Photo credit: Derek Hauffe Photography. BHEC’s main focus is preserving the stories of Holocaust survivors living in the Birmingham area. Rebecca is excited to help them work towards this goal. In addition to scheduling living survivors to speak to classrooms and organizations, the Center maintains oral and written histories of local Holocaust survivors. The office also houses a specialized research library with hundreds of volumes on the Holocaust and World War II. Through community programs, teacher education, and traveling exhibitions, the BHEC hopes to ensure new generations will apply the lessons of the Holocaust to the construction of a more just, humane, and tolerant future.
At the BHEC Rebecca helps organize commemoration events such as the upcoming United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day program at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Working with the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the BHEC will stage a dramatic reading with music to commemorate the UN Remembrance Day as well as the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The BHEC also publishes Legacy, a bi-annual newsletter, and highlights recent Holocaust scholarship on their website and Facebook page.
Putting Student Experience to Work
Rebecca will apply much of her experience as a graduate student to her new duties at the BHEC. “Since graduating, I have learned how to adapt the skills I honed while at UAB to a variety of positions. I am a freelance writer and editor, a volunteer coordinator, and an event planner in addition to the work I do for the BHEC. Grad school not only taught me how to research and write, but to be able to simultaneously juggle different projects.” Rebecca credits this work in helping her maintain a freelance business while working for and volunteering with different nonprofits.While organizing the first UAB Graduate History Forum (GHF), one of Rebecca’s fellow students paid her a compliment that has carried her into a side-career as a volunteer and event coordinator.
Rebecca with other volunteers at a TEDxBirmingham event. Photo credit: Joseph de Sciose Photography for TEDxBirmingham.“A professor asked a friend of mine how she got involved in the Graduate History Forum and she said ‘When Rebecca asks you to help with something, you just say yes because you know what she’s doing will be great.’ I’ve taken this into my work with Oak Hill Cemetery, TEDxBirmingham, and the Y’all Connect social media conference. I recruit and work with some of the best and most engaged volunteers in the city and the GHF definitely helped me be a better event coordinator.”Community Involvement
Another byproduct of graduate school is Rebecca’s need to maintain a wide variety of interests. She covers the City of Birmingham’s Design Review Committee meetings for the weekly newspaper, Weld, writes about art for the Atlanta-based BurnAway, and contributes essays and book reviews to Zen Dixie, an internet magazine out of Nashville.Rebecca organizes the docent tours at historic Oak Hill Cemetery, and has been a tour guide since the inception of the annual living history tour six years ago. Working with UAB’s Dr. Sarah Parcak, she coordinates volunteers and event day logistics for TEDxBirmingham, the local version of the famous TED talks. After volunteering for different causes over the past 20 years, she now leads volunteers for conferences like Y’all Connect.
During graduate school, Rebecca served as Editor-in-Chief of the Vulcan Historical Review and founded the Graduate History Forum. With a focus on urban history, she worked closely with Dr. Raymond A. Mohl and Professor Pam King on a number of projects. She earned a BA and an MA in history from UAB and an MA in the historic preservation of architecture from the Savannah College of Art & Design.
Rebecca and other volunteers at an Oak Hill Cemetery living history event. Photo credit: Karen Downs.