Meet Robert Burch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Burch.

Hi Robert, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
For years, my wife Alice and I experienced community ignorance surrounding the rich history of Blacks in Utah. We had helped a lot of families do their family history research and discovered a lot of amazing stories about Black people in Utah. We were also attending conferences and lectures and reading up on Blacks in Utah. As we learned more, we also received more comments about the lack of Black history. From time to time, Alice spoke with me about focusing on bringing to light the many stories they had discovered. These stories are integral to the story of Utah, yet were not shared with the broader community. We began to produce combined genealogy/history events, lectures, and conferences. Soon it became clearer we needed to do things differently. The research in one area inevitably led to a need in the other. The more genealogy research we participated in, the clearer it became it could and should be used to help further the story of all of Utah. In August of 2020, we created Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation. The idea was to create a history organization that used history to teach the heritage and culture of Black Utah.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest challenge for me was to decide to create the historical foundation. I felt it should be done. I just didn’t necessarily feel like it should be us to do it. Once we focused on the idea of creating an organization dedicated to black history we began to talk about it everywhere. We discovered a number of people who were interested in the same idea and committed to doing the work. The biggest challenge as an organization has been raising the money to fund the projects we are working on. We are faced with the challenge on a funding level that we faced with the rest of the community, the belief there is no Black history in Utah. We are trying to meet the challenge by doing the work to demonstrate that there is real research that can and should be funded.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself a producer. There are a lot of researchers, writers, and compilers of history. What I do is create opportunities for these professionals to present their work. Sema Hadithi translates to say the story or tells the story. So I provide the opportunity for them to tell the story of Black Utah.

I have become known as the history guy. If there are questions about black history more and more people refer colleagues to me.

I am most proud of the fact that we have been able to put together a marvelous group of folk dedicated to doing this work. All of them love this work.

We are different from other groups in that the only thing we do in Black history research is focused on creating a permanent institution that will outlast us. We want to reframe Black history as event-based history that is only addressed during February and June.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was greatly afraid of people, especially adults. Very shy. I had a hard time talking with girls. So, I was pretty much a nerd. I liked to read and write. At 13 my dad introduced me to golf. I played that obsessively during high school. We didn’t have golf in college, so I lost those skills. As I got older I became interested in politics and politics led to an interest in history. My dad didn’t understand the need for higher education. He believed in not being told what to think or how to think. He believed and still believes in self-education. People might mislead you so you have to put things together for yourself. Have your own mind, not repeat what someone else is saying.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.semahadithi.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SemaHadithiFoundation
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSJJ6kWaYmzQ9zrEmX3W-w

Image Credits
Robert S. Burch, Jr. (personal photo)
Sema Hadithi African American Heritage and Culture Foundation
Sema Hadithi Foundation