ABOUT US

Clarissa West-White, Ph.D.

Dr. Clarissa West-White is a native of Quincy, Florida, she has degrees in Creative Writing, Curriculum & Instruction English Education and Information from Florida State University. She successfully defended her dissertation, The writing assignment: The impact teachers' assignments and instruction have on students' preferences, perceptions and class procedures, in August 2001. Dr. West-White has experience as a middle and high school English teacher, program coordinator, adult literacy director, university English department chair, and assistant professor and adjunct at a number of public and private universities in the state of Florida and online. She has completed archival projects and served as an education consultant with the U.S. and Florida Department of Education. She has received fellowships and scholarships, including: Robert Frederick Smith Internship, National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institute; Teacher and Librarian Scholarship Recipient, Key West Literary Seminar; National Information Standard Organization (NISO) Plus Scholarship Recipient; Preserving digital Objects With Restricted Resources Institute Recipient; Fulbright-Hays, Turkey. Most recently, she received the 2026 Dorothy Dodd Outstanding Archivist Award from the Florida Historical Society, and was an HBCU Visiting Archivist and Librarian Program Award Recipient. She has served as Archivist at Bethune-Cookman University since Summer 2022, and maintains its social media accounts and collection records, creates exhibits, works with university personnel to celebrate campus milestones.

Headley White, Jr., Ph.D.

Dr. Headley J. White, Jr. wrote and successfully defended his unpublished dissertation, “The Effects of Desegregation on Gadsden County, Florida Public Schools, 1968-1972” in 2006. Dr. White is a former middle and high school instructor of Social Studies in three Florida counties – Broward, Gadsden and Miami-Dade - and has had teaching stints, either as an adjunct (adj.) or Assistant Professor, at Florida A&M University (adj.), Florida Memorial University (adj.), Florida State University (adj.), and Thomas University where he was an Assistant Professor of Education as well as an advisor to Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society. He was also an Associate Instructor in Social Science Education in the School of Teacher Education at Florida State University.

Notice that we did not get gussied up or add filters or makeup, we simply recorded our couple origin story. We also remembered additional information when we watched it again. The street I couldn't remember was Woodward. The wing's place name was Wings To Go.

Many times we overthink the process and before you know it, the person we wanted to capture may be in no state to interview.

It also does not have to take a long time. This was under 10 minutes. We can record more later. Likewise, you don't have to capture all that Big Mamma and Auntie know about the family in one recording, on one day. And since it's recorded, you can play it back to check accuracy with another family member or see if the recorded family member has more to add. In other words, documenting your family's legacy is a slow walk, not a marathon.

At the end of the day, always remember to get what you can, while you can.

FIND YOUR FAITH

Photos of QuickLit participants and their literary-inspired creations - a series of Saturday sessions at the Gadsden Art Center in Quincy, Florida.