StoryCorps Griot Facilitators (l to r) Alex Wright, John Randolph and Elaine Davenport try to get the GriotBooth rolling, while facilitator Nadja Middleton waves goodbye to Military Park in Newark and settles in for the long ride to Detroit, Michigan. Nadja is the only current Griot facilitator who will travel with the booth to Detroit. Alex and John will return to New York, while Elaine will join MobileBooth East in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Newark has been our home for 6 weeks, but now the show must go on. Detroit here we come.

StoryCorps Griot was honored to have not one, but three World War II veterans in booth today. Seen above are friends and fellow American Legion members (l to r) George Reed, John Knox, Calvin Weems, and Angelo Colbourne, all standing in front of the Wars of America monument in Newark, NJ’s Military Park.

Calvin (above right and below center) interviewed John (above left) about landing in Normandy as a member of the Air Force.

Angelo (above right) talked about his experience as a Navy SeaBee at the invasion of Iwo Jima. George Reed (above left) served as a Tuskegee Airmen, and is shown below with his copy of the Congressional Gold Medal, which President Bush awarded to all Tuskegee Airmen only 2 weeks agon in Washington, D.C.

On Saturday, we had the honor of helping Mary Weaver and Darcelle Harris memorialize their sons, who were both killed by police brutality. Both women were able to turn their grief into action by joining POP (People’s Organization for Progress), which is where Mary and Darcelle met.

Darcelle’s son, Ali Harris, was killed in 2004 at age 18. Above is a picture of Ali from the program for his memorial service. Mary’s son, Randy Weaver, was killed in 1999 at age 21. Below is a picture of a vigil and protest for Randy, which was featured in the POP newsletter, The Agitator.

Our hearts go out to both Mary and Darcelle. We hope these recordings help preserve the memories of Randy and Ali, and that they help bring attention to the injustice of police brutality.

Husband and wife William and Terrae Bland came to the StoryCorps GriotBooth to talk about growing up in East Orange, New Jersey, where they both still live today . It was the epitome of StoryCorps Griot: two family members sharing memories and stories that reflect the African American experience.

To our pleasure and surprise, Terrae returned to the StoryCorps GriotBooth to give us a doll she made. A woman sits in a chair with a young girl in her lap, to whom the woman is reading “Griot Tales” – a perfect representation of the StoryCorps Griot mission. Don’t worry though, participants are not required to come bearing gifts. The stories we collect are gift enough.

Above is a picture of the glassmaking studio, aka “the hotshop”, where instructor Kate Dowd is setting out materials for class. Students can learn glass bead-making, glass casting, kiln-formed glass, and coming soon: glass-blowing. Below, Kate tries to high-five former student Quawon McAllister, whom she interviewed on StoryCorps’ first day of recordings at GlassRoots. When Quawon is not studying computer animation at Essex County College, he returns to GlassRoots to help teach.

Brothers Junius (left) and Che (right) test out the microphones while dad Junius (below) looks on.

The sons asked their dad about growing up in Newark during the 60′s and 70′s, including his memory of the day Kenneth Gibson was elected as the first African American mayor of Newark, New Jersey. This interview took place at the Urban League of Essex County, one of several outreach partners StoryCorps Griot is working with in Newark.