Collecting, Curating, Corona and the Black Experience of the American West: A Conversation with Tyree Boyd-Pates

Historians have the responsibility not only to unearth facts, but to uncover and lift up stories that have been traditionally ignored or excluded. This calling is all the more important in the midst of global pandemic -- and after the murder of George Floyd exposed anew the burdens of oppression against the Black community in the United States. Tyree Boyd-Pates, associate curator at the Autry Museum of the American West, sees his role as a public historian as "combatting the historical amnesia and malaise surrounding the Black experience.” In this week’s episode, Tyree discusses his work in collecting and documenting people's experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic (as reported recently in The New York Times).  He also speaks of his prior work as curator at the California African American Museum, including his work on the show titled “No Justice, No Peace” marking the 25th anniversary of the 1992 LA Uprising.For information about Tyree's and The Autry's response to the current moment in the Black Lives Matter movement, please click here.