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Interviewing the Elders

Photo credit: Tony Hidenrick/Hidenrick Photography DeAndrea Solomon, left, and Cleandria Chevalier of Prairie View A&M University were among students conducting video interviews with local elders.

By Roberta Dooms
Black College Wire

Twenty-six college students filled a small auditorium at the Children's Studio Center in Washington to watch a 20-minute play about Oscar Brown Jr., the late singer, songwriter, actor and activist.

Brown, who died May 29 at 78, had been scheduled to be part of a related roundtable discussion. The event celebrated the legacy of elder African Americans.

Students from seven historically black colleges and universities are participating this summer. The project is part of the National Visionary Leadership Project, helping to preserve the history of older generations through younger ones. It was founded in 2001 by Camille O. Cosby, philanthropist and wife of Bill Cosby, and Renee Poussaint, a former local news anchor and network television correspondent.

The project has held its training at Howard University the past three summers.

Most of the students were recommended by professors at their universities. Shannon Evans, a senior public relations major at Howard, said that once she heard the reason for the program, she knew it was something she wanted to do. "It�s something that I will probably do with my whole family. Just knowing more about black history is important," she said.

Photo credit: Tony Hidenrick/ Hidenrick Photography A 20-minute play about the late storyteller Oscar Brown Jr. opened a week of oral history training. Jonathan McCrury, left, and Marlin Russ are former students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington.

Cleandria Chevalier, a junior from Prairie View A&M University, said that bridging the gap between generations brings a self-awareness that comes from knowing your history. African Americans "are already put down by other races," and the program "makes you feel better about your race, which will make you feel better about yourself," said Chevalier.

During the week of training, the students were put into groups and given an elder, or "legacy keeper" from the Washington area.

The students conducted video interviews with these elders to prepare for when they go back to their homes or schools to conduct their interviews.

The elders were Buck Hill , 78, a jazz saxophonist; Clyde Howard, 71, a veteran of the postal service; Albert "Diz" Russell, a singer with a 1950s doo-wop group the Orioles; Mattie Taylor,73, president and CEO of the Van McCoy Music publishing company; and Moncerie Woolfolk, 91, an author and schoolteacher.

Of her meeting with Hill, Evans said, "It sounds different reading something in the history books then speaking to someone who lived through it and [hearing] how it affected their lives."

Hill spoke to the students about the civil rights era and the discrimination he witnessed as an artist and as a postal worker.

Kenneth Prosser, a senior education major from Prairie View A&M University, said he was excited and "glad to see students learn their true history. He was in a group that had Woolfolk as its elder. "She is 91 years old and she still has a lot of energy,� Prosser said. That energy is something he will remember, he said, adding that he hopes to be energetic at her age.

Training for the Visionary Heritage Fellowship Program took place from June 5 to June 11.

Twenty-one of the 26 fellows are from historically black institutions. The HBCUs represented are Central State, Coppin State, Fisk, Spelman Prairie View A&M and Howard universities and Morehouse College. In addition to the seven HBCUs, Nyack College and Wesleyan and West Chester universities are represented.

Nailah Banks, public relations major at Howard, said she was looking forward to her interview with Frances Cress Welsing , author of "the Isis Papers," in which Welsing discusses white supremacy and how African Americans should cope with it. "She is a significant woman in African American history," Banks said. "She is a very powerful and political woman."

Kenneth Gilkes II, a senior history major from Fisk University, said the program had assembled "the best and brightest from black colleges," though more black colleges could be represented.

The program awards scholarships of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 to the top three student projects. Last year, three of the top five projects were from Fisk University students.

The week began with presentations to last year's winners. Later in the week, the students participated in a roundtable with Dorothy Height, 93, president emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women; Arthur Mitchell, 71, founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem and L. Douglas Wilder, 74, the first elected African American governor and current mayor of Richmond, Va.

While Brown did not live long enough to participate in person, the opening play portrayed him as the elder being interviewed.

Elementary students from the Children�s Studio Center and high school students from the city's Duke Ellington School of Arts repeated the phrase, �How are we supposed to inspire our children in the land of the brave and free when we are not brave enough to be free?�

Roberta Dooms is a student at Howard University.

Posted June 17, 2005