Starting in 1986, the University of Missouri South Africa Education Program was the first academic partnership between an American university and a non-White South African university during the apartheid era. The University of Missouri pursued this partnership as a way to build something positive after divesting from American companies doing business in South Africa. They chose the University of the Western Cape because of their commitment to the struggle against apartheid. In the nearly 30 years of the partnership, the two Universities have worked together on projects that have expanded our understanding of the world.

This project is the professional skills component for my professional project, which completes my Masters in Journalism from the University of Missouri. In the summer of 2014 I travelled to South Africa to interview University of the Western Cape professors and administrators and gather primary source documents about the beginning of the University of Missouri South Africa Education Program. In my discussions, I learned just how important higher education can be in fighting oppression and building a freer society. 

My project takes form as a blended narrative multimedia website created with using the Atavist publishing platform. This platform allowed me to blend video, photo galleries, maps and a long article in a beautiful and simple way. The drag and drop interface allowed me to focus on narrative instead of coding, but is open enough to allow some CSS tweaks. This project allowed me to experiment in the new world of blended narrative multimedia and helped gain invaluable skills for the next stage of my professional development.