StoryCorps Griot
StoryCorps Griot: Atlanta Stories
A WABE Special, Tuesday. June 12 at 7:00pm
On Tuesday June 12th the final story from the StoryCorps Griot initiative will air during Morning Edition on 90.1. That evening at 7:00, WABE will present StoryCorps Griot: Atlanta Stories. The program will look back at some of the more memorable conversations from Atlanta residents that participated in the Storycorps Griot project earlier this year. You’ll also hear comments from StoryCorps Griot manager Melvin Reeves, and from Dave Isay, creator of StoryCorps. Join StoryCorps Griot Atlanta producer David Barasoain as he looks back at some of the best stories from StoryCorps Griot in Atlanta, Tuesday, June 12th at 7:00pm.
In February and March of 2007 StoryCorps debuted the Griot* Project in Atlanta. This year-long initiative was created to collect interviews from at least 1,750 African-Americans. The Griot Project is the largest oral history project of its kind since 2,300 former slaves were interviewed in the mid-1930s as part of the WPA’s Federal Writers Project.
The StoryCorps Griot Project places special emphasis on the stories of World War II veterans and those involved in the Civil Rights struggle. In Atlanta, StoryCorps Griot partnered with WABE 90.1 FM and WCLK. The StoryBooth was located at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, but off site recordings were also made with the generous support of the following organizations:
- The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History
- Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless
- Providence Missionary Baptist Church
- Omega Holiness Church in partnership with Immanuel Baptist Church and Agape House Ministry
- The Atlanta chapter of the National Association of Black Veterans
- The Atlanta chapter of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN)
- East Lake Elementary School
- East Lake Neighborhood Community Association
- Helene S. Mills Senior Multipurpose Facility
- Parkview Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Will Rogers speaks with Kerrie Cotten Williams about his life as a Mississippi teenager in the civil rights movement and how he was shaped by Medgar Evers. As a civil right leader, Evers was instrumental in the desegregation of the University of Mississippi. In the NAACP Youth Division, Rogers worked to encourage blacks to register to vote. On June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers was killed as he got out of his car outside his home in Mississippi. Will Rogers is today an assistant pastor of Calvary United Methodist Church in Atlanta’s West End.
Lynn Whatley speaks with his 90 year-old father, Warren Whatley Sr., about the differing racial philosophies of Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois and the changes integration had on Atlanta’s African American community in the 1960s.
Listen to all the 2007 StoryCorps Griot recordings here »
What is StoryCorps?
How does it work?
At the Griot StoryBooth, participants record their stories in pairs — oftentimes friends or loved ones — where one person interviews the other. A trained facilitator guides the participants through the interview process and handles the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of a 40-minute session, the participants are presented with a CD of their interview. The unprecedented effort to capture the recordings of African Americans will help ensure that their voices, experiences and life stories will be preserved and presented with dignity. The stories will be archived for future generations at the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress and at the NMAAHC. Griot segments will air on the NPR news program “News and Notes,” the daily national one-hour series, hosted by journalist Farai Chideya. Locally, segments from StoryCorps Griot will be broadcast on WABE and WCLK.
How can I participate?
Reservations for the Griot tour can be made by calling 800-850-4406 or visiting www.storycorpsgriot.net.
After Atlanta StoryCorps Griot will continue to travel across America making several other six-week visits in nine other locations across the nation, partnering with radio stations, historically black colleges and universities, and other cultural institutions and membership organizations, to record and distribute the stories of 1,750 African-Americans.
The project is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
( *The “Griot” is part of a West African tradition of storytelling, a highly respected member of the tribe who acts as a living repository of births, deaths, marriages and significant events in the community. Griots are responsible not only for transmitting oral history through the generations, but also for ensuring that people find meaning in their own lives.)
A Do-It-Yourself Guide
We’ve put together a simple guide to help you record an oral history interview on your own. You can download it as as a two-page PDF file (38KB, use the free Adobe Reader to open it) or read it on the Storycorps website here »
Brought to you in part by The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
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