The Virtual Martin Luther King Project: Producing Digital Experiences and Recovering Civil Rights History

FAIN: MN-263793-19

North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC 27695-0001)
Victoria Gallagher (Project Director: June 2018 to October 2023)

Production of a permanent and traveling multimedia exhibition and enhancements to a website exploring a little known but historically significant speech by Martin Luther King Jr.

Support is requested for the production of six components of the Virtual Martin Luther King (vMLK) Project. The production of these six components will enable on-going public exhibitions of the vMLK project both online, via the project website, and in physical spaces such as museums and libraries. The public exhibitions in physical spaces will be produced so that they can be experienced individually (via self-guided tours) and collectively (staged and guided exhibitions). The online exhibitions will include both curricular-guided pedagogical experiences and humanities for the public-guided experiences. Additionally, the production process, particularly as articulated and evaluated through a workshop with humanities advisers and library and museum partners, will provide a template for other humanities scholars working to produce digital programs for the public whether they are tied to physical spaces/locations or fully articulated online for public audiences.

Associated Products

Virtual MLK Workshop (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Virtual MLK Workshop
Author: Victoria Gallagher and Max Renner
Abstract: Virtual MLK Workshop Executive Summary In September of 2019, Dr. Victoria J. Gallagher, along with her colleagues, Dr. Derek Ham and Dr. Keon Pettiway, led a 1.5 day workshop for humanities advisors, library and museum partners, scholars and community partners to assess the vMLK Project, to assist in developing priorities for the next phase of the project, and to consider the project contributions including transferability, access, and the future of intellectual work in relation to digital projects. This workshop was funded and supported through the NEH Foundation’s Digital Projects for the Public Production Grant and the NC State Libraries. Goals The vMLK Workshop at NC State was a key part of the larger NEH funded vMLK production process. The goals of the workshop included the following: 1. To review the production of the project components with humanities advisers, museum, library, and community partners and with interested colleagues. 2. To assess how well the project is meeting production goals and to receive consultation and advice as we prepared for the production of the 60th anniversary of the speech exhibition in February 2020 and planned for the second year of the grant cycle. 3. To articulate and evaluate the best practices emerging from the vMLK project and to determine how best to make those available and accessible to advisers, partners, and scholars. Summary of Discussion/Assessment: The vMLK project offers a model for how to think through large scale digital humanities projects (how to actually do something like this) by: 1) foregrounding theoretical rigor, 2) engaging in iterative processes for developing projects and partnerships, and 3) exploring the potential for accessibility of digital humanities projects on a variety of levels.
Date Range: September 13-14, 2019
Location: NC State Hunt Library, Raleigh, NC USA
Primary URL: http://https://vmlk.chass.ncsu.edu/neh-virtual-mlk-workshop/

vMLK Website (Web Resource)
Title: vMLK Website
Author: Keon Pettiway, Max Renner, Victoria Gallagher, Nupoor Jalindre
Abstract: The vMLK Project website was first developed in 2015. A full scale redevelopment was launched in 2018 and completed in 2019, incorporating usability testing conducted during the grant period. The website now includes versions of all 6 of the project assets.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://vmlk.chass.ncsu.edu/

vMLK 60th Anniversary of a Creative Protest Exhibition (Exhibition)
Title: vMLK 60th Anniversary of a Creative Protest Exhibition
Curator: Victoria Gallagher
Abstract: NC State researchers, led by Dr. Victoria Gallagher, will immerse community members in one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s most iconic speeches. King delivered this speech, originally titled “A Creative Protest” but later referred to by King and others as “Fill Up the Jails,” on February 16, 1960 at White Rock Baptist Church in Durham. The Virtual MLK (vMLK) event will take audiences back in time by leveraging the Hunt Library's 270-degree visualization capabilities, allowing them to virtually walk around the historic sanctuary, hear a re-creation of King’s speech, and virtually sit with congregation members.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://https://communication.news.chass.ncsu.edu/2020/03/26/vmlk-project-60th-anniverary-a-creative-protest/

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444805/the-state-of-things-from-north-carolina-public-radio-w-u-n-c Scroll down Recent Episodes to the one titled: FEBRUARY 14, 2020 Virtual MLK Project Uses Technology To Recover History (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444805/the-state-of-things-from-north-carolina-public-radio-w-u-n-c Scroll down Recent Episodes to the one titled: FEBRUARY 14, 2020 Virtual MLK Project Uses Technology To Recover History
Director: Frank Stasio
Abstract: The State of Things is a live program hosted by Frank Stasio devoted to bringing the issues, personalities, and places of North Carolina to our listeners. We present the Tar Heel experience through sound, story, discussion, commentary and listener participation through calls. On this program, Frank interviewed Drs. Gallagher and Ham regarding the vMLK Project and the 60th Anniversary of a Creative Protest Exhibition.
Date: 02/14/2020
Primary URL: http:// https://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444805/the-state-of-things-from-north-carolina-public-radio-w-u-n-c
Access Model: Open access
Format: Radio

The Story of the vMLK Project (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: The Story of the vMLK Project
Writer: Mattison Domke
Director: Mattison Domke
Producer: James Alchediak
Abstract: The Story of the Virtual MLK Project Just days after the start of the Greensboro sit-ins In February 1960, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what would become a widely influential speech titled, “A Creative Protest.” Despite the historical and rhetorical significance of what is commonly known as the “Fill Up the Jails” speech, no recordings exist. Here, for the first time, using advanced digital and audio technology, we provide an opportunity for scholars, students and citizens to experience and explore this important speech.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=gNJ51kXZsQY&feature=emb_logo
Primary URL Description: We have a dedicated vMLK YouTube Channel where we upload our project and project-related videos.
Secondary URL: http://https://vmlk.chass.ncsu.edu/
Secondary URL Description: We have also placed a link to the project videos on our website.
Format: Video

vMLK EDSITEment Units for K-12 (Web Resource)
Title: vMLK EDSITEment Units for K-12
Author: Victoria Gallagher, Elizabeth Nelson, Cindy Rosenfeld, Malaka Friedman
Abstract: EDSITEment is a National Endowment for the Humanities supported educational resource that provides materials for teachers, students, and parents in the K-12 subject areas of History & Social Studies, Literature & Language Arts, and Arts & Culture. EDSITEment’s web presence broadens the reach and impact of the humanities by connecting public, private, and home school educators, scholars, and the American public to educational materials produced by NEH grant recipients, content experts, and master educators. The vMLK project team are assisting EDSITEment’s mission by providing classroom materials for instructors and students across the world by using resources of the project.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://vmlk.chass.ncsu.edu/pedagogy/vmlk-edsitement-units/

Communication Matters: The NCA Podcast (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Communication Matters: The NCA Podcast
Writer: Victoria J. Gallagher
Director: NCA Executive Director Trevor Parry-Giles
Abstract: Hear from the project’s North Carolina State University principal investigators Drs. Victoria Gallagher, Derek Ham, and Keon Pettiway about the vMLK project which recreates one of Dr. King’s iconic speeches through digital technology.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: http://vmlk.chass.ncsu.edu/nca-podcast/
Access Model: Podcast
Format: Web

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