Three middle school students embodying these qualities visited our recording booth for the first time. In addition to helping our visitors record stories, StoryCorps volunteer Amelia Bower and I led the girls in listening and storytelling games and gave them a tour of the WABE/PBA studios to meet the staff and learn how public radio and television work. Although uncertain about what to expect, the girls jumped into recording with enthusiasm and curiosity.

Carla Malone used her time in the booth to talk about building clubhouses with friends in her neighborhood.  She said the best thing about being in the booth was “talking in the microphone and sharing how you feel,” and Megan Quiller agreed. “I’m honestly coming back and bringing my sister,” Megan said. “Interviewing Carla and how she interviewed me reminded me of how I like to share stories with my sister, and it is so much fun.”  For Megan, the importance of StoryCorps is to “have a memory for your children or their children and have them look back and know something about you.”

Cierra Currin, another Girls Inc. participant, had this to say about her interview experience: “StoryCorps is very fun, and if you’re nervous, don’t be because it’s fun, and it’s a good way to get to know something about someone.  I’m sure I’ll come back with my mom and stepdad.”

Holiday Simmons, Lambda Legal’s national community educator, travels the country to inform people of LGBTQ issues.  In his trainings for law enforcement officers, healthcare providers, and teachers, he uses audio from the Trans Tell Your Story Project to bring voices of trans and gender non-conforming individuals into each session.

Lambda Legal recently hosted an event to share some of the stories they’ve collected and to encourage others to share their own. After listening to excerpts from the conversations, A.J. Jones, the project’s coordinator, invited  several participants to share their experiences of recording their stories.

The panel began with participants describing why they decided to record with StoryCorps and the Trans Tell Your Story Project. “Our community does not get the respect and acknowledgement deserved,” Cheryl Courtney-Evans answered.  ”It’s 2012, but most people haven’t been introduced to a transgender man or woman, that they know of. In order for there to be services, police, and legislation [for our community], there needs to be more representatives of the trans community. People need to get an idea of our numbers. I’ll be one voice, part of the number.”

Tracee McDaniel participated in StoryCorps to “debunk the over-the-top stereotypes from Jerry Springer.” She added, “I want others to know that isn’t who we are as a community.”

Others decided to participate because they also do not see images in the media that reflect who they are. “Growing up, I didn’t have anything relatable,” reflected Kendall Brown. “I don’t encounter a lot of images of gender queer communities of color,” said another member of the panel, who preferred to remain anonymous. “I want our narrative pushed to the front so people can see there’s not one way of expressing masculinity or femininity.”

Like the Trans Tell Your Story Project, StoryCorps Atlanta hopes to educate more people about the experiences of trans and gender non-conforming individuals by recording and sharing these stories. In return, people who identify as trans and gender non-conforming will begin to hear more stories that reflect their own life experiences.

Click here for the story of Lee Rushing, a transgender man who tells his partner of what it was like to “realize his physical body didn’t match who he knew himself to be on the inside.” This segment was edited by Atlanta’s WABE and was broadcast during Morning Edition and City Cafe.

The church has come far since its humble beginnings in 1862, when congregants met in a boxcar because they did not have funds to buy land. Both Morehouse and Spelman Colleges held their first classes at Friendship. And Atlanta’s first African-American mayor, Maynard H. Jackson, Jr., was not only raised in the church; his father was one of only six pastors who have served the community in its history.

Many of the church elders remember all of the pastors except the very first, Reverend Frank Quareles, who served until 1881. One important event  for the anniversary committee will be the dedication of new tombstones for Reverend Quarles and his wife, whose unmarked graves were discovered at Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery.

The anniversary committee  is also collecting oral histories of the church, and Vanessa Brown, a member of the Anniversary Committee, invited church elders to record their memories of Friendship Baptist Church and its leaders with StoryCorps Atlanta. 

Clyde Sutton remembers Reverend E.R. Carter who served as pastor for over 60 years and during Clyde’s childhood. Clyde told fellow deacon board member, Charles Hawk, of how he and another Boy Scout would remember Reverend Carter, sitting in his chair in the the pulpit. While Charles never met Reverend Carter, he served as principal of E.R. Carter Elementary School.

Clyde Sutton and Charles Hawk

Florence Harris and Samuel Bacote shared memories of each of the pastors they remembered. Samuel summed up his experiences in the church by saying, “I look forward to coming to church every Sunday. I feel I belong here.”

Florence Harris and Samuel Bacote

Henrietta Antoinin has fond memories of the third pastor, Reverend Maynard H. Jackson and she shared them with his youngest daughter, Carol Ann Jackson Miller. Henrietta remembers seeing Carol Ann’s parents hugging at a church picnic. As a child, she found the pastor’s public display of affection a fascinating example of how loving a husband should be towards his wife.

Carol Ann Jackson Miller and Henrietta Antoinin

Check out an excerpt of Henrietta Antoinin and Carol Ann Jackson Miller conversation here. The segment was edited by Atlanta’s WABE and broadcast during Morning Edition and City Cafe.

On February 28, 100 seniors from Auburn Senior Center, Dogwood Senior Center, Northside Shepherd Senior Center, Southeast Center, and New Horizon Senior Center gathered at the central library to hear twelve storytellers share their experiences.

One storyteller was Louella Fluker, who was one of three African Americans hired to work at the Sears Roebuck at West End Mall after Reverend Hosea Williams led a boycott to protest that there were no blacks working there. Once hired, though, Louella still faced discrimination. For example, if a black employee made a sale, a white manager might void the sales slip and credit the sale to a white employee. But Louella developed her own strategy for dealing with people who gave her a hard time.  “I would say I was Hosea’s niece to get more respect,” she laughed.

Sidney Johnson Smith, another storyteller, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama during the time of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. She was friends with Cynthia Wesley, one of the four girls killed in the bombing. “I’ll never forget. I saw her on Friday and told her she needed to do something with her hair, and the bombing was on Sunday.”  Worried for her safety, Sidney’s father told her not to participate in the marches, but Sidney would sneak off to participate until she was knocked down by the police’s water hoses.

Irvin Cox had a different experience growing up in Harlem. “I didn’t understand what the South was going through,” he reflected. “I had everything you could want up in Harlem. I found it impossible to believe in the South people were denied these things.” Moved by the situation down south he participated in the March on Washington.

Other highlights included 96-year-old poet Lexie Carlisle, who wowed the audience by reciting a poem, and Reverend Gaither Varner, a retired Methodist minister who remembered taking his daughter to see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

StoryCorps Facilitator Anthony Knight presented each storyteller with a copy of his or her recorded experiences. These recordings will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. as part of StoryCorps Griot. Their stories will continue to live on in these national archives and in the memories of all those who experienced them.

This recording day was phenomenal.  It was an honor to hear amazing stories by professional storytellers and to hear these professionals share the ordinary stories of their lives, the raw human material that StoryCorps knows all too well that has inspired them to make storytelling a way of life. Below are a few highlights.

Barbara Eady (l) and Jacqueline Boyd (r)

Barbara Eady and Jacqueline Boyd, both from Ohio, discussed how they began storytelling. Barbara shared a poignant story about an elder mother in her church, who knew her as a child and remembered her many years later when Barbara brought her own children to Sunday service.  The elder’s detailed memories of Barbara as a child touched her and has encouraged her work. Today, Barbara is a living vessel of memory and history.

Imhotep Akbar (l) and David Anderson (r)

When Imhotep Akbar and David Anderson recorded their story, they traced their commitment to storytelling back to Africa and the African-American traditions of the rural South. Imhotep, an experienced puppeteer, remembered growing up in the rural South and his fascination with the food, language, and folkways of relatives and other African Americans in his community. When he learned that many of those traditions were rooted in African culture, Imhotep was inspired to change his name to identify more closely with Africa’s rich history.

Linda Gorham (l) and Gwendolyn Hilary (r)

Earlier this year, local NPR affiliate and StoryCorps Atlanta home base WABE (90.1) produced an edited segment featuring Linda Gorham and her friend and fellow storyteller, Gwendolyn Hilary. Linda described her transition from a successful, high-level corporate career and MBA studies to become a professional storyteller. Today, she has nearly 20 years of work under her belt. Listen to Linda’s story here.

Deborah Strahorn, President of Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia

StoryCorps Atlanta would like to thank Deborah Strahorn, President of the Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia, for inviting us to record stories. Since 1995, the organization has worked hard to “promote and perpetuate the educational, historical, and social value of the African-American oral tradition.”  Deborah recorded her own StoryCorps conversation during the conference, and when describing her interview experience, she reminded us of the grassroots power of storytelling. “I got to know my interview partner in a way that I did not before and learned what he is passionate about,” she told us.

Kuumba means creativity in Swahili, and kuumba is never in short supply, as this conference and the Kuumba Storytellers bring together griots (storytellers), puppeteers, drummers, storyweavers, dream keepers, teachers, librarians, actors, and a host of other individuals for whom creativity is the blood of life.

Aside from textiles, Hans leaves his legacy in three daughters, all now in their 50′s: Lynmarie Singer Storey is the oldest; Monica Singer Franklin is the middle child; and Susan Singer is the youngest of the family. The sisters met at the Atlanta StoryBooth in November 2011 to mark the 20th anniversary of their father’s death and share their favorite memories of him.

Monica, Lynmarie, and Susan Singer at StoryCorps Atlanta

After making their trips from Macon, Georgia, Spartanburg, and Greenville, South Carolina — over 225 miles combined — the sisters spent a brief afternoon together, reminiscing in the StoryBooth and poring over photo albums in our lobby, before heading back to the businesses their father inspired them to lead.

Hans exemplified the immigrant entrepreneur story.  An incessant inventor who constantly sought innovations for the weaving machines he worked with, he invented the grooved metal disk on which to rest fondue forks in a fondue pot, called the mahasi. Hans named his invention to include the name of his wife,  MArian, followed by his own HAns and SInger letters.  The mahasi, the clip grip, and the rotary creel are devices still used in weaving and other industries.

Each daughter had a unique memory of their father’s positive attitude.  Susan explained the “blue sky planning” her father taught them, a practice of finding the scrap of blue in even the cloudiest sky. By watching it and focusing on it, he believed, you could always make the sun come out eventually.  Monica remembered that Hans was so relentlessly positive that, “He would take us on vacation even when he was broke.”  He always managed to create a good time for his girls.  When Lynmarie decided to open her own videography business, her father wrote her a letter, full of confidence and pride and expressing his strong belief in her abilities. Inevitably encountering his own failures alongside his successes, Hans held a firm belief that his daughters can still recite together: “Nothing is good or bad by itself. Only your thinking makes it so.”

After their interview, Monica wrote StoryCorps Atlanta to share her impressions of the experience. “It was a wonderful way to remember someone.  Our memories are so precious and the only thing we have to remember family like Daddy’s.”  She also shared the photos below. “In all of the pictures we are smiling and having a wonderful time,” she points out, “a true reminder of where our joy for life comes from.”

Ready for the next road trip

Hans Singer working on his next invention

The Singer family at the Grand Canyon

With Grossi, or grandmother, in Switzerland

Today, the dropout rate for African-American boys in urban environments can be as high as seventy percent, and more African-American men are incarcerated or in the criminal justice system than were enslaved in 1850. With this in mind, 100 Black Men of America’s national chapters serve a vital role in the African-American community, helping families navigate the challenges posed by neighborhoods burdened with drugs, crime, and scarce resources.

StoryCorps participant Tim Hart

From the beginning, The 100′s North Metro Chapter mentoring coordinator, Tim Hart, understood the importance of having young men and their families record their stories.  Before our recording day, he asked that I come out to spend a day with him, the other mentors, and the young men to observe the program in action.  It was informative, and I could feel the genuine concern the mentors have for their mentees.  It was awesome!

Chapter President Dwight Kelly

During the day, Dwight Kelly, the North Metro Chapter president, wanted to record his own StoryCorps conversation with Mr. Hart. The one thing that stood out during their conversation, though, was a slogan often used by members of the organization: “What they see is what they will be.”  Mr. Kelly discussed the importance of having African-American men who represent the breadth of the community be a part of The 100′s.  It’s important, he said, for young men to see business owners, fathers, school administrators, corporate types, as well as men who have retired.  ”If kids see that, then they will say, ‘Wait a minute. If he can do it, I can do it.  It can’t be that hard.  I see what he’s doing.  If he can achieve that then I can achieve it, too.’”

And that’s where the magic starts.  It’s in that moment that 100 Black Men of America believe they can turn a young man around and point him in a different direction.  Ultimately, says Mr. Kelly, “There just needs to be a lot more of us out there for them to see.”

Located less than five miles from the historic Stone Mountain Park, Dekalb County’s Mainstreet Community is a residential community that was developed based on the tenets of the Greenpeace Movement of the early 1970′s.  Today, the Mainstreet Community vigorously guards its proud heritage even as it charts a new path into the twenty-first century.

Jamaal and Kristina Gilchrist

One of the first pairs of residents to record a conversation that day was Kristina and Jamaal Gilchrist.  Kristina shared many of the personal and family challenges she overcame to become the successful business woman, mother, and wife she is today.

At the beginning of their conversation, Jamaal asked his wife why she wanted to record a StoryCorps conversation.  She said, “Taking advantage of the StoryCorps opportunity was important because, specifically for African Americans, I kind of feel like our stories are inconsistent or sometimes even incomplete. I just thought it was really important for us to take ownership of our story and for me to document my story, particularly for the generations to come.”

This was the sentiment of nearly everyone who recorded that day.  In fact, in an e-mail sent to the Atlanta StoryCorps staff after the recording day, Ms. Rivers-Johnson said, “Mainstreet Community is in love with StoryCorps!  The StoryCorps experience gave homeowners and residents an opportunity to share their stories of family, influences, and memories as only those who lived it could tell it.  I encourage any person who has ever had a memorable experience to take the time to share it with the world and with future generations.”

An excerpt of Kristina and Jamaal’s story was edited by WABE and aired during Morning Edition and City Cafe on October 24, 2011. Listen to the broadcast here.

Below are Cheryl Courtney-Evans and AJ Jones, who were introduced to StoryCorps through Lambda Legal’s Trans Tell Your Story Project.  At Pride and Community, they explained why it is important for transgender people to tell their stories.  For them, the transgender community is often hidden from sight — even within the LGBTQ community — and recording their stories is a way to be more visible.

AID Atlanta colleagues Craig Washington and Charles Stephens

Community activists and AID Atlanta colleagues Craig Washington and Charles Stephens spoke passionately about how their experience in the StoryCorps recording booth helped them better understand the importance of recording and preserving Black LGBTQ stories.

Jeshawna Wholley and Daniel Edwards

Recent Spelman alumna Jeshawna Wholley and her friend and Morehouse alum Daniel Edwards spoke to those in attendance about the work they’ve done on their college campuses to further LGBTQ policy issues and how StoryCorps helped them record those stories.  They both agreed that telling their story at StoryCorps was one of the highlights of their college careers.

Throughout the evening, as StoryCorps alumni shared their experiences, it was clear that not only is it important to record and preserve stories, but that StoryCorps is an important partner in accomplishing that goal.

Hillery had two strong reasons for wanting to visit StoryCorps.  “I wanted to document some of our stories for us to have when we got older and our memories started getting foggy.  I also felt it was important for people to hear that how two gay men met and started their life-long relationship isn’t that different from how millions of straight people do the same thing.”

Sean, his partner, told us, “I was intrigued, albeit a bit hesitant, by Hillery’s suggestion to do the interview.  I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to talk for the full length of the time, but we know how that turned out.”  The pair talked for 40 minutes and covered events from just their first few years together.

Hillery Rink and partner Sean Rindge have been together for more than 20 years.

Sean had made personal recordings of his grandmother several years ago, and “the response from the family who got recorded copies of our talk was overwhelming.”  This time, too, family and friends have requested copies of their StoryCorps CD, which Hillery and Sean plan to share.  Says Sean, “It really is true that everyone has something to say, and it isn’t just our established writers who should have a lock on it.”  Hillery adds, “In this sometimes contentious culture we live in now, I think it is important to remind each other of how we all are much more alike than we are different.  StoryCorps is a great way for us to spread that word.”