Summer Research Assistants needed

Truth & Repair: The History of Structural Racism in New Jersey
Seeking Grad Student Summer Research Assistants for Truth and Repair Project

Description:
Truth & Repair: The History of Structural Racism in New Jersey brings together a diverse group of scholars, students, and cultural practitioners to document the historical impacts of structural racism on the health and wellbeing of marginalized communities in New Jersey. We strive to support these communities and the state’s cultural institutions and organizations by researching histories of inequality and developing historically-informed, fact-based scholarship that promotes equitable health outcomes for all New Jerseyans. This project is coordinated through Princeton, Rutgers, and St. Peter’s Universities, with major funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

We are seeking graduate students to work with local archives and community organizations at four projects, each with up to four graduate research assistants on each team:

North Jersey (Newark/Jersey City/Plainfield): This team will focus on surveying oral history collections, newspaper, and subject archives, and assist archives with related projects. Research areas will include hospital closures, and the effects of urban renewal and highways construction in Essex, Hudson, and Union counties. Partners include the Jersey City Free Public Library, New Jersey Historical Society, Plainfield Public Library, and the South Ward
Environmental Alliance.

Central Jersey (Trenton/Mercer County): This team will focus on making a major oral history collection available to the public, assisting archives with related projects, database and archival research into historical sites and individuals, and building a new oral history collective among community partners, and documenting the imprint of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in New Brunswick. Partners include the New Jersey State Archives, the Trentoniana Room of the Trenton Public Library, the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, and several church-based community history initiatives. Proficiency in Spanish is desired for some projects.

South Jersey (Camden/Atlantic City/Cape May): South Jersey (Camden/Atlantic City/Cape May): This team will focus on: Processing oral history collections related to Camden City and Southern New Jersey; Assisting Lawnside Historical Society (LHS) with the digitization/processing of historical materials in their possession (located at the Historical Society of Haddonfield); Conducting Black Oral Histories of Health, Care, and Urban Change in Atlantic City; Assisting Center for Community Arts with the digitization/processing of historical materials in their possession related to the historic Black community, urban renewal, and mutual aid, etc.

Statewide: This team will focus on health data sets to trace and capture the impact of structural policies on health outcomes in African American, Latinx, and Indigenous Communities. This team will conduct library archival research, extracting qualitative and quantitative data from historical library databases, which includes the New Jersey Health Statistics from 1877 to 2000; New Jersey State Health Assessment Database; and U.S. Small Area Life Expectancy
Estimates & Project. The team also seeks students with experience using Census data and creating maps in GIS (Geographic Information System). Expertise with Stata, R, or similar programs is highly desired.

General Information: The T&R Summer 2025 research cycle will launch with a Zoom orientation the week of June 8 and conclude with an in-person end-of-summer convening August 22. Research responsibilities involve a mix of on-site and digital archival work, assisting with community partner goals, remote database research, and documenting findings in various formats. Short final reports will be due by August 14. Each team will work with university and
community historian mentors in a team of students from different universities across the state. Travel is required for some projects.

Compensation: Graduate research assistants can work up to 60 hours total at a rate of $25/hr.

By March 15, 2025, please submit 1) a resume with at least one reference, and 2) a brief letter (one page max) expressing your interest in the project and describing any relevant experience. Indicate your preferences for which team. Upload your application materials here, or use the following link: https://forms.gle/6WXeoFfBNCoAaqoh8