StoryCorps Griot archives 
The StoryCorps Griot Project places special emphasis on the stories of World War II veterans and men and women involved in the Civil Rights struggle. In Atlanta, StoryCorps Griot is partnering with WABE 90.1 FM and WCLK, and the StoryBooth will once again be at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Louise Strozier talks to Kerrie Cotten Williams about how she met her husband in the twelfth grade and how her aunt’s values contributed to her early marriage.
Gerald and Muriel Durley talk about life as college students and their move to the south in the 1960’s. It was in college that Gerald went to play basketball at Tennessee State in Nashville and where he had his first experience with racism. Today he’s a doctor of psychology and the pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church - where this story was recorded.
Mary-Anne Adams speaks with Kerrie Cotten Williams. They’re talking about James Meredith’s enrollment as the first African American at the University of Mississippi, and the effect it had on Mary-Anne’s community and her life. Eventually she did attend “Old Miss”, and graduated in 1975 with a double major in social work and sociology. This story was recently recorded at the Auburn Avenue Research Library and edited by Mike Johns.
Anthony McNair speaks to Jason Reynolds about his decade-long struggle with homelessness. McNair is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm.
Kerrie Cotten Williams of the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History speaks with Murray Brown. For years Mrs. Brown worked as a nurse at Grady hospital. As a young nursing student she was introduced to someone and fell in love. Here she talks about that person, her husband Henry “Sam” Brown.
Lydia Walker speaks with her friend, 89-year old Ruth Greene, regarded by many as the poet laurite of Ebenezer Baptist church. Greene shares her love of reading, writing and even spelling.
Carl McNair talks to his friend Vernon Skipper about his brother, Ron. Both Ron and Carl grew up and attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College where on February 1st 1960, four African American students started the first sit in at Woolworth’s. Later, Ron McNair became an astronaut - he was killed when the space shuttle challenger exploded in January 1986.
Anna Swanston speaks with Akilah Nosakhere about her “welcome home” reception in the village Busia in Ghana.
Anita Johnson shares with her friend Marie Cowser about her mother’s beauty shop and the strong sense of community that surrounded it.
Nguyen Allen speaks with her friend Bridgette Vassar about high school history class, and its conflicts with her own upbringing in the Black Panther Party throughout the 1970s. She starts by recalling a class with one of her teachers.
Dr. Jimmy LeVon Brown speaks with Kerrie Williams about his involvement with the Neighborhood Planning Unit in his East Atlanta residence and seeing his community change under gentrification.
Robert Johnson speaks with Alma Billingslea about his work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and meeting his wife for the first time at a civil rights march in Covington, Georgia.
Three sisters share their memories about a black-tie affair one of them wanted to attend. Here, one of them, Gloria Ann-Jackson recalls asking her sister, Hazel, for a very big favor.
Lewis Sinclair, who grew up in Past Christian, Mississippi talks with his wife Mary about growing up as a light-skinned African American.
45-year old Julie Borders talks to her friend Tamara Verrett about growing up in Cascade Heights in Atlanta. Here she recalls some of the childhood games she would play with her siblings. Sometimes those games led to trouble; sometimes with her mother.
John Harrison speaks with his wife Rosa about growing up poor in the South and a sad memory she has about a pet rabbit she had as a child, named, “Susie”.
Lynn Weaver speaks with his daughter Kimberly about life growing up in Knoxville Tennessee, and about the life long influence of his father.
Nazeeh Rasheed speaks to Jason Reynolds about his involvement with the Nation of Islam and the Civil Rights movement in Atlanta during the 1960s.
Norris Robinson speaks with his daughter Mia about his boyhood and growing up in rural Alabama.
60-year-old Larry Platt speaks with Kevin Cook and Nadja Middleton about his experience of nearly being lynched in Adamsville, Georgia. This story contains some language which may be sensitive to some listeners.
Bernard White looks back on the moments he had with his children as they were growing up. White, who’s struggling with a drug addiction, has been estranged from them for years. Here he’s speaking with Nadja Middleton.
Fred Ball talks with John Randolph about the life of his grandfather who, as a light skinned African American, was witness to moments intended only for whites. Randolph recalls how his Grandfather — who worked as a chauffeur - was in attendance at a political rally for former Governor Eugene Tallmadge who was a major force in Georgia politics during the Jim Crow South.
72-year old Lydia Walker speaks with her 96-year old mother, Myrtis Middlebrooks. In her youth, Myrtis was a well known singer in her hometown of Griffin, Georgia and was a member of the Spelman Glee Club.
Kevin Cook shares his lifetime struggle with alcohol and drug addiction and how one moment with his infant daughter showed him that his life needed a change. Kevin currently does social advocacy work with Agape House Ministries.
Johnny Mason speaks with his mother, Ethel, about growing up in the segregated south. They begin by talking about her first date with Johnny’s father.
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