Interview with Kehinde Ilegbusi and Holly Lyczak from the Reckonings Project
Kehinde Ilegbusi is a History PhD student. Holly Lyczak is an undergraduate majoring in International Affairs and Spanish. They both work for the Reckonings Project.
Kehinde and Holly spoke with Colleen Nugent McLean, CDS Coordinator, about their work with the Reckonings Project and the various different initiatives that Reckonings is pursuing. Their comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Colleen: To begin, could you both please introduce yourselves?
Kehinde: I am Kehinde Ilegbusi, currently a first year PhD student in History at Northeastern University. I currently work as a doctoral researcher for the Reckonings Project, as well as the “Dignity for Disappeared Ancestors Project” (DDA Project). Thank you for having me.
Holly: And I’m Holly. I am a second year majoring in International Affairs and Spanish. I am currently a project assistant for the Reckonings Project, and I have worked with the project since January 2025.
In your own words, how would you describe your work at the Reckonings project?
Holly: I’ve worked mainly on the main team with Jen Grieve, the Reckonings project manager. As I’ve gotten more into my role, I think I’ve helped more with other people’s projects, like Uta Poiger’s and Dzidzor Azaglo’s. I am more of a floater. Although I work mainly with Jen, I predominantly work on the Freedom House projects. I helped with the 75th intergenerational book project. I edited the transcriptions for the interviews, as well as creating bios for all the. Creating the bios made me understand how intricate this process can be. I had to search up who the interviewees were and find as much information as possible on them in relation to Freedom House.
I have also worked on smaller projects with Uta. When we did research for Freedom House, she wanted me to do more research on who was in attendance at certain events and galas. For example, there was a gala I have where Nina Simone, the jazz musician, played. I’ve also recently done transcriptions for Dzidzor’s class as part of the Boston Black Women Lead project. I have helped transcribe interviews her students made with prominent Black women figures in Boston. Mainly I do more administrative work and anything that people need me to do.
Kehinde: My journey begins from the archives to working with team members to support Reckonings initiatives - a community archival work with public impactsI work directly with Professor Uta Poiger on the Jazz Square Activation Project, which honors and celebrates the Jazz square that really made the Boston Jazz scene what it is. By “Jazz squares,” I am talking about clubs, places, business, culture, arts, jazz and non-jazz artists. Part of what I do is to really look at the archives to better understand the many lives of Boston Jazz squares and to understand Jazz as something that offers value to the community.
I also work directly with Professor Kris Manjapra and Distinguished Professor Margaret Burnham on the DDA Project. This interdisciplinary research traces institutions in the USA and abroad holding ancestral entities (objects/human remains) in their collections. I am currently handling records of those categorized as executed prisoners in the United States, whose bodies became specimens for medical anatomization. A lot of the historical documentation is finding those records and identifying which institutions were involved.
Thank you both so much. I think what really stands out about Reckonings is the scope of what the project is doing. It seems like there are so many projects living under the umbrella of Reckonings. What has the experience of working at a large project like Reckonings?
Kehinde: I think for me, it has a lot to do with personal research interests and the background we bring to the work as individuals. I’ve been exposed to community initiative before coming to the States, so it was more or less having to continue what I’ve been doing where historical research is concerned. I This is a project that has all these components. So I find it really very exciting to work on so many of these projects. It is an experience uncovering history and also considering how this knowledge is made public. We have community partners coming together to really support in this knowledge production.
Holly, I would love to hear if working for Reckonings has shaped your undergraduate experience in any way?
Holly: It’s definitely shaped the way I viewed my undergrad experience, and shaped the way I got my Co-op as well. I just accepted a Co-op for the public record section of the City of Boston. I think that this role had an impact on my abilities and capabilities to work in public records and in archives. I wanted this job essentially because I really wanted to learn more about Boston. I’m from Chicago, so I didn’t know much about Boston other than that it had a really rich history. I think focusing on BIPOC communities is super interesting to me because I think often the stories of underrepresented communities go unheard. The goals of the Reckonings project really spoke to me. For me, I want to work in law, focusing on human rights or international law. Being in this role has taught me so much about history that I wasn’t aware of, and I’m very grateful for it.
What is it that you like most about working for the Reckonings Project?
Holly: The thing that I love about Reckonings is the amount of projects we have. I think it is a great way to learn about what other people are doing, especially in team meetings or at events. It’s so interesting to be able to connect with other students who are working on different projects and learn more about what they are passionate about.
Kehinde: It is a vision of how to do historical work in the community. It’s central to establish relationships to help support projects. It is great when you work with faculty, colleagues, and students. It is an experience that is far deeper than just simply handling a project. It is also about the community that comes together to create this research and see how it all connects. For me,the most exciting part is seeing these individuals come together for community work that is relevant to them. I can remember a story of Sonny Carrington, one of the local Jazz legends, who we celebrated last November 2025 at the Union Church. As part of the event, he was presented the Boston Jazz Luminary Award, in recognition of his lifelong contributions to the city’s cultural landscape and his impact on generations of musicians. During the event, he remarked this never happened to me before, which for me really caught my heart. More than just resting in the pages of papers, but seeing how people feel about it outside is something else entirely.
That is really great, thank you. What is coming up in the year for the Reckonings project?
Kehinde: Currently we are preparing for the celebration of International Jazz Day, which is coming up on April 30. We are documenting the history of Estelle’s /Tinker and Lulu White, major Jazz clubs of the 20th century in Boston. It's great that some of our partners have very exciting projects that connect to this celebration of International Jazz Day. We recently showcased a film about Phyllis Wheatley with the filmmaker in attendance and a panelist discussion coordinated by our very own Professor Kabria Baumgartner about what this history really teaches us. I think this is very relevant and important, especially in educating communities about the life and times of remarkable women like Phyllis Wheatley and her connection to revolutionary history more generally.
Holly: One event we have coming up is called Awakening the Dragon, a workshop by our artists in residence, Lani Asunción and Joanna Tam. This is about the dragon boat, which is a very traditional aspect of Chinese culture. I think that events like that are so interesting because I don’t work on that project. It is so cool to be able to see our artists in residence be able to do things that they are also passionate about.