The Lorraine Motel, where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, which is now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum.

Stax recoding studio. Now a museum of Soul music.

Sunset on the Mississippi River

This week StoryCorps Griot concluded a six week stay in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is a city defined by proud and storied neighborhoods like Orange Mound and South Memphis (a.k.a. Funky Town), legendary musicians from WC Handy to Issac Hayes to Three 6 Mafia, triumphant moments – Dr. King’s Mountaintop Speech, and deep sorrow – Dr. King’s assassination.

Between the lines of news-makers and note-worthies stand the people whose pulse has given endless life and vibrancy to the city, its triumphs and sorrows. The news-makers and note-worthies are worthless without the shoulders they stand on. They stand on the shoulders of the people you pass on the street, stand behind in line, and celebrate with on holidays. It is the people who were driven from their rural homes by racist brutality, refugees in a strange city called Memphis. They stand on the shoulders of the first family member to attend a newly segregated school, swim in a pool or use the front door of a restaurant. History is made and the future is paved by everyone striving to eat and raise their children with love, compassion and the tools to triumph in a wicked world, and all those others who don’t quite make it but we can’t help but love anyway. So often people insist they don’t have anything to share. But anyone who has lived long enough to hold a memory has something to share. What seems mundane to you will become monumental to a relative who hears your voice years from now.

We are all trying to live our lives the best way we know how. Dr. King wrote “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” You had better believe everyone has something to say. Here are some Memphians who had something to say:

_{Hattie Childress}

Mrs. Childress came to talk about her beautiful quilt work. In the picture above she poses with her “Civil Rights Quilt”. The tiles are filled with quotes by African-Americans from throughout history.

Mrs. Childress holding her homemade pickled jalapenos and Cha Cha. The two facilitators in the booth that day made sure she didn’t leave before we got some homemade jam, pickled watermelon rinds and some of that Cha Cha. (The best Cha Cha we found in Memphis.)

_{A quilt hanging at SlaveHaven Underground Railroad Museum.}

Each title is a secret code that served as trail markers along the Underground Railroad. According to the stories, conductors or people along the routes would hang a quilt in a window or on a clothesline with patterns like these guiding runaways to freedom.

Joan Nelson (R), director of Slave Haven Museum on the Burkle Estate, shows facilitator Michael Premo (L) an area of the property believed to be an underground tunnel where Mr. Burkle hid runaway slaves.

Facilitators Michael Premo and Steven Thrasher had the privilege to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon at Mrs. Nelson’s home, listening and sharing.

_{Marvis LaVern Nelson Jones}

Mrs. Jones came to the booth several times, each time bringing a friend or relative. She and her partners came to talk about coming up, family and, of course, Memphis.

Community Partner and Director of the Memphis Black Business Association Robbie Williams (L) and facilitator Steven Thrasher (L) get set to begin an interview. Mr. Williams’ interview partner is behind the camera.

After sitting patiently through his grandmother’s interview, Pastor Irene W. Booker’s grandson Shawn (foreground) gets to check out the recording equipment.

Mr. Willy came in to share stories of the women he’s loved and the things he’s seen. He has worked many jobs in his long life. One of these jobs was owning a club called the Hillcrest Lounge which was a regular spot where B.B. King used to play.

_{Andre Bailey (L) Catheree Gray (C) and Andrew Bailey (R)}

Andrew Bailey first came to StoryCorps Griot with his ex-wife and mother of his children. They shared a beautiful conversation about their children and what they love about each one. Mr. Bailey was so moved by his experience that he came back with his twin brother and grandmother. The brothers wanted to celebrate their grandmother, who raised them, by talking about growing up, family and expressing on a recording for history why they love the beautifully strong and brave women who raised them.

_{Robyn R. Stone (L) hugs her mother Christine Cowan (R)}

On Thursday, November 29 Robyn Stone and her mother Christine came to the StoryCorps Griot booth in Memphis, Tennessee. In the quiet of the booth Mrs. Cowan revealed to her daughter deep reflections on her life. Like all StoryCorps participants, they left with a CD recording of their conversation.

On Monday, December 3 Christine Cowan had a stroke. Luckily, the stroke was minor, not affecting her speech or memory. But it could have been much worse.

Later that week Mrs. Stone came to the booth to share what had happened: “I learned so much about her and her past. We spoke about family, history and aspirations for the future generations. I can’t tell you the number of times I have replayed the CD and smiled. . . I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I feel having her voice professionally recorded.”

We are happy we could provide a place for Mrs Cowan and her daughter to enjoy a recorded conversation. We wish you and your family all the best and years of good health.

Dr. David Acey

” . . . I moved from being Black to Colored to Negro from Colored to Black to African to African American. . . “

We do not always have the opportunity to sit and speak to those who have blazed the trail that we now walk. Thanks in part to the StoryCorps Griot initiative one young man was blessed with the opportunity to listen closely – with undivided attention – to one of the countless individuals who is responsible for helping to lift the torch that the younger generation must continue to carry. Only by listening to those who have carved our path can we expect to pick up where they left off.

What’s in a name?

One of the fundamental concerns of any community or individual is identity – how we choose to be defined or how we define ourselves. Today, in the GriotBooth, participant Dr. David Acey, Assistant Professor of African American Rhetoric and Interracial Communication at the University of Memphis, spoke about identity. Dr. Acey is a native of the Orange Mound section of Memphis. This once tight-knit community is a storied section of the city that boasts a proud history of African American businesses, land, and home ownership. Dr. Acey founded and lead the first Black Student Association to force full integration at what is now the University of Memphis. Along with his wife Yvonne he organized and runs the Africa in April Cultural Festival, now in its 22nd year.

When asked how he identifies himself, Dr. Acey replied:

“European people have always identified us. They called us slaves. They didn’t go to Africa and get a slave, they went to Africa and got an African. They, made him into a slave. They, called us slaves. They called us Negroes. They called us colored, shoe, boot, coon, nigger, and anything else. They called us that.

They always identifying you.

If you gonna be a whole person – a man, a full grown man – you have to identify yourself. So, when they call me Black . . . during the Black Power movement . . . Black was a concept to us. It wasn’t an identification. But, when you grow and develop you find black is an adjective, it tells what you look like, not who you are. If you’re running around here saying, ‘I’m Black,’ you’re saying, ‘I’m an adjective.’ But if you want to be a person, it’s a noun.

We are all Africans. Everybody in the world is an African. (I don’t have time to explore that now). We are Africans, we are just living in America. So, if you want to become like all other ethnic groups in America you have to drop the black that says you’re the adjective and pick up the noun, Africa. America is where you reside, so we are African Americans. We’re not Black people. You misperceive your own essence when you don’t know what you are or where you’re going. As African American people we have to look through that African lens as a focal point to take us out of the paradox, create a new paradigm, – practiced – and move to power. That’s the only way we are gonna do it, when we identify ourselves, create economic opportunities for ourselves and make people respond to our definition as if it was their own, by knowing who we are and moving in the direction we need to move without apology.”

Dr. David Acey (L) and Michael Premo (R)

Dr Acey, thank you for the opportunity to enjoy a conversation with you. In the quiet space of the booth your reflections gleamed with crystal clarity. It was an honor to sit and listen.

Lane College student Travon Whitemore listening closely to his partner.

StoryCorps Griot ended last week with a two day trip to Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. Lane College is a small, private institution that is proudly one of many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the South. HBCUs are defined as colleges or universities established before 1964 with the intention of serving African-Americans. These institutions are a source of great pride. Over the years they have made extraordinary untold contributions to American culture and society.

Lane College was founded in 1882 by a former slave, Bishop Issac Lane of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (CME). CME was established a decade earlier by newly freed African-Americans determined to create their own independent religious organization. The college is a charter member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and is one of very few educational institutions in the country to have been founded by blacks and to continue to be led by African Americans. The Power of Potential is one of the schools guiding principals and that ideal was embodied by everyone we met and the participants who joined in a recording.

Tajuana Cheshier poses with her grandmother Annie R. March-Rogers-Humphrey-Patterson. Mrs. Annie kept the names of each of her three former husbands.

Richard Donnell, Jr. recorded a StoryCorps conversation with his father Richard Donnell, Sr.

Participant Jacqueline Wallin (L) chats with her neighbor Jimmy Robinson (R) after their interview

StoryCorps Griot Facilitator Michael Premo (L) and Mr. Richard Donnell, Sr. (R)

Richard Donnell, Sr. Lane College VP for Institutional Advancement helped coordinate participants from the college community. Thank you Mr. Donnell.

Bray Hall at Lane College

Theresa Franklin (L) and Maggie Conway (R)

When Maggie Conway read in a local Memphis newspaper that StoryCorps Griot was in town, she was ecstatic. Immediately she began to make arrangements to bring StoryCorps Griot to her church so that her friends and fellow parishioners could share their stories. Mrs. Conway is a member of Saint Therese-Little Flower Catholic Church. The church is located roughly between downtown and north Memphis, in a neighborhood referred to as the Vollintine Evergreen community.

Maggie took the opportunity to interview Theresa Franklin. When Memphis schools were forced to integrate Mrs. Franklin was among the first African American teachers assigned to previously all “white” schools. Exceedingly humble and shy at first glance, she was incredibly nervous about the placement. Mrs. Franklin quickly won the adulation of her students and the respect of the administration. The school principal commended her work in the classroom declaring that she was the best teacher he had ever had. Later Mrs. Franklin would become the first women to serve as principal of Southwest Career and Technology Center at a time when there were few, if any, women principals in the Memphis City Schools.

Thank you Maggie Conway for inviting StoryCorps Griot to your church community.

Pictured L to R: Facilitator Steven Thrasher, participants Lynn Reed, Ella Annette Owens, and community partner Maggie Conway

Taborian Hospital November 2007

Thanksgiving is a time to come together with family and friends – celebrating our community and counting our blessings. During this time of thanks giving StoryCorps Griot would like to give thanks to Taborian Hospital, an institution that played a pivotal role in the lives of thousands of African-Americans in the Mississippi Delta, and throughout the state, from its opening in 1942 until its closing in the mid 1960s. Purportedly, the hospital cared for over 135,000 area residents. Many StoryCorps Griot participants were born or received necessary care from the hospital’s services. This was during a time when African-Americans were refused access to medical facilities across the country.

Taborian Hospital was built by the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor. It was the first hospital for African-Americans in the Delta, and only the second in the entire state of Mississippi. The facilities included two major operating rooms, an x-ray room, a sterilizer, incubators, an electrocardiograph, a blood bank, and a laboratory. On our trip to Mound Bayou a participant told us that Tufts University operated an outpatient midwifery program from the hospital, which paid doctors to travel throughout Mississippi. Since there were virtually no medical services available to African-Americans, people relied on a few traveling doctors, who were often also preachers, to assist their needs. David Beito, in his book From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State, describes the facilities as cutting edge for its time. “When the Taborian Hospital opened in 1942, the final cost of construction had been over $100,000. . . The hospital usually had two or three doctors on the staff; all were black. In 1944 annual dues of $8.40 entitled an adult to thirty-one days of hospitalization, including major or minor surgery; the dues also covered a $200 burial policy. The fee for a child was $1.20 per year for the same services and a $50 burial policy.”

Just Coincidence?

The hospital’s first chief surgeon was T.R.M. Howard. Prior to coming to Mound Bayou, Howard had been the medical director of Riverside Sanitarium in Nashville, TN. Upon his arrival, in addition to being a surgeon, he started a working farm, a restaurant, a construction firm and an insurance company. In 1951 he founded The Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL). The organization promoted a program of civil rights, self-help, and business ownership. Reportedly, between 1951 and 1953 the RCNL’s annual meetings attracted crowds of over ten thousand people, with some of Mississippi’s most prominent African-American educators, business leaders and church leaders in attendance.

Upon graduating from Alcorn State University with a degree in business administration, a young Medgar Evers moved to Mound Bayou to work for Howard, selling insurance. Under the tutelage of Howard, Evers eventually became program director of the RCNL. As program director he helped to organize a campaign to boycott gas stations that did not allow African-Americans to use their restrooms, toting the slogan “Don’t Buy Gas Where You Can’t Use the Rest Room.” By 1953 the organization was directly challenging the “separate but equal” policies of the Jim Crow south and demanding integration of schools.

Like its host city the hospital is remarkable. It is another shining example of the possibilities to be reaped through ownership and economic self-empowerment. This is a significant part of American history often overlooked. We give thanks to the Knights and Daughters of Tabor for their foresight and determination. We also give thanks to the power of the oral tradition, personified by the Griot. It is this tradition that is keeping our history alive. I would never have known about this important part of our history if it wasn’t for StoryCorps Griot participants.

We Give Thanks and Praise
HAPPY THANKSGIVING

While half the StoryCorps Griot team traveled to visit family, facilitators Michael Premo and Brianna Hyneman stayed behind in Memphis. We enjoyed the holiday relaxing, giving thanks, and of course enjoying a big home cooked meal. Our meal was a little non-traditional, in what turned out to be an unintended celeberation of all the places these two facilitators have traveled. But, our meal wouldn’t have been complete without the cranberries and stuffing, with plenty of fresh herbs. It was great to spend a day at home eating, napping and eating again. Here’s some of what we had:

Harvest Roasted Longevity Soup and Pumpkin Scallion Appertizer with a Roasted Clove Dipping Sauce

Stuffing and Peppers

Stuffed Peppers and Roast Corn

Sauted Bok Choy

Baked Fish with Fresh Garlic, Herbs and Stuffing. Before and After.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

StoryCorps Griot spent the last several Saturdays at Clayborn Temple A.M.E. Church. This historic church has been a rock in the community for decades. Clayborn is a house of worship, a sanctuary, a meeting place, and a great space for music and speakers. Wonderful acoustics and a large sanctuary made it an ideal place for gospel groups and artists like Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke, to perform. Two different participants fondly recalled seeing Ms. Jackson trip and stumble into the arms of one of her entourage as she got out of her limo. It was almost as if for a moment two little children got to see that a superstar wasn’t that different from them when coming home to Clayborn Temple.

Clayborn Temple served as an important meeting place for activists and organizers. The church was the meeting and rally point for organizing during the Sanitation Workers strike in 1968. A participant vividly remembered the warm smell of food welcoming organizers and demonstrators into the meetings. On March 28, 1968, when a peaceful demonstration lead by striking sanitation workers and Dr. King ended in chaos, hundreds upon hundreds of marchers fled to the sanctuary of Clayborn Temple. The violence of a small minority gave the police the opportunity they were waiting for to bomb, beat, and fire shots on the crowd. Police chased the demonstrators back to Clayborn Temple raining down a hail of rubber bullets and tear gas bombs as people crammed the space to capacity, huddling for safety. Participant and former pastor Irene Booker described the battered Church literally and metaphorically as a “symbol of the battle.” (Read more about “King’s Last Crusade”)

The church thrived into the 1980s continuing its determination to provide sanctuary and inspiration to the community. In a controversial move, the Church invited Minister Louis Farrakhan to speak at the temple. Although criticized for the decision it was another example of Clayborn Temple’s commitment to providing a sanctuary and meeting place for addressing and solving the problems facing the African-American Community.

Since that time Clayborn Temple has experienced ups and downs as the surrounding community has shifted, matching a nationwide trend. Downtown urban renewal projects, including Beale Street revitalization and construction of the FedEx Forum knocked down a lot of houses that were home to the Clayborn congregation. Currently, the A.M.E. church is in the process of raising money to perform necessary structural maintenance to this historic buidling that will ensure its survival. Clayborn Temple is closed during renovations and hopes to reopen as a community sanctuary.

Thank you to Charita Johnson-Burgess for her hard work coordinating interviews. Mrs. Johnson-Burgess is doing a lot of hard work to restore Clayborn Temple to its former grandeur. Good Luck.

Charita Johnson-Burgess and Rev. George Turks, Fellow A.M.E.’rs