Tag Archives: Black Diaspora Archive

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Area Studies, Benson Latin American Collection, Global Studies, LLILAS Benson

“Visiting Days”: An Archive of Family Care at São Paulo’s Largest Women’s Prison

Leave a comment

An archive acquired through the LLILAS Benson Archiving Black América–Black Diaspora Archive initiative documents scenes from prison visiting days

Brazil is among the top incarcerators of women worldwide, with Black women accounting for 65 percent of this population. The largest women’s prison in the country is the Penitenciaria Feminina Santana (Santana Women’s Penitentiary) in São Paulo. Every weekend, families of incarcerated women arrive to visit their loved ones on the inside. On Avenida Ataliba Leonel, the busy thoroughfare just outside the prison, two tents, or barracas, serve as informal storage sites where visitors pay to store their belongings prior to lining up to enter the prison. The tents also offer food for purchase.

A group of several dozen people cluster around the entrance gates of the large women's penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil. One woman sits at the curb, a small child by her side. Many of the people have white plastic bags on the ground near them. The prison entrance is a pale yellow archway, trimmed in medium grayish blue, with a gate if the same blue, the name of the prison written above. In the foreground there is the surface of the street with many lines painted for crosswalks.
Facade of the largest women’s prison complex in Latin America, the Santana Women’s Penitentiary. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

In the archive Dias de Visita/Visiting Days: Strategies for Connections, Affections and Black Encounters in Latin America’s Largest Women’s Penitentiary, LLILAS PhD student Ana Luiza Biazeto has assembled images and oral histories from her visits to the barracas, where she interviewed family members of incarcerated women, as well as some of the people who set up and run the tents. Biazeto became familiar with the prison and the visiting area during research for her master’s thesis, which was about Black incarcerated women in the prison.

A large blue tarp creates a tent with an open front. People can be seen standing or sitting under the tarp—one with an umbrella, one bent over holding a white plastic bag. Various bags and at least one suitcase are visible. On the rainy street in the foreground, a man rides by on a bicycle.
Loira’s tent welcomes visitors on a rainy day. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

While many incarcerated women are completely separated from the lives of their families and loved ones during their imprisonment, others are visited by family on a regular basis. During her first year as a PhD student, in a 2022 seminar on urban Brazil, Professor Lorraine Leu asked Biazeto some pointed questions about the women she had interviewed in the prison: How were their children doing? Who were their families? Leu’s questions inspired Biazeto to think more deeply about the dias de visita and what she could learn in this setting. She applied for, and received, an Archiving Black América–Black Diaspora Archive (ABA–BDA) archival acquisition award, which afforded her an opportunity to better understand the dynamic of the families.

Two small boys, both with shorn heads, face away from the camera. They are standing on a paved median facing a two-lane road. In the background, pale yellow three-story building can be seen. The sky above it is gray. The boys stand with their shoulders touching. They wear flipflop sandals, matching voluminous sweatpants that are light blue with a wide navy blue band across the knee, and long-sleeved sweatshirts.
Brothers, taken by their grandmother, wait to visit their mother in the Santana Women’s Penitentiary. Photo: Ana Luiza Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

“I learned of things that I never would have imagined,” said Biazeto in an interview during spring 2025. “I was in connection with many mothers, many grandmothers, who visit women. There were many children, running around there on the avenue. And as I interviewed, I cried along with the women. The children came and showed me the drawings they were making, many the age of [my youngest child]. And just as my master’s thesis involved a painful process, it is also a painful thing to confront these realities.”

Barraca da Loira and Barraca da Adriana, named for the women who run them, are part of the informal economy and are protected by the Primeira Comanda da Capital, or PCC, an organized crime unit in São Paulo that is sometimes called upon by the state to act. Biazeto says the PCC might be on hand to make sure people line up in an orderly manner to visit the prison.

A group of white plastic bags sit on a dirty orange tarp. Each one is tied with a knot at the top. On some, a small yellow square of paper with a handwritten number is visible attached with a metallic hook. Some belongings, such as a dark plaid umbrella, can be seen peeking out of the bags.
Visitors’ items are put in plastic bags and locked with a password in Adriana’s tent. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

During her fieldwork, Biazeto conducted interviews with Adriana, who runs one tent, and with Karina, the daughter of “a Loira” (“Blondie”), who runs the other. Additionally, Adriana and her son, Paulo, recommended visiting family members for Biazeto to interview.

“They knew the people, they heard their stories, they sold them coffee, they welcomed the people,” Biazeto said.

Closed containers of cake and several individually wrapped sandwiches made with white bread sit on a wooden table. Two cake containers are stacked one atop the other, while a knife sits atop a single container.
The cake and snacks sold at Barraca da Loira. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

In the excerpt below, Biazeto discussed her fieldwork in more depth. The following conversation is translated from the Portuguese and condensed.

Q: What were some of the things that surprised you?

Biazeto: I saw a mother putting on makeup to show her daughter that she was ok. Because she said that her role was to maintain her daughter’s well-being inside the prison. She said, “I cry here with you, but I go in there with a smile for her to have hope, that I’m waiting for her out here, and that everything is all right.” So she puts on makeup, she applies eye shadow, puts on lipstick, fixes her hair.

In a grainy photo, a woman applies red lipstick to her mouth. She holds a mirror and the silver top of the lipstick tube in one hand, while applying the color to her open mouth in the other. She is wearing a leopard-print jacket.
A mother applies lipstick before visiting her daughter in the women’s penitentiary. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

I also saw—although the statistics say the opposite—I saw many men going to visit their women. Taking their kids. So this happens in a way that research doesn’t show. These men are also invisibilized. Principally Black men, because when we talk about the Brazilian prison system, we’re principally talking about race. I saw a grandfather bringing a grandson to see his daughter. I saw a father bringing a little girl in a stroller, giving her a bottle. Cooking for the women. Breaking those gender barriers somewhat.

Professor Christen Smith commented [on my research], “You are bringing in new viewpoints [novos olhares].” Because it’s the man who works the dawn hours as garbage collector, street sweeper; comes back home, cooks, takes his daughter, and goes to the gate of the penitentiary. So those were the things that surprised me.

A slender man in loose gray sweatshirt and sweatpants stands with his back to the camera. He is facing a crowded line across the street from the entrance gate to the women's prison. He holds a small child against the left side of his chest. The child is wearing gray sweats, a blue-and-white hat with ear covers and a pompom on top, and bright red sneakers. The man has short black hair and a cigarette tucked behind his right ear.
Father takes his child to see mother, sentenced and imprisoned in PFS. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

Also, mothers who brought food not just for their own daughters, but for the cellmates, and the block-mates, because they didn’t have visitors. A mother said, “My daughter shares the food I bring, even if it’s a spoonful for each person.”

Q: What are these women serving time for?

Biazeto: In general, it is drug trafficking. Sometimes it’s a family business; sometimes inherited from the mother, or along with a male partner. Generally it is the user who is criminalized, not the dealer.

Q: What more would you like to share about your work?

Biazeto: [I’ve been encouraged by Lorraine Leu to think about the (im)possibilities of Black futures in the context of the prison.] To see the children running around there, in the middle of a busy avenue, is to think about Black resistance. Right there, you witness the formation of a community that supports and sustains its members somehow, whether it’s sharing information on legal issues, or the workings of the prison system. Many times, this information comes from outside, from family members exchanging information between themselves. I could see a solidarity among those family members. I think that this archive keeps alive the memory of people who are resisting the Brazilian police state. It is a new way of resisting.

A small dark blue tent, open on two sides and held up by metal poles, reads "Barraca da Loira" in bright yellow letters (Loira's Tent). Inside the tent, there is a small metal table with a few full plastic bags, one or two large Thermos bottles, and two round plastic containers containing cake. Suspended from a makeshift clothing line outside strung from a larger pole is a rope with a few articles of clothing hung from it, among them a hot-pint long-sleeved sweatshirt. Several people stand facing the tent with their backs to the camera. In the foreground, a small amount of the street is visible, including an orange traffic cone.
Barraca da Loira sells flip-flops, soft drinks, coffee, cake, and underwear. They also rent out clothes and serve as a locker. Photo: Flávia Biazeto. Black Diaspora Archive.

Ana Luiza Biazeto will spend the 2025–2026 academic year in Brazil to continue her dissertation research on resistance and resilience among Black women and their families in the Brazilian carceral system.

The contents of the Visiting Days archive can be reviewed via Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO). The Black Diaspora Archive is an initiative of Black Studies, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, and the Office of the President. The archive is housed at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

Benson Latin American Collection, Black Diaspora Archive, Collaborations, Digital Humanities, Digital Scholarship, Humanities & Liberal Arts, Interview

The John S. and Drucie R. Chase Building Archive

Leave a comment

BY JEREMY THOMPSON

The Black Diaspora Archive (BDA) at The University of Texas at Austin documents the Black experience in the Americas and the Caribbean through the voices and stories of those who have championed the Black spaces that we use and benefit from today. Diaspora is defined as the “dispersion of any people from their original homeland,” and often when evoked with the Black experience in America, means the historical movement and displacement of Africans from their native homeland.

For the Black community in Austin, diaspora is a much more recent and closer-to-home event as its established Black communities are under threat of disappearing. Through the use of oral histories, the John S. and Drucie R. Chase Building Archive tells the story of the herding of the Black community into East Austin, the Black establishments and schools that grew during this time, and the subsequent displacement that has occurred in recent times. While much has changed for the Black community in East Austin, one building has stood in service of its community while enduring its own share of transformation. 

Line drawing of a one-story building facade in white on a solid orange background; white lettering says The John S. and Drucie R. Chase Building.
Image used to herald the opening of the newly renovated Chase Building

The building at 1191 Navasota Street in East Austin was built in 1952 to house what was then the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas (CTSAT). The CTSAT commissioned the building to serve as its headquarters and tapped John Saunders Chase as the architect to design the building. Chase was the first African American to graduate from the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture and first to become a licensed architect in the state of Texas. The building that Chase designed would serve the CTSAT for 14 years before the association voluntarily dissolved in 1966 to merge with the Texas State Teachers Association. In 1968, the building was purchased by Dr. Ella Mae Pease and would become the House of Elegance. Now a beauty salon, the building served as a social hub for Black community in East Austin and a focal point for social events that Pease would facilitate. During its time as the House of Elegance, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Photograph of a one-story building with some brick on the facade. A small sign on the building reads House of Elegance in cursive writing.
The House of Elegance pictured at the end of its reign

After decades of service, the building was purchased in 2018 by the University of Texas at Austin and christened the John S. and Drucie R. Chase Building. Dr. Suchitra Gururaj, Assistant Vice President for Community and Economic Engagement, explains the decision to purchase the building:

“The idea for renovating the building came about in 2017, when House of Elegance owner, Pearl Cox, decided to sell the property. Former UT President Greg Fenves saw an opportunity to bring prominence to the university with the purchase of the first property designed by John S. Chase, the first Black/African American graduate of UT’s School of Architecture. When the purchase was made, we proposed that the space be repurposed as our next Center for Community Engagement (CCE) of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE). We consider the CCE to be the ‘front porch’ of our university, inviting community members and residents to connect with a large, decentralized, and often intimidating university that has not always welcomed people from diverse communities. In re-creating the Chase Building, we were not only able to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Chase’s legacy but also to create a new life for the building that represented the intersection of diversity and community engagement. Like successful community engagement practice, our process of renovation was also collaborative, drawing on the mentorship of Donna Carter and relying on the expertise of Dorothy Fojtik and Nathan Goodman at UT Project Management and Construction Services. Over the period of the renovation, the project transformed from a simple university construction project into a true labor of love.”

Donna Carter, the first African American woman to become a licensed architect in Austin, led the effort to renovate the Chase Building. In 2022, the Chase Building reopened as the base for the Center of Community Engagement (CCE). This department within UT’s Division of Diversity for Community Engagement works to deploy university resources to foster connections with the community and meet community needs. In an effort to document the change that the Chase Building and East Austin have undergone over the years, the CCE began to conduct interviews with community members in 2019 and 2020 centering around the Robertson Hill neighborhood, the area that was home to the building. This project was advocated for by the Robertson Hill Neighborhood Association, which also suggested community members to interview for this project. The product of these interviews is the collection of oral histories and photographs that make up the John S. and Drucie R. Chase Building Archive. Housed in the BDA’s archival collection, these oral histories cover a range of topics including education, churches, and race and the City of Austin.

A black-and-white photo of Black boys and girls of various ages, as well as a male and female adult, who are posed for a school photo.
Archival photograph depicting a class from Blackshear Elementary

The Chase Building Archive consists of nine interviews with members of the East Austin community who have witnessed the change in the area. In her oral history, Mrs. Patricia Calhoun reminisces about growing up in the Robertson Hill neighborhood. She speaks about the streets that she grew up on that still remain today and the establishments in the community that do not. When talking about the importance of Black stories, Calhoun states, “Our stories are important to us because we’ve been here for generations, and yet the community is changing so rapidly that we could be erased without a thought.” This sentiment about the transformation of East Austin and the diminishing presence of its original community is observed throughout the collection. Mr. Clifton Vandyke Sr. jokingly remarks during his interview that “if we aren’t careful, this will be just like visiting a museum where people will come and say this is where African Americans used to live.” These quotes can be found on one of the four curated vignettes, “Storytelling and History,”  that weave together common themes found throughout the assorted oral histories.

An older Black gentleman in a blue short-sleeved shirt, is seated on a comfortable living room chair. The photo is taken through the lens of a video camera, and the viewer of the camera is also visible.
Mr. Clifton Vandyke Sr. seen through the camera lens during his oral history interview

Another vignette that can be found in the collection revolves around education and its importance with the community. Memories of attending schools like Blackshear Elementary School, Kealing Middle School, and Huston-Tillotson University testify to the many outlets available for education and the community’s pursuit of it. Ms. Lydia Moore spoke about the opportunity to choose which school she could attend after desegregation: “We had been told we would be the first group to have that opportunity to go anywhere we wanted to, but that we’d be ready. We need not be afraid. We need not feel inferior. But we would be ready.” 

The thirst for education within the community sprouted from wanting not only to survive, but thrive in the world. The sentiment of wanting to thrive in East Austin is shared throughout the collection and can also be found in CCE’s efforts to collaborate with the community from the Chase Building. Stephanie Lang, Director for community-facing programs at CCE, expresses the aim of this collection: “As historic East Austin continues to change rapidly, the amazing legacy of these communities are at risk of erasure. This archive is but one of the many efforts being done to preserve these stories and provide a way for many generations to access, reflect on, and honor this important history.” 

Two women pose together in a home, with a kitchen in the background. On the left is a younger Black woman with long dreads, glasses, and red lipstick who is wearing a red-white-and-black scarf; on the right an older Black woman in a bright blue top and dark blue blazer. Both are smiling.
Mrs. Vonnye Rice Gardner (right) poses with Stephanie Lang, who worked as the interviewer for the project

Rachel Winston, Black Diaspora Archivist and steward of the BDA, states, “As we celebrate the legacies of John and Drucie Chase, the work of CCE, and the history of the Chase building, it is necessary to also recognize the local community that has made all of this possible. The interviews in this collection offer an incredible glimpse into the lives and experiences of Austinites from historic, Black East Austin.” 

The John S. and Drucie R. Chase Building Archive is stewarded by the Black Diaspora Archive and can be accessed through a variety of avenues. The oral histories and photographs can be accessed online via the University of Texas Libraries Collections portal, here. The analog artifacts of the collection have been described in the collection’s TARO finding aid and can be requested in the Benson Latin American Collection’s rare books and manuscripts reading room. For more in-depth history about the Chase Building, visit CCE’s showcase on it and their series of videos centered around the building and its surrounding communities. Collections like the Chase Building Archive provide us the opportunity to learn how Black communities and spaces come about, and warn us about the diaspora that looms with their absence. 

Jeremy Thompson is a Diversity Resident Librarian at the University of Texas Libraries.

Black Diaspora Archive, Collaborations, LLILAS Benson, People, Research, Students

Curating an Oral History of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at The University of Texas at Austin

Leave a comment

BY BRIANA MARIE DAVIS, CLASS OF 2021

Delta Xi of Spring 1966: Camilla Jackson, Beverly Robinson, Karen Williams, Pamiel Johnson-Gaskin, Carolyn Cole, Ruth Franklin, Mary Gordon, Linda Lewis, Mary Poston, Shirley Tennyson, Barbara Ward, Debbera Williams. Photo courtesy of Pamiel Johnson-Gaskin.

The honorable Delta Xi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. was the first Black Greek-letter organization to be established at The University of Texas at Austin. Sworn in on May 16, 1959, at high noon in the Queen Anne Room, this particular group of women is dripping in legacy, poignant programs, community service, and rich history. As an archivist-in-training, with the unique opportunity to not only archive an oral history but curate it from scratch, I see it as my duty to extract the essence and diversity of these highly valuable experiences among the Delta Xi women. This is a preview of a three-part blog series, accompanied by a digital archive that has been published and gathered throughout the summer of 2021.

What Is Oral History? The Beginning Processes of Oral History Curation

Oral history-making is a method of conducting historical research to preserve the experiences, significant historical events, and stories of narrators, recorded by a well-informed interviewer, with the purpose of making them accessible to future generations. Oral history not only helps us understand singular events in the past, but gives us a snapshot of any and all historical forces at play during a moment in time.

As an archivist-in-training and now an oral historian, I have been involved in the process of creating a blueprint for an oral recording documenting the first UT Black Greek organization from scratch. I hope that this specific process of interviewing can be applied to future endeavors to preserve the Delta Xi history and possibly the oral histories of other Greek-letter organizations at The University of Texas at Austin.

A Brief History of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated was founded by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle of St. Louis, Missouri, at Howard University on January 15, 1908. Over time, the organization expanded to many higher-learning institutions across the globe, growing to over 1,018 undergraduate and graduate chapters with the purpose of enriching the lives of Black women through service, networking, and social experiences. The sorority promotes unity, friendship, and academic achievement among its members; it seeks to continue and provide opportunities for higher education through scholarship and donation. As the first Black Greek-letter organization to be established at the University of Texas, the brand-new members of the Delta Xi Chapter were serenaded by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at their swearing-in.

AKA Christmas Party, 1966, photo courtesy of Pamiel Gaskin.

AKA Impact on Campus and Beyond

The impact of the signature projects created and facilitated by the Delta Xi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. reaches beyond the Forty Acres and into the lives of Austin mothers and their children. Working in East Austin, where, historically, the majority of African American Austinites have resided, since 1959 Delta Xi has held events to aid battered women, and to provide holiday parties, daycare, resources, encouragement, and toys for impoverished families.

Honorable Mentions, Members, and Findings

Lareatha H. Clay: Shankleville Community Oral History Collection

Lareatha H. Clay is a prominent oral historian and Delta Xi member (among other accolades). She has created the Shankleville Community Oral History Collection, an archival collection focused on preserving the spoken histories of Shankleville, a historic freedom colony in Newton County, located in East Texas. Clay is currently working to organize the Aya Symposium, an annual multidisciplinary event that explores the history of Texas freedom colonies.

DeMetris Sampson: Innervisions of Blackness

The Delta Xi Chapter has also had its influence in fine arts on campus. DeMetris Sampson, founder of the choral group Innervisions of Blackness and its first president, created the organization with the purpose of “educating, representing and exemplifying the soul of Black students through the scope of music.” Sampson was advised by Almetris Duren, a highly influential historical figure at UT Austin, to make the group official in 1974. Contrary to the rumor that Duren founded the group, Sampson (first president), Rene Hight (Delta Xi member, vice president, and pianist), Vanessa Ferguson (vice president), and Butler School of Music doctoral student Irlene Swain (director) were the first to spearhead the organization. Be sure to check out DeMetris Sampson’s inspiring interview as soon as the Delta Xi Oral History Collection is live to find out more about Innervisions of Blackness.

Barbara Dugas-Patterson: Cotton Bowl Queen

Photo courtesy of Barbara Dugas-Patterson, 1982.

Barbara Dugas-Patterson was crowned as Cotton Bowl Queen by popularity vote and support from Delta Xi members, thus participating in the Cotton Bowl Classic. The University of Texas was ranked #1 in the Southwest Conference at the time and competed against the University of Alabama.

Time and Oral History Making

Time consciousness, memory, subjectivity, explanation, and interpretation are some of the challenges that prevent oral history curation from achieving a concrete and complete picture of the past. To minimize confusion and add structure to the Delta Xi interviews, we devised a template with specific, open-ended questions. The questions revolved around experiences with social life on campus, community service, personal motivations to join the organization, and the legacy of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. The scope of the questions was limited to high school, senior year, college, and occasionally beyond. The flexible nature of the interview questions allowed for a diverse set of narratives to surface.

Despite the challenges of extracting histories dating back at least forty years and that are continuing to unfold, I’ve been able to make comparisons depending on the decade each participant pledged and their overall perceptions of racial inclusion at the University of Texas. Participants who pledged the Delta Xi Chapter in the 1960s viewed joining a Black sorority as a means of survival in a challenging sociopolitical atmosphere, freshly recovering from outdated ideas regarding Black women in higher education. Conversely, members who joined in the 1970s and 1980s saw joining a Black sorority as an elective, yet all participants have found that they joined Alpha Kappa Alpha to find women just like themselves in a university whose Black student population is still only 4 percent. To stay up to date with the Delta Xi Chapter, I encourage you to check out their social media: @Texas_AKAs.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Probate Show, circa 1984. Photo courtesy of Barbara Dugas-Patterson.

Final Thoughts

Recording the oral histories of African American women has been one of the most rewarding opportunities of my life. The quote “If we don’t tell our own stories, no one else will,” by Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, has reverberated throughout my psyche while curating this collection. Indeed, this has been the first oral history project for and by Black women at the University of Texas, but I encourage all Black people to take a front seat in the preservation of their personal histories. One of the most impacting sentiments expressed at the Aya Symposium this past summer is the need to preserve family documents, photographs, and memorabilia. Participation in repositories and history-making through the lens of African Americans is crucial to the historical narrative of the Black community as a whole. Please check out our digital archive when it is completed in the months to come. Thank you to the University of Texas, Texas Libraries, the Black Diaspora Archive, and the Delta Xi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. for allowing this project to blossom and continue.

View Parts I, II, and III of this blog series

Briana Marie Davis is a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Anthropology and African American Studies. She carried out this oral history project during an internship at the Black Diaspora Archive. Davis is a problem-solving, creative, convivial individual who enjoys singing and playing piano in venues around Austin, Texas, in her free time. She hopes to be of service to her community by uplifting groups that are marginalized through her research and artistic expression.