Who We Are
We are a research group affiliated with Auburn University with the mission to bring the academic and local communities together to preserve and share the unique African American history that remains undocumented or forgotten to the public.
Goals
1) Research and tell the stories of local African American/Black history
2) Educate our youth to our collective history
3) Preserve the historical sites (such as cemeteries and buildings)
4) Reflect and find ourselves through this process
2) Educate our youth to our collective history
3) Preserve the historical sites (such as cemeteries and buildings)
4) Reflect and find ourselves through this process
Values
1) The stories we tell do not belong to us so we must treat them with the respect and discretion they deserve
2) We sit at the table but the community is at the head
3) The stories are subject to revision as documentation becomes available and societal context evolves
4) We strive to engage in developmentally appropriate education of our youth
5) We strive to maintain the sacredness of cemeteries
6) We strive to be environmentally responsible with cemetery preservation
2) We sit at the table but the community is at the head
3) The stories are subject to revision as documentation becomes available and societal context evolves
4) We strive to engage in developmentally appropriate education of our youth
5) We strive to maintain the sacredness of cemeteries
6) We strive to be environmentally responsible with cemetery preservation
History of rPAAST
rPAAST unofficially began in 2002 when James "Lafe" Harris asked his grandson to research the family history. Lafe's mother was adopted and all he knew was that his mother's caregiver was an unnamed, poor and uneducated black woman from Louisiana who was a house keeper for a German immigrant. Lafe's requests to his grandson occurred a couple times a year for 10 years. Finally at the end of 2012, Lafe's grandson hesitantly began the research that would eventually lead to rPAAST as we currently know it. Researching the family history of people of African descent is difficult to say the least, let alone for an unnamed poor person; however the research led to the exceptional story of a strong, successful, and intelligent former enslaved woman, not from Louisiana, but rather from Texas who was illegally married to a white man. Her name was Louisiana, Louisa for short, and Lou for even shorter.
It took only two generations for Louisa's life story to be forgotten. This led Lafe's grandson to consider all of the other forgotten stories that lay dormant in old African American cemeteries-- just like Baptist Hill Cemetery in Auburn, Alabama. In 2017, Lafe's grandson, Dr. Robert Bubb at Auburn University, decided to start a research group to research, document, and preserve the histories of those interred at Baptist Hill. That research effort grew beyond the university and the cemetery. The effort now reaches out to the community and currently encompasses any notable and local historical African American person, event, tradition, building, or cemetery. In May of 2018, the research group officially adopted the name Research to Preserve African American Stories and Traditions (rPAAST).
It took only two generations for Louisa's life story to be forgotten. This led Lafe's grandson to consider all of the other forgotten stories that lay dormant in old African American cemeteries-- just like Baptist Hill Cemetery in Auburn, Alabama. In 2017, Lafe's grandson, Dr. Robert Bubb at Auburn University, decided to start a research group to research, document, and preserve the histories of those interred at Baptist Hill. That research effort grew beyond the university and the cemetery. The effort now reaches out to the community and currently encompasses any notable and local historical African American person, event, tradition, building, or cemetery. In May of 2018, the research group officially adopted the name Research to Preserve African American Stories and Traditions (rPAAST).