Across North Texas it is not hard to find monuments, markers and names plastered on streets signs and buildings that tell some of the region’s history. However, much of that history focuses on those who have held power: white men.
Now, Dallas-based startup Nostalgia: Black is looking to change that with the planned launch of a new immersive app that will tell the stories of Black people’s role in shaping the course of history both locally and beyond.
“It just seemed silly that we really only talk about [Black history] once a year, so we want to make it more prominent,” Jill Broussard, co-founder and VP of operations at Nostalgia: Black, told NTX Inno. “We want to tell all the unsung stories and we want to share all the inspirations of all the normal people that were doing things that made extraordinary history, things we take for granted, that we don’t even know.”
Co-founded by Deah Berry Mitchell, who serves as CEO, and Broussard, Nostalgia’s XR mobile app aims to focus on the way time and place come together to shape an individual’s experience, and in turn how that individual can shape history. The company is looking to roll out a demo version of the app by the end of the month, eventually adding people and places spanning the Reconstruction Era to the Civil Rights Era.
Since Nostalgia’s four-person team’s expertise lies in research, education and storytelling, the company has teamed up with immersive app developer QuantumERA to create the product. QuantumERA has worked on a number of other historical app projects, including ones on the battles of Gettysburg and the Alamo.
Mitchell is keeping fairly tight-lipped about the specifics of the content at the moment. She noted that the full launch of its app depends on gathering more community sponsors, and that some of the people and sites on the platform will likely be announced in tandem with some of the partners it has already brought on board. However, she said that as the team was collecting stories for Nostalgia, a larger theme emerged; one of ordinary people who due to circumstance or determination were able to make an impact on the larger community around them.
“The sights that we’ve chosen and the people that we’ve chosen, they’re from different points in history but the overarching theme is… that they were basically average citizens for all intents and purposes and they were able to accomplish really extraordinary things,” Mitchell said. “These weren’t people that were from wealth… and we really want to focus on what their passions were, what drove them and what drove them to succeed against all odds.”
While Nostalgia’s content has its roots in centuries of history, the company itself started with an idea by Mitchell that was almost forgotten. In 2018, she started the tour venture Soul of DFW, which uses local restaurants and their owners to tell the story of the Black community in the region, as well as show off some of the culture through food. After about a year, she started kicking around the idea of adding a virtual component. But with no background in software development, that idea fell to the backburner.
“I wanted it to be more intimate looks and I wanted people to really be able to grasp the material,” Mitchell said. “I was just toying with the idea in my head and then filed that away.”
Those flames were fueled by the protests and calls for racial equity sparked by the killing of George Floyd in 2020. In addition, the pandemic was forcing Mitchell to come up with ways to continue her work remotely. That’s where Broussard comes in. The two met while Broussard was photographing Mitchell for a D Magazine feature. While working on that Broussard said she was inspired and wanted to be a part of something that was “going to count.” Through their discussions, the idea of an app was floated, and Mitchell’s former idea began coming to life.
“We just think those stories, they’re dying out. The storytellers themselves are dying and we’re trying to hold onto this history because this is the way we inspire people, and also this is the way we understand our past,” Broussard said.
The launch of Nostalgia’s app somewhat ironically coincides with Black History Month. Mitchell and Broussard said by calling it that, Black History gets relegated to a small time period in peoples’ minds, and hope that one day the term is irrelevant as more realize that Black history is not separate from the overall arch. They also said the events that took place over the summer show the need to highlight similar stories from the past that show the power of individuals to create change.
“We have to look at what’s happened that worked to change the future because people tend to get complacent and think everything is fine. Well no, people are always moving behind the scenes, so we need to bring those scenes to life,” Broussard said.
Nostalgia’s current focus is on lifting up stories from DFW. However, since the contributions from the Black community to history are not limited by geography, the company is hoping to add immersive experiences to its platform across the U.S, which the team hopes to do as more sponsors and partners come onboard. Broussard said her goal is that one day people will be able to take a road trip across the country with the app. Though she notes that keeping with the company’s mission of inclusivity, the immersiveness of the app will allow people of all financial situations and physical abilities to be able to take a similar virtual tour from their own home.
One of the team, Director of Curriculum Sheree Williams-Brown brings a long history of experience with her to Nostalgia. And part of the company’s plans are to hopefully one day have the app used in classrooms to help teach a more comprehensive and encompassing history.
“My goal is to educate the community regardless of what skin color they are. I just want them to walk away feeling as if they have learned something new and exciting about a city that they currently live in or one that they’re even visiting,” Mitchell said. “We were both kind of cringing at calling it Black history but at this time it does need a label… until we get to that point where history is really just history for everyone.”
