Thanksgiving may be a uniquely American holiday but the people in my world love to mix up the holiday menu. I know a lot about mixed-up ethnic holiday fare coming from a Southern, African-American, Native-Creole-Chinese-Caribbean family. We always include items and ingredients to honor the legacy of the colorful people coming to dinner. Ours is a true melting pot!
I was trained by my elders to cook using a variety of traditional methods. Some examples are ‘add a handful of this and a pinch of that’ and the ‘by eye and nose or pay constant attention to what you doing’ methods. Years ago, I published “Cooking Your Way – MTA Employee Cookbook,” a sold-out, edition of over 800 recipes from New York City’s most diverse workforce in the nation. And, I am still searching for ways to mix it up in the kitchen.
My holiday menu for this year is still in the works. I will find inspiration from farmer’s markets, friends, relatives, memories and dreams.
My Persian friends turned me on to their version of Thanksgiving: “Mehregan, a Persian version of Thanksgiving, is an ancient Iranian holiday that celebrates the fall season and harvest. In New York City, Cafe Nadery in Greenwich Village kicked off its first Mehregan celebration recently with a literary and culinary arts festival. Highlights included storytelling, a pomegranate-peeling contest, readings, music and delicious food. The themes were memory and food.” Click here for the full story.
My Native American, Creek-Cherokee friend shared her Thanksgiving: “Since Thanksgiving has such a complicated history for my people, I think it was especially important for my family to integrate our traditions into this holiday,” she said. “We do that in several ways. We pray in our own Native languages at the table and also host a Stomp Dance the night before.” Click here for the full story.
Lessons from the Garden will feature women storytellers and organic food at a Pre-Thanksgiving conference, set for Saturday, November 15, from 8am-4pm, at The Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, 1200 Brentnell Avenue, Columbus, Ohio.
This mind, body, and soul event will offer intellectual, spiritual and physical nourishment, including a walking tour of a new urban garden and mini-farm that was launched during the Spring of 2014. The program will feature deliciously cooked, homegrown food and speakers who will cover topics such as storytelling, food, health, family and social media.
The presenters are: Paula Penn-Nabrit, Bio-Diversity: Great for the Garden and for Life, Barbara Nabrit Stephen, Seed Starting: The Essential Nature of Nursing, Organic Feeding & Good Nutrition, Sylvia Wong Lewis, We are Heirloom Seeds: Know Your Family’s Story, and Patricia Patton, Spreading Your Seeds: Learn to Master Social Media with Responsibility and Profitability.
“Hello Ohio! You are invited to celebrate Columbus’ newest urban garden at ’60 Lessons from the Garden.’ This event is our way to say ‘Thank you’ to the great people of Ohio and beyond who helped us to build the Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden,” said Paula Penn-Nabrit, CEO, Telos Training, Inc., the non-profit organization presenting the event.
“Gardens have Biblical themes and metaphors in life. From the beginning (Genesis), God planted the Garden of Eden and Revelations mentions gardens, gardeners and growing plants. In life we speak of seasons, soil, seeds, roots, visions, platforms, growth, sustainability, and interdependence,” said Penn-Nabrit, founder of the garden named for her late husband.
“We are pulling all of these topics together and serving home-cooked food too! This event is for all women. We are following-up our “Power of Women – Day of Discussion” event held in 2010 that attracted over 100 women from many generations–Milennials to the Elders and diverse religious or ethnic backgrounds. This is also a birthday party to help me celebrate 60 years on the planet,” Penn-Nabrit added.
BBC Radio Producer Maggie Ayre received Prix Europa 2014 in Award in Berlin for Best European Radio Music Programme for ‘Strange Fruit.’
Congratulations to Maggie Ayre, BBC radio producer, for winning the prestigious Prix Europa Award 2014 for Best European Radio Music Program “Strange Fruit,” that featured my storytelling about lynching among others. The award was presented in Berlin on October 24, 2014. Click here for a link to the Prix Europa winners and award-winning ‘Strange Fruit’ program. The award ceremony will be streamed on the website through November 8.
“The song, Strange Fruit. memorably encapsulates a poetic depiction of the brutal lynchings in the southern United States. The winning programme used this Billie Holliday song to explore the deep wounds, encountering people with close connections to the events; the stories were calmly recounted, adding intensity to the words, and allowed time for reflection. The song is delicately woven into a tapestry of sad memories. Strange Fruit demonstrates the ability of radio to communicate strong emotions and profound insights,” stated the Prix Europa Award 2014 announcement.
History: “PRIX EUROPA – The European Broadcasting Festival awards the best European Television, Radio and Online productions each year with the aim of publicising them throughout Europe and supporting their continental distribution and use. It calls on all media professionals and their commitment to quality to compete against each other with their best productions.”
My Indigenous and Native American ancestors are finally getting some respect. Columbus Day is getting re-branded. I know that my ancestors would be thrilled to see more American cities recognize the truth: That Columbus did not ‘discover’ America. Thankfully, some cities, like Seattle, are now giving the Columbus Day holiday a Native flavor.
“This year’s Columbus Day holiday will have a slightly different, more Native flavor in the city of Seattle. Thanks to a unanimous vote this summer by the city council, the federal holiday will now be known by a different name: Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The name change comes after activists pushed for a day to honor indigenous people instead of Christopher Columbus, the most recognizable figure linked to European contact with the Americas.” For the complete story, click here.
I hope one day New York City will see the light. There’s certainly plenty support in this town.
Many truths were heard loud and clear recently, at a rally in New York City near the landmark statue of Christopher Columbus at Columbus Circle. Native Americans, Indigenous groups, regular New Yorkers and tourists participated in a Pow Wow to focus attention on the “grand theft, genocide, racism, torture, and maiming of Indigenous people,” by Columbus and other American, Spanish, and British colonizers.
The New York gathering included: Ecuadoran community activists, Sharakapk Earth Keepers, Inwoodearthkeepers@gmail.com, Biblioteca Indigenamovil (mobileindigenouslibrary.webs.com) Chief Plenty Coups, Apsaalooke, Crow, Indigenous Outreach Project, Citizens Committee for New York City, Garifuna Coalition (www.garifunacoalition.org), Colectivo Popol VujItinerante, and more.
Would you swap Columbus Day for Indigenous Remembrance Day?
Posing in Harlem, my paternal Aunt Bertha Stuart Rice, who ‘passed’ as a white person, claimed our family as Creole.
Conducting oral history interviews takes patience and planning. Your family and community members hold precious stories and memories that are legacies of tradition, culture and history. But, what should you do if relatives are reluctant to be interviewed? As a genealogist, I do what I call the ‘un-interview.’
The first time I went to Mississippi and Louisiana to learn about my father’s Southern roots, I was warned: “Don’t come down here asking questions and digging in local court records alone. Southerners are very suspicious of Northerners,” said my Louisiana cousin Antoinette. “The Mississippi blacks and whites are even more clannish and they stick together,” she said. Besides being a musical and show business family, my paternal elders said that we were Creoles. I wanted first-hand knowledge. Once my elders left the South for Harlem, as part of the nation’s largest Black Migration, they never returned. But many of my relatives stayed. So, I needed to go there. One Southern elder cousin agreed to be interviewed. But she changed her mind when I arrived. “Not on camera. Maybe I will do audio,” said cousin Snow Owl as she eyed my equipment. I slowed down. We needed to spend time together simply visiting, cooking, shopping, talking, eating and going to church to meet-up with her friends, neighbors and extended family.
Check out these guidelines from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage: “When interviewing members of your family or local community, be sure to seek out not only what they can tell you about the past, but what they can tell you about life in the present. How have certain family traditions evolved? What holiday customs are practiced today that weren’t a generation ago? What special foodways and rituals are part of community celebrations and why? What skills and abilities are needed to practice a particular craft or trade? How are these skills learned, mastered, and passed on to younger generations?”
Here are my top 5 Oral History tips
1.Build trust. Do your genealogy homework to check names, dates and facts. Learn multicultural dialogue rules and community rituals. Seek permission before all interviews. In my mixed-race family you must share a cup of tea, visit for three days, or bring gifts before you can ask anything. Asking questions is considered rude in some cultures. Timing is everything. Slow down. Wait for the right moment to bring up sensitive topics like slavery. Group gatherings hosted by a trusted local family member or friend provides a great way to start. Tap your network to make connections to help you find ways to build trust.
2. Show and tell your project. I was producing a family documentary and a ‘cooking genes’ cookbook. I brought along video clips, old photos, Baptism certificates, census reports, DNA results, and recipes. These items opened doors. Once they realized that I was not seeking hard facts or figures but simply stories, they relaxed. Reluctance relatives and family friends now loved being the center of attention and telling their stories. They were able to clarify and correct official records and add recipes.
3. Equipment. Less is best. Bring a mobile device, camera, and a portable scanner. Explain your interview process so the subjects know what to expect.
Creole family: Aunt Katherine Brigman and paternal grandmother, Madame Tempy Stuart Smith
4. The Un-Interview. Don’t ask Yes or No questions. Don’t interview or use the word ‘interview.’ As a long-term genealogist, I learned that people hate interviews! My people equate the word ‘interview’ with ‘interrogation.’ Engage.Do ask for stories. Here are sample questions that generated conversations and details: Describe memorable weddings or funerals. Describe our family’s religious and spiritual practices. What languages or Creole words do you remember? How has this neighborhood changed over the years? What are the secret ingredients in this delicious Gumbo or Creole dinner? What are you growing in your garden? Describe routes and regional ways of transportation. Who are your favorite musicians? What dance steps do you remember? Who/What are your favorite writers, books, songs, artists, and films? Don’t judge the answers. Put the subjects at ease and tell them that all their words are precious. Ask a question and listen. Do not interrupt or correct.
5. Wrap-up: Share interview results with photos, video, and transcriptions.
What are your top oral history tips?
Veterans share oral history and tell personal stories in New Orleans at National WWll Museum, @WWllmuseum, where oral histories are featured.
