Celebrating Black History Month and Story Corps

By Sr Melannie Svoboda, SND

Today we’re going to celebrate Black History Month by using a special love of mine: an organization called Story Corps. Let’s begin with a few words about Black History month.

The celebration of Black History month can be traced back to a historian named Carter G. Woodson. The son of former slaves, Woodson was born in Virginia in 1875. Raised in poverty, he worked in the coal mines as a child. Amazingly, he eventually went on to become the second Black man to earn a PhD from Harvard. In 1926 Woodson established the first “Negro History Week” to focus on the accomplishments of Black people.

The first official Black History month was recognized in 1976 when President Gerald Ford extended the week to a whole month saying, the month will “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every endeavor throughout our history.” February was chosen because it incudes the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, two prominant figures in the abolistionist movement. Black History Month is celebrated in other countries too, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Germany, France, and seven countries in Africa.

Now, what is Story Corps? It is an American non-profit organization founded in April 2003 that attempts to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds, ages, and beliefs. The mission statement gives the reason behind this massive project: “to help us believe in each other by the humanity and possibility in all of us… one story at a time.” Some of the stories are accompanied by delightful and poignant illustrations.

So far Story Corps has interviewed 645,000 people from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. plus several American territories. They have recording booths in many public places (including New York City’s Grand Central Station), plus they have converted Airstream trailers into recording booths that travel the country. You can even record a story for them on your cellphone! Over the years, Story Corps has built “the largest collection of human voices ever archived.” If you watch or listen to PBS, you have probably seen or heard some of these memorable stories.

I’m offering four stories below. Each is about 2-3 minutes long. These four seemed especially appropriate for Black History month.

Story #1: The Family Equation: https://youtu.be/OKQI2ZCqw3s

Story # 2: Walnut Street: https://youtu.be/4Cf63QeDuSk

Story #3: Always a Family: https://youtu.be/jFKFYjGS_0w

Story #4: Levar and Kevin – This story is part of the project called “One Small Step” where total strangers on opposite sides of the political spectrum volunteered to come together and have conversations about non-political topics. Sometimes these individuals met several times. Here is a fragment from one conversation between Levar and Kevin. (Levar’s words are in blue; Kevin’s are in orange.) https://youtu.be/4Cf63QeDuSk

For reflection:

Did anything about the history of Black History month stand out for you? What do you think of Story Corps?
Did any of the four stories speak to you? If so, which one(s) and why?
What are some of your feelings about Black History month? Do you personally celebrate it in any way? Why or why not?
What are some of the ways we can come to see the humanity in each one of us?

This is a kids’ song by Miss Jessica entitle “Black People who changed the world:” https://youtu.be/ROd8bemv0bI

I’m no kid, but I really liked this upbeat song with its creative dance moves!