Josephine Martin (L) and Edna Turner (R).

Edna Turner came to StoryCorps Griot through a partnership with the Birmingham African American Genealogy Study Group. She recalled how attending a workshop at Clark University in Atlanta sparked her interest in the role quilting played during slavery. As Ms. Turner explained, because slaves were kept from congregating, they had to find alternate methods to communicate. One tool they employed was code. The patterns, symbols, and even knots woven into quilts were used to guide people through the Underground Railroad. Ms. Turner described ten patterns depicted in her “Freedom Quilt” (pictured above), a sample quilt she’s been taking to middle schools, universities, and other groups for seven years.

Edna Turner says she shares her knowledge because, “We didn’t get this information when I was growing up. If I knew that we built the pyramid, that we did the first brain surgery, that the world once went to Timbuktu to be educated, then I would believe that Harriet Tubman got 300 people to Canada. But, I have to know that we are a people who were capable of this before. So, I try to share that with my students. I don’t want them to live in darkness as I have, and imagine that one group is less endowed than another.”

Many thanks to Ms. Martin, Ms. Turner, and all the other members of the Genealogy Study Group who came and interviewed at the StoryCorps Griot booth.

Last week, StoryCorps Griot was visited by members of the Birmingham African American Genealogy Study Group. They shared stories of segregation and prejudice, discovering their identities, and uncovering their roots.

For the group’s founder, Josephine Martin (pictured right above), it was her hard work and courage in uncovering her roots, a taboo topic in the family, that helped her gain a stronger sense of identity. “Children just didn’t ask those questions, but I felt like a part of me was missing. I had a right to know,” said Ms. Martin. She traced her roots back to a great-great-grandmother from Nigeria, who was sold into slavery in North Carolina. She learned her grandfather was a white man from Alabama. She was given a picture of a cousin she always heard about, but had never met. And, she learned new details and stories about her many relatives.

“It made the connection stronger for me,” Josephine said of the information she gathered by researching census records and talking with family. “It really made things much easier, the more information I found out about my family— it gave me more of an identity. This is a family I really am part of.”

StoryCorps Facilitators, Naomi Greene and Mike Rauch, were invited to the Montgomery premiere of the film Honeydripper, starring Danny Glover and Charles S. Dutton. Filmed in Greenville, Alabama, Honeydripper tells the story of Tyrone Purvis, a juke joint owner trying to keep his failing business afloat during the 1950s.

After the screening, writer/director John Sayles talked about how his love of soul and blues artists inspired the film’s story and setting. Producer Maggie Renzi gave thanks to local residents who helped in the production of the film. In fact, the film’s extras are local Alabama residents. The facilitators even recognized a group of Alabama State University students who participated in a StoryCorps interview on opening day. At the close of the evening, Naomi was delighted to receive an autograph from young actor Nagee Clay, who attended the event dressed like a star. The poster now hangs proudly in the StoryCorps GriotBooth.

Facilitators Mike Rauch and John White celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by attending a memorial service at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. Dr. King was a pastor at the church, which played a central role in the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. After the memorial service, Mike and John enjoyed a parade on Dexter Avenue that included local schools, organizations, regular everyday folks and even a bus that stopped and picked up passengers along the way.