Author Alex Haley is best known for his investigation into family history that culminated in his great book “Roots.” He recounts the budding of his interest to search for his “Roots” in the 1972 essay titled “My Furthest-Back Person – ‘The African.’” The essay begins with these words:

“My Grandma Cynthia Murray Palmer lived in Henning, Tenn. (pop. 500), about 50 miles north of Memphis. Each summer as I grew up there, we would be visited by several women relatives who were mostly around Grandma’s age, such as my Great Aunt Liz Murray who taught in Oklahoma, and Great Aunt Till Merriwether from Jackson, Tenn., or their considerably younger niece, Cousin Georgia Anderson from Kansas City, Kan., and some others.

“Always after the supper dishes had been washed, they would go out to take seats and talk in the rocking chairs on the front porch, and I would scrunch down, listening, behind Grandma’s squeaky chair, with the dusk deepening into the night and the lightning bugs flicking on and off above the now shadowy honeysuckles.

“Most often they talked about our family—the story had been passed down for generations—until the whistling blur of lights of the southbound Panama Limited train whooshing through Henning at 9:05 P.M. signaled our bedtime.”

From 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, you can share in the Front Porch experience at the 1901 Building, located at 129 N. Queen Street. Earl Ijames of the North Carolina Museum of History will host the event, and he will be a presenter, as well.

The Front Porch is an artistic depiction of the place where much oral history was transmitted in the South, a project funded through the Z Smith Reynolds Inclusive Public Art Grant. D. Choci Gray, representing the 1901 Building Group, won the grant as a semifinalist out of 87 applicants for these awards.

Choci designed The Front Porch in a shape that would invoke storytelling. Z Smith Reynolds grant consultant Brenda Miller and others visited the Front Porch to watch this piece of public art first come to life in Feb. 2019. Since that time, the Front Porch has become a combination of visual art and performance art that stimulates storytelling from all people.

This year’s lineup offers an impressive array of storytellers. Charles Coward will be on hand to share his personal experiences during the Jim Crow era, experiences shared by many people of color at the time. Coward worked as an educator in the Jim Crow era, and he participated in the 1951 Adkin High School walkout as a student.

Milton Bullock will share the story of how the agent for The Platters hid their ethnicity from their white audience. For years, those who enjoyed the music of The Platters had no idea of their ethnic background. The 79-year-old Princeville native was a member of The Platters during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. A string of silky-smooth hits made The Platters a household commodity.

Kinston-native E.J. Stewart of Front Porch Productions uses a collection historical letters written by her ancestors to tell stories and to craft historical reenactments. The daughter of sharecropper parents, she uses literary arts as a way to create better communication across age, race, gender, and class lines.

Stewart is an author, playwright, oral historian, story teller, and workshop presenter. She is a founding member of the North Carolina Association of Black Storytellers, (NCABS), a member of the National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS), and a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, (NCWN). 

Ijames will focus on the story of Weary Clyburne. Weary served as a body guard Frank Clyburne, the man who recruited and led Co. E of 12th South Carolina Volunteers in the Confederate Army. Ijames is noted for his exploration of the service of people of color in the Confederate Army.

Seating is limited, so come early. A $10 cover charge per attendee helps fund the program, pay for refreshments, and assist other programming efforts by the 1901 Building Group.

Mike Parker is a columnist for Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.