Solidarity Dreaming: Participatory Inquiry into Baltimore’s Histories and Geographies Toward Black-Im/migrant Futures

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Skills and Strategies for Teaching History: Approaches and Considerations

Abstract

This study examines how participatory, place-based historical inquiry can transform Baltimore’s racialized geography into a foundation for Black-im/migrant solidarity. Drawing on Boggs’s civic humanism and Ginwright’s radical-healing framework, we conducted four workshops with seven residents who engaged in archival walks, dialogue circles, and artifact analysis to examine the city’s intertwined legacies of segregation, migration, and resistance. Through participatory design research and micro-interaction analysis, we identified an emergent five-phase solidarity pathway: mapping personal memories, historical (re)positioning, recognizing shared injustice, cultivating relational belonging, and generating justice imaginaries. Findings demonstrate how collective place-based historical inquiry can repair civic relations and foster Black-im/migrant coalitions. The study illustrates how place-based historical learning can operationalize "Research, Remedy, and Repair" as embodied practice rather than aspirational rhetoric.

Authors

• Soo Bin Jang, University of Delaware

• Amanda Man, University of Delaware

• Keondra A Prier, University of Delaware