Research and Resources
Academic Publications
Godfrey, Mollie and Seán McCarthy. “Race, Space, and Celebrating Simms: Mapping Strategies for Black Feminist Biographical Recovery.” a/b: Auto/Biography Studies (October 2022). https://doi.org/10.1080/08989575.2022.2130251
Godfrey, Mollie and Seán McCarthy. “Celebrating Simms: Complicating the Single Story in Community Engagement Projects.” Public: A Journal of Imagining America 4.2 (Winter 2018).
Conference Presentations & Invited Talks
"Celebrating Simms: Bridging Generations in Local Black Community Storytelling and Post-Custodial Preservation Projects," roundtable with Ben Cook, Mollie Godfrey, Mariam Ismail, Kirsten Mlodynia, and Grover Saunders, at the Digital Archives in the Commonwealth Summit, Library of Virginia, November, Richmond, VA, November 2024
"Celebrating Simms, Oral Histories, and Community Storytelling: Toward a Collaborative Practice for Polyvocal Black Historical Recovery," roundtable with Mary Beth Cancienne, Mollie Godfrey, Deanna Reed, L. Renée, and Leonard L. Richards Jr., at the 13th Annual Lemon Project Spring Symposium, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, March 2023
“Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Mary Awkard Fairfax with Mayor Deanna Reed,” featured event at the 12th Annual African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Conference, James Madison University, February 2022
“Building and Engaging with Community Archives as a Community Literacy Practice,” Conference on Community Writing, Washington D.C., October 2021
“DH, Small and Radical,” roundtable panelists, sponsored by the ASA DH Caucus, American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Puerto Rico, October 2021
“Celebrating Simms Expansion Project with James Madison University and Harrisonburg High School: Virtual Opening Event with Mayor Deanna Reed,” featured event at the 11th Annual African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Conference, James Madison University, February 2021
“Building Archives, Celebrating Local History: The Lucy Simms Project,” invited talk for the Heritage Museum, Dayton, VA, February 2017
"The Story of the Lucy F. Simms School: A Site of Memory, Loss, and Celebration,” presented at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Annual Conference, Richmond, Virginia, October 2016
“Building Archives, Celebrating Local History: The Lucy Simms Project,” Special Collections Speaker Series, James Madison University, October 2016
Toolkits, Interviews & Reviews
Byrum, A., Andrews, U., Ismail, M., Lee-Olukoya, G., Lombre, L., Nicholson, S. E., Sawyer, A., & Weaver, L. Campus Exhibitions in Advancement of Civic and Community Engagement [Online Toolkit]. Campus Compact, October 2024.
Daugherity, Brian J. "Review: Celebrating Simms." Reviews in Digital Humanities OnlineFirst (September 2023).
Padilla, Thomas. "Leveraging Technology to Scale Library Research Support: ARCH, AI, and the Humanities." Internet Archive Blogs. 3 October 2023.
Related Publications
- An African American Community of Hope: Zenda: 1869-1930 (2007) by Nancy Bondurant Jones
- Keeping Up With Yesterday (2009) by Ruth M. Toliver
- The Way it Was, Not the Way it Is (2015) by Doris Harper Allen
- Lucy Frances Simms: From Slavery to Revered Public Service (2020) by Dale MacAllister
Further Resources
- Knocking Down Walls, an award-winning documentary by Spotswood High School students about Harrisonburg’s role in the integration of Virginia schools
- The Legacy of Lucy F. Simms School: Education During Segregated Times in Virginia, a short film by Billo Harper
- Jim Crow in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, an interview with local author Doris Harper Allen, by Billo Harper
- Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project, founded by Robin Lyttle
- Roots Run Deep: A Tour of African American History in the Shenandoah Valley
- Long’s Chapel at Zenda, a short film by Robin Lyttle
- Northeast Neighborhood Association & the Historic Dallard-Newman House
- Chapters of Rockingham Local History Resources
- African American Trailblazers in Virginia History, Library of Virginia
- Harrisonburg Then & Now, a short film by Tracey Jewell
- "Tearing down walls: A trip through time in one of Harrisonburg’s first 'new' public schools," by Holly Marcus
- Integration: The African American Experience in Harrisonburg, VA Oral Histories, JMU Special Collections
- Lucy Simms Remembered Oral History Collection, JMU Special Collections
- African Americans in Harrisonburg, JMU Special Collections
- Lucy Simms Family Collection, Rocktown History
- Roberta Webb Collection, Rocktown History
- African-American Oral History Collection, Rocktown History