Associated Products
Freedom Stories Webpage (Web Resource)Title: Freedom Stories Webpage
Author: International Storytelling Center
Abstract: Freedom Stories: Unearthing the Black Heritage of Appalachia is an ongoing series that marries performance and discussion, connecting prominent Black storytellers, humanities scholars, and community leaders with the public to trace this rich history and highlight the role that face-to-face storytelling has played in both African and Appalachian experience—from the first African arrivals in these mountains, to the shaping of a distinct culture, to the ongoing struggles for freedom and equality.
Year: 2021
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedomstories/True Tales from the Underground Railroad (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: True Tales from the Underground Railroad
Abstract: Sheila Arnold delivering the first session of ISC's Freedom Stories filmed live from the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee— the location where Elihu Embree published The Emancipator in 1820, the first newspaper in the United States solely devoted to the abolition of slavery.
Author: Sheila Arnold
Date: 10/5/2019
Location: Jonesborough, TN
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/freedom-stories-at-the-national-storytelling-festival/Do Black Lives Matter in Appalachia? (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Do Black Lives Matter in Appalachia?
Abstract: The first Freedom Stories community conversation, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, was recorded live on July 3, 2020. The free, digital event included scholars, leaders, and activists and posed the question, “Do Black lives matter in Appalachia?”
The event was moderated by International Storytelling Center's Freedom Stories Project Director, Dr. Alicestyne Turley. The recording features storyteller and National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow and co-founder of National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS,) Mama Linda Goss.
Author: Various Participants
Date: 7/3/2020
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/do-black-lives-matter-in-appalachia/Emancipation Saturday: An Appalachian Tradition (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Emancipation Saturday: An Appalachian Tradition
Abstract: This Freedom Stories discussion covers the lesser-known Appalachian emancipation celebration, Emancipation Saturday, including the history behind the celebration, the role that President Andrew Johnson played in Emancipation Saturday, and the celebration's spread throughout Central Appalachia.
Author: Various Participants
Date: 8/8/2020
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/emancipation-saturday/What You Don't Know (But Should) About Appalachian Slavery (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: What You Don't Know (But Should) About Appalachian Slavery
Abstract: Antebellum slavery is most often associated with the Deep South: sprawling Mississippi cotton fields, Alabama sugar plantations, and Georgia estates straight from “Gone with the Wind.” But Central Appalachia had a thriving slave trade, as well. This is the topic for our third FREE discussion as part of our Freedom Stories initiative.
Author: Various Participants
Date: 9/5/2020
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/what-you-dont-know-but-should-about-appalachian-slavery/Freedom Stories: Stories of the Underground Railroad (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Freedom Stories: Stories of the Underground Railroad
Abstract: Inspirational instrumentalist and storyteller, Reverend Robert Jones, Sr., brings to life true tales from the Underground Railroad. This session was originally presented live as part of our National Storytelling Festival and includes both performance and discussion between Jones and Freedom Stories Director, Dr. Alicestyne Turley. The discussion is followed by a live audience Q&A. Freedom Stories is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Discussions Grant, an award based on projects that bring the ideas and insights of the humanities to life for general audiences.
Author: Various Participants
Date: 10/1/2020
Location:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/stories-of-the-underground-railroad/Melungeon: The Criminalization of Race (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Melungeon: The Criminalization of Race
Abstract: Join us for our sixth Freedom Stories event as we explore the history of a tri-racial ethnic group prevalent in Central Appalachia and the rural Southeastern United States known as Melungeons. Through performance and discussion with storyteller Lyn Ford, author and community scholar Wayne Winkler, and Anthony Mayle, Assistant Director, Marietta College Office of Diversity and Inclusion, we will examine the unique development of multiple racial identities and challenge the story of Appalachian monoculturalism.
Author: Various Participants
Date: 11/7/2020
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/melungeon-the-criminalization-of-race/Dr. Alicestyne Turley (Staff/Faculty/Fellow Position)Name: Dr. Alicestyne Turley
Abstract: Dr. Alicestyne Turley is the Director of the International Storytelling Center's Freedom Stories program. She is responsible for planning events from start to finish, including procedures, milestones and deadlines. Budgeting for event operations and monitoring each event to make sure it stays within budget.
Year: 2020
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/about-us/our-team/Jim Crow Appalachia: Slavery By Another Name (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Jim Crow Appalachia: Slavery By Another Name
Abstract: At the end of the Civil War, the South emerged with destroyed transportation and shipping lines, a devastated economy, and no labor force. The North and South agreed slavery was an unacceptable form of American labor, but Black Americans were still viewed as an undesirable, inferior race in need of control. Over the next 100 years, the Appalachian South successfully re-established their system of racial caste under a new name, “Jim Crow,” a popular antebellum term. This discussion features storyteller and spoken word artist, Mitch Capel, along with Dr. Steven Nash, Associate Professor of history at East Tennessee State University, and Freedom Stories Project Director Dr. Alicestyne Turley as we explore the roots of Appalachian Jim Crow and its impact on how the region is viewed today.
Author: Various
Date: 1/09/2021
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/jim-crow-appalachia-slavery-by-another-name/Profit and Power: Company Towns and the Exploitation of Appalachia (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Profit and Power: Company Towns and the Exploitation of Appalachia
Abstract: The end of the Civil War granted ascendancy of industry over agriculture. This economic shift in the American ideal gave birth to a new generation of American capitalist focused on exploiting rich Appalachian resources exposed during the Civil War. The need for profits and power over-shadowed ideas of American individualism, concepts of self-sufficiency, and concern for human conservation. A new America was on the rise. Storytellers and musicians, Rhonda and Sparky Rucker; adjunct history professor, Andrew Baskin of Simmons College of Kentucky (Kentucky’s only private HBCU;) and Dr. William Turner, Director of Education at the Appalachian African-American Cultural Center present a discussion exploring “profit and power” in Appalachia. The discussion is facilitated by Freedom Stories Project Director, Dr. Alicestyne Turley, and includes live Q&A with our viewing audience.
Author: Various
Date: 2/13/2021
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/profit-and-power-company-towns-and-the-exploitation-of-appalachia/Separate but Equal? Race-based Bias in Education (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Separate but Equal? Race-based Bias in Education
Abstract: This is the ninth public discussion in our Freedom Stories series. Through performance and conversation with Emmy Award-winning storyteller, Bobby Norfolk; Langston Centre Supervisor, Adam Dickson; and Green McAdoo Cultural Center Director, Adam Velk, we examine the effects of segregation and integration—both positive and negative—on public education in Appalachia and how these still impact society today. The panel is moderated by Dr. Alicestyne Turley, Freedom Stories Project Director.
Author: Various
Date: 3/13/2021
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/separate-but-equal-race-based-bias-in-education/Out-Migration: Spreading Appalachia Abroad (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: Out-Migration: Spreading Appalachia Abroad
Abstract: This discussion, “Out-Migration: Spreading Appalachia Abroad” is a look at how Appalachian culture, specifically Black Appalachian culture, has spread to other areas of the country. We hear from wordsmith and storyteller, Omopé Carter-Daboiku; Professor of Appalachian Studies, Dr. Ted Olson from East Tennessee State University; and Dr. Freida H. Outlaw, a Minority Fellowship Program member of the American Nurses Association. Their discussion is moderated by Freedom Stories Project Director, Dr. Alicestyne Turley.
Author: Various
Date: 4/10/2021
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/out-migration-spreading-appalachia-abroad/The Civil Rights Movement: It Still Remains (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The Civil Rights Movement: It Still Remains
Abstract: In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white patron, an act which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his now-famous “I Have A Dream” speech. During this same time, folk music legend Pete Seeger helped popularize the Civil Rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”
While these people and their historic acts might be well known, what is often overlooked is the role Appalachia played in this liminal period. Parks, King, and Seeger all attended training sessions at the Highlander Center in East Tennessee, and twelve Black students from Clinton, Tennessee, became the first in the South to integrate a public high school. The Birmingham Campaign in Alabama is part of Appalachian history, and marches took place across the region.
In this public discussion in our Freedom Stories series, we hear from musician, storyteller, and educator Reggie Harris; civil rights activists Ann Beard Grundy and Charles Nebett; and Dr. Daryl Carter, Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion for the College of Arts and Sciences and director of Black American Studies at East Tennessee State University as we explore the events of the Civil Rights Movement, particularly as they pertain to Appalachia, and ask ourselves, “Are we there yet?”
Author: Various
Date: 5/8/2021
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/the-civil-rights-movement-it-still-remains/How Do We Talk to Each Other? Storytelling for Racial Justice (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: How Do We Talk to Each Other? Storytelling for Racial Justice
Abstract: In 1776, America’s forebears declared that “all men are created equal.” Twelve years later, they developed their plan for “a more perfect Union.” While not unprecedented, these acts were unique enough to be dubbed the “American Experiment.” Such ideals are still venerated, but as America moves toward its 250th anniversary, we must face the difficult truths which underpin these concepts. Those who declared “all men are created equal” did not include enslaved persons. Those who formed “a more perfect Union” counted Black people as three-fifths human.
Fortunately, the shortcomings of the past need not dictate the future, and the American Experiment is not complete. In the twelfth and final event in our Freedom Stories series, we will explore ways to engage in constructive dialogue and present tips on how to use storytelling to advance racial justice. This special two-hour presentation will include performance and discussion from Mzuri Moyo Aimbaye, Founder, President, and CEO of Healing Through the Sound of Music and creator of the one-woman show, “The Fannie Lou Hamer Story;” Lecia Brooks, Chief of Staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center; Trina Jackson, Education Team Coordinator at the Highlander Center; and Kiran Singh Sirah, President of the International Storytelling Center. Their discussion will be moderated by Freedom Stories Project Director, Dr. Alicestyne Turley.
Together, we can continue unearthing the stories which surround us, and more fully realize our forebears’ ideals.
This event is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and with the support of our friends at the National Association of Black Storytellers – NABS, Green McAdoo Cultural Center, Appalachian African American Cultural Center, Black/White Dialogue, Black in Appalachia, ETSU Leadership and Civic Engagement, Heritage Alliance, Langston Centre, McKinney Center, Northeast Tennessee Tourism, and Historic Jonesborough.
Author: Various
Date: 6/12/21
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/how-do-we-talk-to-each-other-storytelling-for-racial-justice/Freedom Stories Curriculum Guides (Course or Curricular Material)Title: Freedom Stories Curriculum Guides
Author: Various
Abstract: These curriculum guides were designed by and for secondary and post-secondary instructors. Please use them to augment existing curriculum in your classroom, as guides for further independent study, or simply for fostering community conversations.
Notes about these guides:
First, they are just that—guides. They are meant to offer suggestions for how you might approach these important yet sensitive topics in your classroom, as well as ideas for how you might augment existing curriculum in your classroom. Please adapt them as necessary to fit your classroom’s needs.
Second, while they are aimed at 10th grade students, many of the activities can easily be adapted both for lower and higher grades, and we encourage you to do so.
Third, since the International Storytelling Center is based in Tennessee, we have used the Tennessee state academic standards for Social Studies as our guide, but have also included Common Core standards where appropriate in an attempt to provide some reciprocity between, and among, state curriculums. Please feel free to use your own state standards in place of Tennessee or Common Core standards.
Fourth, our collective understanding of the subject matter covered in these Freedom Stories Curriculum Guides is ever-evolving as we unearth forgotten narratives and seek out more complete truths. As such, there may be instances where certain instructional approaches are no longer useful, or where certain resources are no longer applicable. We encourage you to keep this in mind as you use these guides and adapt activities with new information as it becomes available.
Year: 2021
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/curriculum-guides/Audience: K - 12
The National Endowment for the Humanities: Building Community Through Conversation (Public Lecture or Presentation)Title: The National Endowment for the Humanities: Building Community Through Conversation
Abstract: This virtual briefing offered insight into how National Endowment for the Humanities funding brings communities together to explore their diverse histories and foster conversation across difference. Participants heard representatives from the International Storytelling Center discuss their work to highlight and explore the history of African Americans in Appalachia and learned about how conversations about history can build stronger communities, how NEH support has outsized impacts in rural areas, and ISC resources they can bring to their community.
Author: Various
Date: 11/9/21
Location: Virtual
Primary URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCuWSjEZjUEFreedom Stories Social Impact Report (Report)Title: Freedom Stories Social Impact Report
Author: International Storytelling Center
Abstract: This report reflects data which was collected and collated both by International Storytelling Center (ISC) staff and by the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), a coalition of organizations dedicated to advancing humanities education, research, preservation, and public programs.
Date: 07/31/2021
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Freedom-Stories-Social-Impact-Report.pdf?x43411Access Model: Open access
Freedom Stories Story Map (Web Resource)Title: Freedom Stories Story Map
Author: International Storytelling Center
Abstract: The Freedom Stories Story Map serves as an amalgamation of location data which pertains to the Freedom Stories project. This includes places of interest which relate to each of the twelve Freedom Stories public discussions and information on project supporters.
Year: 2021
Primary URL:
https://www.storytellingcenter.net/freedom-stories/story-map/