One of Griot’s community partners in Detroit is the Renaissance Lions Club. The Lions are the world’s largest service club organization with over 45,000 clubs worldwide. Their members raise millions of dollars each year for charitable causes.

The Griot D2D team spent the day at the Lions Clubhouse recording conversations which told of Detroit’s rich history. Thanks to Mr. Young and Ms. Phillips for making the day a great success.

Tuesday May 29th, 2007. 5:30pm. Detroit, MI aka Motorcity.
After two years with StoryCorps, facilitator Nadja Middleton passes the torch during the customary Changing of the Griot Guard.
Bye-bye Nadja. Hello Johnny!

Shirley Talibah D. Touchstone-Garnett came to the Griot Booth to honor the family matriarch, Mary Dunn. Dunn was taken from Africa at the age of 12 in the early 19th century. Upon arrival in America, she was separated from her family and enslaved. Mary had 14 children and after she passed away in 1914, her children began a tradition of annual family reunions. Today the gatherings bring together as many as five hundred people.

Shirley paid hommage to the strength of her Great-Great Grandmother Mary Dunn, and the importance of family and keeping alive the connections we have to our ancestors.

As a child, Tyree Guyton knew that he was destined to make an impact on society. One day his grandfather gave him a paintbrush, and it changed his life forever. In 1986 Tyree began using art to transform a two-block stretch of Heidelberg Street, which was suffering from neglect, into a beautiful creative space, using the ruins as his palette. Two decades later, the Heidelberg project (www.heidelberg.org) has become world renowned, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world each year. Tyree says that Heidelberg is a calling, and for 20 years he has devoted himself to the project, demonstrating in the process that art can be a force for transformation and healing.

Tyree Guyton shared his remarkable story with Jenenne Whitfield the Project’s executive director.

Gorgeous weather, friendly people and a real life griot greeted us on opening day in Detroit, MI. Indeed, standing at the podium (next to Melvin Reeves, Manager for the StoryCorps Griot Initiative), Cardinal Mbuyi Chui explained the traditional role of griots such as himself and the significance of the StoryCorps’ Griot Initiative.

The Cardinal is with the Shrines of the Black Madonna of the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church and he is partnering with us to record the stories of church members. StoryCorps is partnering with many community organizations in this city, including the Michigan Veteran’s Association. Richard Chatman (pictured here on the left and from the back) was the first from that organization to kick off interviews over the weekend. He is also actively involved in signing up people to record their stories.

StoryCorps facilitator Jason Reynolds (below, right) enjoyed Atlanta so much that he came back to learn more from his elders. Like Jason, Jonah Engle and Maddy Nussbaum are veteran facilitators, but they are joining the Griot tour for the first time. Nadja Middleton is still on board too, but invisible at the moment because she is behind the camera! Our StoryBooth will be stationed downtown at the Campus Martius Park until June 16th and facilitators are present Thursday through Monday.