VOICE ONE:
An organization in Washington, D-C, is teaching young peopleabout black history in an interesting way. The National VisionaryLeadership Project tells history in the words of those who lived it.I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. The National Visionary Leadership Project isour report today on the VOA Special English program, This isAmerica.
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VOICE ONE:
The National Visionary Leadership Project tells about the livesand celebrates the success of older influential African Americans.They share their life stories on video recordings that help bringhistory to life. Organizers say the project offers much more thancan be learned from simply a voice recording or words in a book.
In oral histories, people tell about their lives. These are oneof the oldest forms used to document events and provide an importantlink to our knowledge of the past.
VOICE TWO:
The National Visionary Leadership Project includes the voices offamous people, such as poet Maya Angelou. It also includes otherinfluential but less known community leaders. Many of these AfricanAmericans have never told their stories. The project calls theseimportant people “visionaries.” Their voices will serve as acultural record for young African Americans.
Some of these people are known inthe United States and around the world. Others are known mainly intheir local communities. All the visionaries are seventy years oldor older. They are from business, the arts, law, politics, andeducation.
Camille Cosby started the National Visionary Leadership Project.She is an educator and wife of television comedian Bill Cosby. Shesays it is important for people to tell these stories in their ownwords, instead of having other people tell them. She says this willprotect the truth of their histories.
VOICE ONE:
Mizz Cosby says she became interested in living histories whenshe produced a play and a movie. They were based on a book about thelives of two African American sisters who were one-hundred yearsold. Mizz Cosby said she learned how valuable it is for older peopleto be honored in American culture. She says many young Americans donot communicate with older people. She says she loved to sit andtalk with her grandparents when she was a child. Camille Cosby saysnow she is sitting down and talking with people who have influencedher life.
Mizz Cosby provided the one-and-one-half-million dollar yearlybudget for the project. Other organizations also support theproject. They include the Smithsonian Institution’s Anacostia Museumand Center for African American History and Culture.
The organizers hope to complete video recordings of sixty peopleevery year for five years. The videotaped interviews are on theorganization’s Internet Web site, w-w-w dot visionaryproject dotcom. That is w-w-w dot v-i-s-i-o-n-a-r-y-p-r-o-j-e-c-t dot com. MizzCosby says although all of the visionaries are black, the historiesthey tell are meant to be heard by all people. She says theirstories are part of American history.
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VOICE TWO:
The organizers of the project interviewed most of thevisionaries. They also asked thirty students from historically blackcolleges to talk to interesting older people in their owncommunities. The organizers wanted the people to be honest and openabout their lives.
For example, politician Shirley Chisholm talks about herdifficulties when she entered politics. She says her greatestopposition came from men.
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM: “They gave me a hard time – because they saidone thing about Shirley Chisholm: ‘She is too darn outspoken – andshe is always raising questions – she never keeps quiet.'”
VOICE ONE:
Some of the visionaries told little-known facts about themselves.For example, political activist Andrew Young says he was a badstudent. Yet he became a congressman, the American Ambassador to theUnited Nations and the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.
ANDREW YOUNG: “I didn’t do well in school and I didn’t get alongwith teachers – I was always talking back and asking questions –challenging authority – all of those things that contributed to myleadership ability made me a bad student.”
VOICE TWO:
One of the most celebrated visionaries is Maya Angelou. MizzAngelou is an internationally praised poet, writer and educator. Shetravels around the world speaking and reading her poetry. Her booksabout her life and poetry collections are widely read and continueto influence many people. She has received many awards for her work.Mizz Angelou tells why it is important for children to know theirpast.
MAYA ANGELOU: “It is very clear …he, she, who does not learn fromhis or her history is doomed to repeat it; and repeat it and repeatit, ad nauseum…this is why this project — why I said yes…absolutelyyes, yes…I am a very good fountain of information. Humility sayssomeone was here before me and I am here and I have something to do.I too have my responsibilities. And there will be someone comingbehind me who I must prepare the way for.”
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VOICE ONE:
Lee Archer is one of the famous Tuskegee Airmen. The TuskegeeAirmen were the first black fighter pilots who fought during WorldWar Two in the United States Army Air Corps. Their success helpedlead to the decision by President Harry Truman innineteen-forty-eight to end racial separation in the military.
The story of the Tuskegee Airmen began in nineteen-forty-one,when the United States Army was racially separated. Blacks werebarred from the Army Air Corps and other special units. Pressure andlegal action from civil rights groups forced the War Department totrain blacks as officers and pilots in the Army Air Corps.
VOICE TWO:
Their training began after Eleanor Roosevelt visited the TuskegeeArmy Airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama. Eleanor Roosevelt was the wifeof President Franklin Roosevelt. She met flight trainer Charles”Chief” Anderson there. She asked him, “Can Negroes really flyairplanes?” He said, “Yes. Would you like to take an airplane ride?”Missus Roosevelt accepted.
Her security officials ordered her not to go on the plane. Butshe went anyway. The security officials told the president, but hesaid there was nothing he could do to stop her. Tuskegee Airman LeeArcher says Missus Roosevelt’s flight changed history.
LEE ARCHER: “She informed her husband that there is a possibilitythat you made a mistake – that African Americans can fly. And thenhe ordered the chief of the Army Air Corps and the chief of the Armyto have a program in which they would select a group of young blackmen to see if they could learn to fly. And so she informed him thatif you do this, you could garner the colored vote.”
Many of the Tuskegee Airmen later became judges, politicians,religious leaders, educators and community leaders. They also beganprograms to help young people do well in school and get theminterested in flying.
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VOICE ONE:
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have been actors, activists andhusband-and-wife for more than fifty years. They have workedtogether on many projects for the stage, movies, television andradio. They have been praised for their work together and asindividuals.
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee wereclose friends with many of America’s great leaders and thinkers,including Reverend Martin Luther King, Junior. They also wereleading activists during the civil rights period. Through it all,Ossie Davis says they never made work more important than family.
OSSIE DAVIS AND RUBY DEE: ” … We were smart enough alwayswhenever possible to take the family with us wherever we went, sothey would never have to wonder what mommy and daddy were doing outthere…they went with us. I worked in Mexico, the whole family came;I did another film in Rome, the whole family came; Ruby went toHollywood to do ‘Raisin in the Sun,’ the movie, whole family movedout.”
Ruby Dee says she strongly supports efforts for children to hearthe stories of older people. She says it is important that childrenlearn how much they have experienced.
VOICE TWO:
Reporter Renee Poussaint is the executive director of theNational Visionary Leadership Project. She says so much importantinformation about African Americans is not included in Americanhistory. She says young people learn valuable lessons when theylisten to the generations that came before them.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written and produced by Cynthia Kirk. Our audioengineer was Jim Harmon. I’m Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us next week for another report aboutlife in the United States on the VOA Special English program, THISIS AMERICA.