The Importance of Knowing the Old Stories, and Telling New Ones

Close-up of a bouquet of white and pink flowers with green leaves on gray fabric.

    1. How much do you know about the experiences of your ancestors, not just the individuals, but the groups they were part of?  How does your knowing, or not knowing, shape how you feel about yourself?

    2. When you reflect on the stories of the land where you are, what feelings come up for you?  What’s a next step you can take to be closer to right relationship with the land and the people whose stories it holds?

  • One part of the Before We Were White curriculum that I really appreciated is the statement that we can choose to step into and claim to be part of white anti-racism lineages and other lineages of resistance, even if we don’t know of any biological or adoptive ancestors who were.  Take 15 minutes to do some internet research on a white anti-racist advocate whose legacy you want to continue.  If you’re not sure where to start, begin with Viola Liuzzo.

  • Choose to start, or take another step to fill in historical gaps or errors, in what you know about the history of your community or nation.  Set aside time to go to a historical site or museum that honors the lives of marginalized peoples.  If you’re in Maryland, the Harriet Tubman memorial is very well done. If you’re near New Orleans, visit the Whitney Plantation.  In Alabama, check out The Legacy Sites created by the Equal Justice Initiative.  Read a book or article that brings new stories to light.  There are so many great ones (check the banned books lists, and you’re likely to find them).  I recommend a couple in the sections below.

  • Seen On Radio’s Seeing White Series -

    This is a deep dive into the construction of whiteness.  Not easy, but also not shaming in it’s approach.  Learning the history we weren’t taught is a big part of how we re-socialize our Inner Knowing and heal our racial trauma as white people.

    John Biewen, whom you “met” last month if you listened to the On Being podcast episode I recommended, is the program director for this series.

    The Matriarch Movement Chyana Marie Sage’s: ‘Soft as Bones’: Healing Through Indigenous Storytelling

  • Movie: The Librarians - if you’re able to catch a screening of this, I highly recommend it.  It shows how the recent book-banning trend in the U.S. emerged, how strategic and systematic it has been, and how damaging.

    Book: A Bondwoman’s Narrative: A Novel, by Hannah Crafts, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. - the only known novel by an enslaved African American woman.   


    Book: If you prefer visuals to text, check out the book I recently co-authored, Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse, which includes photographs of young Black Philadelphians and Smith’s longtime caretaker, Phillip Gross. We can’t fully tell their stories, but we do the best we can to honor them and to reveal how gender and race shaped the development of this historic playground.

  • Substack -History Can’t Hide (form Kahlil Greene)

    Insta:  @wisdom.keepers  - so much wisdom from our elders around the world. 

  • Layli Long Soldier  “38”   A retelling of the story of the Dakota 38, which I didn’t learn about in school at all, as far as I can remember. 

    It’s a long poem.  Sit down and take your time.  Let it sink in. 

    This event is also discussed in Scene on Radio, S2: E5

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