There were no placards or megaphones at this civil and human-rights workshop, just people telling the stories that galvanized their passion for justice.
“In working together and knowing each other’s stories, that’s how we can effect change,” said Project Voice regional organizer at the Denver offices of the
Saturday’s workshop is part of a national series sponsored by the . During the workshops, participants share their personal tales of why they took action for civil and human rights by creating a short audio, text and image story.
signed up to tell a story about growing up as the daughter of Park Hill neighborhood organizers and civil- rights activists . Branscombe remembered her childhood home crowded “with grownups, pink and brown” and, regrettably, few other children. During one gathering, she answered the phone.
“The caller asked to speak to my father (a former Denver Post reporter), but he didn’t say that,” she recalled. “He said he wanted to talk to the — I can’t even say it now as a grown-up — to the ‘n-lover.’ I didn’t know what he was talking about. I was 6. I took the phone and carried it to my parents and said, ‘He wants to talk to the n-lover. Which one of you is that?’ “
Conversation stopped. A sea of faces — shocked, compassionate, sorrowful — turned toward the confused little girl. It was the first time she understood that her family was different. Later, at supper at friends’ homes where dinnertime conversation was about show-and-tell, came another epiphany: Not all families talked about Martin Luther King Jr. at the table.
Others at the All Together Now workshop had similar tales.
came to the workshop to deconstruct how her by being imprisoned as a child at the Japanese internment camp , where she lived from ages 7 months to 4 years old.
War veteran-turned-pacifist and author , the son and grandson of war veterans and staunch Second Amendment supporters, went in the hope of charting his abrupt departure from the family norm.
By the end of the four-hour workshop, the dozen or so participants had recorded their stories, which are available on the on . A second All Together Now workshop will be held in Denver. To register, visit
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
The backstory of civil rights activists
At a Center for Digital Storytelling workshop, civil and human rights activists of all ages met to talk about the stories that inspired them to work for justice and equality.
NEXT WORKSHOP
A second workshop will be held on Dec 14th, Saturday, from 10am-2pm at Lighthouse Writers at 1515 Race St. in Denver.
The application link for people to participate is here: http//storycenter.org/atn-storied-sessions-application.
More info about the workshops/project is here: http//storycenter.org/all-together-now.
