They call themselves hers-torians and they are on a mission.
“We are females of color, women of color, who are trying to truly uphold the truth of what our ancestors actually went through,” said Trinity Ansley.
Ansley is one of 16 girls participating in Our Genetic Legacy, a program geared toward girls of ethnic minorities interested in the STEM field.
“What I take away from this is like, this part of the organization is helping women of color find their voice in a society that's very male dominated and finding it in STEAM, especially,” said Grace Preston.
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But it's not your typical STEM program. The purpose here is to use tools of the future to uncover the past. Over the next year, the girls aged 14 to 17 will develop a plan to open a new museum.
“So we have an operations team, marketing, and finance team,” said Shelly Baxter, founder of Our Genetic Legacy. “So we're teaching the fundamentals of business and startup."
They will then train to obtain their drone license and with it, they will work on mapping two historic locations in the county: The Julian Cemetery and the Harrison Serenity Ranch.
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“A lot of people don't know the history of black and indigenous people in the founding of Julian," said Baxter.
The ranch is owned by San Diego's first black landowner.
They will take their findings and present them to the public at their very own museum set to open next July.
“It's been really, really rewarding and fulfilling because they get it, you know, it's one thing to come up with something, it's another thing to see it land,” said Baxter.
Baxter founded the program this year with the hope of uncovering the lineages and history of black and indigenous people in San Diego County and how technology is a powerful tool in doing that.
“I think the fact that we're able to fly drones and being women, flying drones, I think that's something that's absolutely amazing,” said Baxter.
The program is one year long and completely free to its participants, giving the girls not only a history and technology lesson, but one in representation.
Baxter said the girls will get paid to be a part of it as it is being treated as a workforce development program. New applicants will be accepted next August.
