The Data Rangers Research Team

By Kenton Rambsy

The Black short fiction annotation project depends on sustained, coordinated labor, as each story must be read line by line with consistent decisions about dialogue, space, and character so that shared standards and protocols keep the dataset even and analytically reliable.

I established the Data Rangers Annotation Initiative to give a team of emergent researchers opportunities to gain experience and sharpen their skills working with large-scale data projects in the humanities. The initiative brings together students working at the intersection of Black Studies and Digital Humanities who annotate stories using defined methods and quality control practices. We meet regularly, compare interpretive decisions, and refine guidelines so the dataset remains consistent and replicable.

This collaborative approach builds on a longer tradition in Black Studies. W. E. B. Du Bois worked with students to collect and visualize data for the “Exhibit of American Negroes” at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. The Slave Voyages project required decades of coordinated archival reconciliation. Douglass Day, launched in 2017 by the Colored Conventions Project, organizes an annual transcribe a thon dedicated to preserving Black historical documents through collective labor. Knowledge production in Black Studies has long relied on structured, collaborative documentation.

Each Data Ranger is responsible for a group of stories that contribute to a growing research archive whose annotations extend beyond a single semester and will inform future publications, visualizations, and public-facing tools related to Black short fiction. The project also develops advanced research skills, as students document interpretive decisions, apply Excel functions to verify data, and translate literary nuance into structured datasets. What distinguishes the Data Rangers is their ability to combine close reading with computational precision, producing scholarship grounded in Black Studies and designed for long-term impact.

Data Rangers:

Howard University

Nandi Chase (Washington, DC): Sophomore, Economics Major
India Crowe (Hampton, GA): Sophomore, Sociology Major
Cheyenne Freeman (Washington, DC): Senior African American Studies Major
Lyric Hoover (New Orleans, LA): Junior, English Major
Giselle Huggins (Suwanee, GA): Sophomore, African American Studies Major
Nyla Jones (Orange County, CA): PhD Student in English
Abiba Moncriffe (Desoto, Texas): Sophomore, African American Studies Major
Gabriella Pardlo (New York, NY): Sophomore, Economics Major
Damarian Washington (Brooklyn, NY): Junior, History Major

Morgan State University
Kweku Schmidt (Bowie, MD): Senior, English Major

Related:

The Black Short Story Project