Actualizing Black Spatial Histories Through a Speculative Youth Archiving Project

For today’s youth, learning about one's history and culture is not always a given in the classroom. Many schools are learning spaces void of any cultural or spatial connection, particularly for Black students. This paper details an action-based summer archeology program hosted by the Burke Museum and Seattle Public Schools Liberatory Education Program that explored Black spatial histories through speculative youth archiving. Through key relationships with community organizations, students underwent a three-week program designed to allow students to develop their relationship with Black spatial histories and envision their role in creating and setting history in real-time. Using student interviews, the authors were able to understand both the importance of locating a Black past in speculative youth work and how relationships are imperative to building an archive and skillset toward reclamation of history. Ultimately, this paper seeks to build knowledge toward answering the question: what's the role of youth in building a community archive? Specifically, how does a youth archive shift how we think about speculative YPAR work and the role of youth in community archiving and building out Black spatial histories?