Your Chance To Be Part Of Detroit’s Oral History

Improving Detroit for tomorrow is the goal of our Detroit 2020 initiative.  But sometimes there are stories from yesterday that deserve to be heard.  That’s exactly what’s being done today.

In a small Airstream trailer, on a corner in downtown Detroit, stories of our city’s past are being preserved for the future.  It’s part of the national StoryCorps program which was started following the 9/11 attacks.

Mikel Ellcessor, General Manager of WDET– one of the project’s sponsors, told us, “It’s the largest oral history project of its kind, gathering together all these stories so we get a better sense of really who we are as a country.”

So far, 41,000 people across the country have told their stories.  Everyone is welcome to bring an interview partner and tell their story.  You just need to sign up for an interview time.  It’s free and first come first serve.

Mildred Robinson is a professional storyteller and she decided to make an appointment.  She says her sons are curious about how things were when she was their age growing up in Detroit.  She believes it is important for young people to hear stories like hers from the past, “It’s important because we have a generation that’s not connected with the past, they don’t understand the privileges they enjoy were so hard fought for.”

The StoryCorps mobile studio will be in front of the Virgil Carr Center on E. Grand River in Harmonie Park through August 7th.  Then it will move to the Islamic Center in Dearborn from August 9th through 11th.

Click here for more information and to register.