Osayande Wins Peace Grant

Jeannine Osayande. Photo: Andy Shelter

Jeannine Osayande, a fifth-generation resident of the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, has won a grant from the Anne Bernstein Richan Peace Action Fund to support a collective oral history project, “Making a Homeplace.” The project aims to collect neighborhood stories in order to preserve the culture, history, and practices of a rapidly changing community.

Established in memory of Swarthmore Friends Meeting member Anne Richan by her family, the fund honors Richan’s work for peace and mediation at all levels. It provides financial support for peace work that might otherwise not take place. 

“This initiative will hold space for Black community members from the HBNS to record and document their stories with their own voices,” says Swarthmore resident Maurice Eldridge, speaking on behalf of the fund. “In alignment with the legacy of Anne Bernstein Richan, Osayande hopes to develop peacemaking through the act of neighbors witnessing one another’s stories.”

Co-collaborators on the project will include the Philadelphia Folklore Project, Swarthmore Friends Meeting, the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, and the Jeannine Osayande and Dunya Performing Arts Company.