Black History Archives

ATC Client Spotlight: Carmen Fields

While we’ve had the pleasure of working with many incredible clients throughout our 56 years in business, working with Pulitzer-winning journalist Carmen Fields was definitely a highlight for us. Carmen is a legend in her field, having led a long and storied career in print and broadcast journalism that’s led her to be named one of “Boston’s 100 Most Influential People” by Get Konnected™ and recognized as a “Legend of Roxbury” by Roxbury Community College Foundation for her pioneering work as a black woman in broadcast media.

But Carmen isn’t only a journalist––she’s also an author. Her soon-to-be-published debut work, “Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band” is a memoir detailing the career of her father, big-band leader Ernie Fields. At ATC, we had the immense honor of helping her digitize analog cassette tapes and transcribing the contents for use in her upcoming memoir, and while we eagerly await the published book, we thought we’d share one of Carmen’s more recent newsworthy projects here in Greater Boston.

A multicolor digital painting of journalist Carmen Fields with text below reading "Black Authors Collection Donated by Carmen Fields" and subtext reading "Doctor, Humane Letters '92" by Salem State University.

The Salem State Donation

Last year, Carmen made a groundbreaking donation to the Salem State University Library––her extensive personal collection of books by Black authors which featured several signed, first-edition works by authors including Maya Angelou, Colin Powell, Alice Walker, and Muhummad Ali. The collection also included landmark works by Zora Neale Hurston, Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barack Obama, and Dr. Martin Luther King, all of which are currently in circulation at the university’s library.

This exceptional collection from Carmen, generously donated to Salem State, has served to enrich the lives and cultural literacy of the student body, as well as to help introduce students of all backgrounds to critical texts by Black authors that have shaped history. The importance and impact of such a donation cannot be overstated, and is only one of many reasons we are so honored to count Carmen amongst our clientele here at ATC.

Academic, Client Spotlight, Transcription

Malcom X: A Life of Reinvention – Manning Marable

On April 4, 2011 Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention was published, and the magnum opus of Manning Marable’s life’s research was finally in print. Sadly, for those who do not know, Dr. Marable passed away 3 days before the book hit the shelves. Thankfully, he was able to see the book in print before he passed away.

Continue reading “Malcom X: A Life of Reinvention – Manning Marable” →

Client Spotlight, Transcription

February 2010 Client Spotlight

February 2010 Client Spotlight - Atc Blog

As one of the largest transcription service providers for historians, academics, and researchers from across the nation, we have the pleasure of being some of the first ears and eyes to handle diverse and extremely exciting source material.

Hardly a day goes by where the team here at The Tape Transcription Center isn’t amazed or excited (or even inspired!) by the projects that come through our humble office here on the Common.

Now, we’ve decided to take the opportunity with our blog to initiate a monthly spotlight on some of our fascinating clients and their work.* Right at the top of our list of people-and-projects-we-want-to-tell-the-world-about-via-the-internet is Peniel E. Joseph and his pioneering work on the history of the Black Power movement in America.

A Professor of History at Tufts University, Dr. Joseph is a pioneer in the field of “Black Power Studies,” and a frequent commentator who’s appeared on NPR, PBS’s Newshour, and C-SPAN.

Dr. Joseph became one of our clients when he was an Assistant Professor at SUNY-Stony Brook and was working on what would become his critically acclaimed, award-winning non-fiction book, “Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A History of Black Power in America.”

He has served on the faculty at Brandeis and is currently a tenured professor at Tufts. His latest book, “Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama,” hit the shelves this past January.

Currently, Dr. Joseph is in the process of working on a new book focusing specifically on the controversial Civil Rights activist Stokely Carmichael, a.k.a. Kwame Ture.

*Caveat: As excited as we may be about the work we do here, privacy is absolutely essential for many of our clients. Therefore, we will only feature clients whose work is already shared with the public and who have given us express prior permission.