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Project collecting images from uprising

Posted at 7:06 PM, Apr 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-22 19:06:13-04
If you go to Baltimoreuprising2015.org you'll find more than 200,000 images collected from last spring's uprising after Freddie Gray's death. It's  a project by the Maryland Historical Society.
 
They're some of the most searing images from last spring, of overflowing emotion, the result of decades of simmering frustration.
 
"I see the uprising as something that started last April, but in fact, is still continuing even today," said Joe Tropea, digital projects coordinator at the Maryland Historical Society.
 
Tropea and two interns who work on the project have been tasking themselves to preserve it the best way they can by collecting the audio, video, and emails to store in a digital museum online.
 
"People sent in oral histories, interviews that were being conducted on the street, videos, people uploaded blog entries," Tropea said.
 
Angela Coucoui, one of the interns, is from Baltimore and is now a student at the University of Baltimore studying history. Coucoui said she watched, with the rest of the city and the world, as flames from police cars danced across her television screen.
 
"When I saw the images on TV, I said I would definitely like to get into a project that involved preservation," said Coucoui. "Seeing the different emotions in the images actually makes the preservation even more important."
 
So far, the submissions of thousands of people have made that a reality. The museum is still looking for pictures from anyone who wants to contribute. 
 
Some of the existing images will find their way into an upcoming exhibit here in June.

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