The MC USA Archives is partnering with the Racial Ethnic Council to prioritize BIPOC storytelling.
This article was first published in the MC USA Archives News, Vol. 3, Issue 1.
Felipe Hinojosa (left) addresses the MC USA Executive Board and Racial Ethnic Council. Photo by Cami Dager.
The MC USA Archives and the Racial Ethnic Council (REC) are partnering on a new initiative to prioritize BIPOC history and storytelling.
“Just 5% of the materials in the MC USA Archives is devoted to stories of African American, Latino, Asian American or Native American Mennonites,” said distinguished Mennonite historian and author Felipe Hinojosa, Ph.D., speaking to the MC USA Executive Board during its fall 2024 meeting. Much of that history is told through the eyes of others, mostly missionaries, he added.
“When [historians] go to the archives to find our stories, it is important that they hear it directly from us and not from the pen of a missionary,” Hinojosa said.
The REC invited Hinojosa to join them at the meeting to underscore the importance of integrating diverse narratives into MC USA’s historical record.
“My calling to you today is that we get involved in the work of storytelling. To do that, we need help,” he said. “The Archives should be central to how we tell this Mennonite story,” he added.
In response to the REC’s request, the Executive Board agreed to prioritize its support for this initiative.
MC USA Racial Ethnic Council representatives: Sergio Nava, Grace Pam, Juan Montes, Leslie Francisco, III, and Helen Mfwilwakanda. Photo by Sue Park-Hur.
As a first step, Archives Coordinator Olivia Krall and Wil LaVeist, Ph.D., senior executive of Advancement for Mennonite Mission Network, will co-lead an Archiving 101 workshop at MC USA’s Hope for the Future conference, Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2025, in Goshen, Indiana. Leaders from majority-BIPOC congregations attending the workshop will receive an archival tool kit, funded by The Schowalter Foundation, and instructions to help them preserve their congregation’s historical materials.
MC USA will offer a similar workshop at its Follow Jesus ’25 biennial convention, July 8-12, 2025, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Congregations and members can support this initiative by giving to the Archives so that fragile records, such as audio recordings from the 1972 Cross-Cultural Youth Convention, can be digitized and preserved for decades to come.