the Chicago Cable Commission, the City's regulatory body. She went on to found Shop Chicago, a regionally based home shopping channel. She was driven to start The HistoryMakers out of a strong desire to make a difference and to leave a living legacy.