Stories in the 'Griot' category
"I can still hear him hollering and coaching…"
William Haley (L) and his brother Glen remember their father, Joseph Howard Haley, founder of Jackie Robinson West Little League in Chicago.
Recorded in Chicago, IL
"I got to find a job I can do for thirty years in this place."
Dorothy Glinton tells her son, Sonari, about becoming a manager at Ford Motor Plant in Chicago.
Recorded in Chicago, IL
“He saw me and he said, ‘You’re going to be my wife.’”
Rebia Mixon-Clay remembers her late husband, Frank Mixon.
Recorded in Chicago, IL
“When all the parents leave, it goes crazy…”
Clayton Hall Jr. tells his daughter, Breana, about his first day as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute.
Recorded in Richmond, VA
“I got bussed to a high school in my sophomore year…”
Ricardo Pitts-Wiley tells his son Jonathan about a year that shaped his life.
Recorded in Providence, RI
“I said, ‘Is this going to actually be me?’”
Nzingha Masani tells her friend, Noah Hairston, about receiving her name at an African naming ceremony.
Recorded in Detroit, MI
“I really miss so much about New Orleans…”
Antoinette Franklin (R) and her niece, Iriel Franklin, talk about relocating to Houston after Hurricane Katrina.
Recorded in Houston, TX
“None of us looked like our mom; but everybody knew we belonged to her husband.”
Yvonne Logan Jones (L) and her sister Ola Mae Logan Allen remember their parents, who migrated north in the 1940s.
Recorded in Detroit, MI
“My husband was the physical training officer for the fliers…”
91-year-old Ruth Ballard (L) tells her minister, Ramonia Lee, about moving to Tuskegee, Alabama during World War II.
Recorded in Silver Spring, MD
“He saw this country boy, took me over to the side—he didn’t want to embarrass me.”
Larry Young (L) tells his friend Clyde Cleveland about trying to register for college in the early 1940s.
Recorded in Detroit, MI