Tangible Voices

Love to all my people. Let’s meet some legends, now. A woman who took in the children of black families who had to work, and ended up raising 40 and holding hundreds more: Mother Hale. A girl who couldn’t walk in childhood, but within 7 years was running in the Olympic games: Wilma Rudolph. A girl who saved up pennies to buy a guitar, and went on to write some of America’s most popular folk music: Elizabeth Cotten. All of these women started with next-to-nothing in their respective lines of work, and through their grit and sense of mission, succeeded, possibly influencing countless Americans along the way. This is: Something Out of Nothing. As a bonus, I’m adding the unbelievable story of the civil rights giant you may not have heard about: a schoolteacher named Septima Clark. Her story is called “Everything”.

PERSEVERANCE. How many rejections can you handle before getting the yes that changes everything? When you get to where you want to be, how do you hold your space and help others get there? In this episode, let Eva Jessye tell you how her music kept her lights on and later lit up Broadway. Stand with Janet Collins at the barre as she goes from suffering utter disappointment at the age of fifteen, to dazzling the national stage. Walk the neighborhood with Bertha Knox-Gilkey as she proclaims tenants’ rights and dignity for all.

Immerse yourself in these stories that often go untold. Sit in Miss Ruby’s classroom as she creates a future she knows she may never see. Find your grit and stare in the face of danger as you fight with Mary Berry. Hold your head high while you elevate others to influence change alongside Jewell Jackson McCabe. IG: @tangiblevoicespodcast

Hey hey hey! Today, hear some of my personal story about facing and overcoming anxiety. Also, receive 4 steps to tackling anxious thoughts on your own. We can do this!

The Preface and Editor's Note to I Dream a World. 

The reading this week is perfectly imperfect. It's been a week, ya'll. I'm owning it... for now. #perfectionist #type4 #infp (lol)

Favorite quotes: 

"My greatest lesson was that this is my history, this is American history. "

"... when the flowing box in our living room disrupted all that I'd been taught, I was shocked. Black people were being attacked by dogs, clubs, and fire hoses. I was bewildered. My mother had instilled in us the belief that everyone was equal in the eyes of God. Didn't God tell everyone?"

"This celebration of sisters is not an attempt to elevate or lower any segment of society, it is merely an opportunity to savor the triumphs of the human spirit..."

"My job-- the privilege and pain of it-- was to capture a life on a page of words."

"Looking at these women, love is not hard to find." 

This is Tangible Voices, a space where true voices from the past and present can be uncovered, shift our perspective, and resonate with our lives today. I’m Carey, an educator, performer, and artist. I hope to put many different voices over the loudspeaker, so to speak, through this podcast.

To kick off my series, over the next few episodes, I will be reading accounts from African-American women who changed history-- and in their own words. The book I’ll be reading from is called I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America. The book contains photographs and interviews by Brian Lanker. Edited by Barbara Summers,  foreword by Maya Angelou. This book was originally published in 1989.

Today, I will be reading “They Came to Stay”, Maya Angelou’s foreword to I Dream A World. This is a captivating, heart-wrenching, brutally honest reminder of the weight African-turned-American women have carried for the USA. 

In this year, 2020, the Amplify Melanated Voices movement has taken off. I am an African-American myself, a descendant of West Africans, and the more I learn about my people, the more I desire to share our history. Though I had conceived this very episode last year, I’m beginning to come to the understanding that everything happens for a reason; and this is an important time to begin releasing stories to the world.