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StoryCorps Hopes to Reunite A Divided Richmond ‘One Small Step’ At a Time

David Tran | November 11, 2020

Topics: Brenda Brown-Grooms, Bucky Neal, Dave Isay, One Small Step, StoryCorps, Virginia Public Media, VPM

Have you felt misunderstood by someone with different beliefs from you? Are there life experiences of yours you want to share? “One Small Step” is looking to connect Richmonders with different perspectives and beliefs — one conversation at a time.

A new program, “One Small Step,” has launched in Richmond, in hopes of bridging deep divisions in the city with the goal of breaking boundaries and finding humanity in one another through individual, one-on-one conversations.

“One Small Step” is the newest multi-year initiative from StoryCorps, a nonprofit that has documented and conversations from more than 650,000 people across the country. It was created by StoryCorps founder Dave Isay as a way to address and try to heal the political tension that has built up over the past few years. 

“I became increasingly concerned about the culture of contempt across the political divides,” Isay said.

That “culture of contempt,” Isay said, is dangerously dividing the country, in which people of opposing viewpoints and political parties view their adversaries as “downright evil.” 

However, Isay cites the existence of the so-called exhausted majority, “people who are concerned about the future of the country, exhausted and don’t think that insulting each other… [or] seeing each other as less than human is going to lead anywhere,” as a potential path to open-mindedness and recognizing the humanity in people.

“One Small Step” aims to find common humanity and get past the political labels of  “liberal” and “conservative.” The project pairs two strangers with divergent political perspectives to sit and have a conversation, but that conversation does not necessarily have to center around politics — it can be a chance for personal connections, and to talk about their life experiences.

The premise of “One Small Step,” Isay said, is based on contact theory, which hypothesized that conflicting groups can reduce prejudice and promote tolerance through contact under certain conditions.

Richmond is one of the four cities selected to lead the “One Small Step” initiative. Other cities chosen were Wichita, Kansas; Birmingham, Alabama; and Shreveport, Louisiana. StoryCorps is partnering with VPM, a public broadcasting station based in Richmond.

“Richmond is such a culturally, historically, and demographically distinct city, that the StoryCorps team felt that it would be the perfect place to encourage listening for the rest of the country,” said Jayme Swain, VPM’s president.

Swain said public media, such as VPM, play vital roles in fostering civil discourse. She said “One Small Step” gives people the opportunity and a safe space to openly discuss their life experiences without vitriol and polarization.

One of the first conversations in Richmond for “One Small Step” was between Brenda Brown-Grooms, a descendant of enslaved people of African descent and Bucky Neal, a descendant of white slave owners.

Brown-Grooms’ mother always could see the other side of an argument, which Brown-Grooms herself said she doesn’t often do. She said it is a “constant battle” to remain open-minded to other people’s perspectives, because most people are not receptive to her opinions simply because she is Black.

However, with the current political state of the world, she thinks if people do not start to listen and speak with each other as human beings, “we’re going to blow the globe up.” 

“There are so much of us as human beings,” Brown-Grooms said. “But if you’re going to get the nuances, if we’re going to get to know each other, we have to stop and listen to each other’s stories.”

Being able to speak with Neal about race was a “sacred moment” for Brown-Grooms. “The United States of America has been putting off just such conversations for over 400 years now,” she said.

Brown-Grooms, who is a pastor, harks back to a book club discussion she had on various books about racial justice. A fellow reverend argued that racism had been fixed, and therefore it was OK for most white people to not admit any historical wrongdoings.

“It has shrunk them emotionally,” Brown-Grooms recalled. “They expected other people to carry the emotional weight to do the work.” That work includes having tough conversations about race.

Bucky Neal and Brenda Brown-Grooms. Image via VPM

Uncovering his family’s history was a gradual process of learning and unpacking, Neal said. After discovering that his ancestors were slave owners and visiting his fourth great-grandfather’s house, Neal started to reach out to Black friends and strangers. 

Neal had felt guilt and shame about his ancestry but recalls a conversation with a Black woman from Birmingham, Alabama who told him that he did not have to feel apologetic because “you didn’t own those slaves in North Carolina and you didn’t turn those dogs on me.” 

From then on, Neal moved away from guilt. But he still feels a responsibility to take on a more active role. “I didn’t feel guilty about it any longer,” he said. “I just wanted to do something about it.” 

One way Neal brought up was letters he sent to editors of Richmond and Charlotte, NC newspapers in 2019, remembering Juneteenth by honoring the memories of the enslaved people who worked on his ancestors’ plantations.

Brown-Grooms holds a similar sentiment about white guilt. She said white guilt contributes no substantial value to conversations surrounding racial issues. “I can’t use your guilt. There’s nothing more dangerous to people of color than white guilt,” Brown-Grooms said.

For Neal, his talk with Brown-Grooms gave him further encouragement to continue his effort of engaging in conversations on race. One day, he hopes to contact descendants of those enslaved by his ancestors.

Brown-Grooms sees “One Small Step” as a stepping stone for further meaningful discussions about race and ultimately social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. 

“The movement has many aspects,” Brown-Grooms said. “One small step is exactly what the work requires — one small step. I make a small step, you make a small step. And those steps are multiplied exponentially, because we make them together.”

Those in the Richmond area interested in taking part in “One Small Step” can fill out the questionnaire on the StoryCorps website. Conversations are to take place virtually. 

Top Photo by Eric Everington, via RVA Mag Archives

This Year, The Richmond Folk Festival Goes Virtual

Jonah Schuhart | September 14, 2020

Topics: Brown's Island, live streams, Richmond Folk Festival, Venture Richmond, Virginia Public Media

Radio programs, online streams, festival-exclusive foods, and art installations around town are only some of the ways this year’s Richmond Folk Festival will ensure that the show goes on regardless of COVID.

For the past 16 years, the Richmond Folk Festival has been a staple event within Virginia’s capital city. The weekend-long celebration, which starts on Friday, October 9th this year, has been popular amongst Virginians of all stripes looking for a place to enjoy music, arts, and food from the diverse cultures found across America.

Unfortunately, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic spares nothing, and this year’s Folk Festival was no exception. Thankfully, the festival’s organizers refused to buckle completely, so this year the Richmond Folk Festival will be a predominantly virtual event that celebrates the spirit of the original, in-person occasion while taking advantage of some of the positive opportunities afforded by the internet.

“We’ve got 16 years of great festivals behind us, and with that comes some really strong content that’s been recorded, audio-wise, and videotaped as well,” said Stephen Lecky, the Director of Events at Venture Richmond, the company in charge of organizing the Folk Festival. “But we felt like that frankly wasn’t enough for our amazing fanbase and attendees, and we also want to be able to present new content.” 

Image via Richmond Folk Festival/Facebook

Lecky says that locals have come to expect and look forward to the festival every year, but the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic has made a traditional live festival impossible. So Venture Richmond has redesigned this year’s event from the ground up with a mixture of both old and new acts, so as not to disappoint their audience. People who still want to get their fill of classic Folk Festival content have three main avenues to find what they’re looking for: the radio, television, and online livestreaming. 

The content you’ll find spread across these three avenues will cover the same subjects people have come to appreciate at past Richmond Folk Festivals. So, whether someone is looking for good music, food, or culture in general, the virtual festival will have something for everyone. While radio broadcasts will be exclusively music-focused, with past festival performances being broadcast on Virginia Public Media stations 107.3 FM and 93.1 FM, if folks are looking for something new, or if music isn’t their thing, then they should look to the festival’s online and television avenues. 

Of the three, the online avenue is the most robust, with 16 new performances that are going to be live-streamed on the festival’s website and social media specifically for this event. In addition, an online marketplace will be present, along with content catered specifically to kids. Meanwhile, the television programs, broadcast on VPM PBS Plus (channel 57.1 over the air), will act as a middle ground between the classic-celebrating radio and the all-new online features by showcasing a bit of both old and new. But, this is not to say that every aspect of the Richmond Folk Festival will be virtual this year.

“Us using the word virtual is somewhat misleading, because we’re certainly going to be more than that,” said Lecky. “We’re doing an art installation on Brown’s Island at the festival grounds.”

Brown’s Island will feature an exclusive scavenger hunt, and festival-goers are also able to order festival-exclusive foods and buy a festival-exclusive IPAs, which will be available at most grocery and convenience stores around Richmond.

“I feel like, between all those elements, we’re giving folks a great opportunity to take in the festival how they’d like to take it in,” said Lecky.

A scavenger hunt-related object. Photo via Richmond Folk Festival/Facebook

Accounting for all these different avenues, it seems the organizers for the Richmond Folk Festival have really tried to utilize virtual tools to their fullest. Lecky says that even when things go back to normal, and the festival can go live again, that they’d still like to retain some virtual aspects to the event.

“I think it’s really important,” said Lecky. “Because all the work and effort that’s been put into producing this weekend would all be for naught if we didn’t have some legacy pieces that are like, ‘Heck yeah — we should do that every year.’”

So perhaps the effects of COVID have their own silver lining. While Lecky admits that the festival feels incomplete without the in-person elements, and says that if he had to do another virtual event he would try and integrate more IRL activities, it seems as though the experience he and other organizers gained from this year’s Richmond Folk Festival could legitimately improve later iterations. After all, there’s not exactly a disadvantage to enjoying some good old Americana in the comfort of one’s home.

Top Photo: Brown’s Island, via Richmond Region Tourism

The Untold Story of The Fight For Women’s Suffrage In Virginia

Zoe Hall | August 17, 2020

Topics: 19th amendment, Boedeker Films, Jeff Boedeker, Laura McCann, These Things Can Be Done, Virginia Museum Of History & Culture, Virginia Public Media

The story of Virginia suffragists has gone untold – until now. In honor of the 100th year anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Boedeker Films presents These Things Can Be Done, a documentary that reveals what was really going on with our brave, suppressed ancestors. 

Exactly one hundred years ago, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote after nearly a century of protest. Virginia was not one of the 36 states to ratify it. 

“Then there’s the question, well, if they didn’t ratify it, then why even talk about it anyways? But I think looking at the reasons why they didn’t are really important,” said Laura McCann, writer and producer of These Things Can Be Done. 

The documentary, produced by Boedeker Films in partnership with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, offers a one-hour deep dive into Virginia voter politics and its relation to racial injustice at the turn of the century. The film premiered on Virginia Public Media on Thursday, August 13, and in addition to being available for streaming on their website, it is being rebroadcast several times over the next week on the VPM Plus network. It’s worth it for the 1910s fashion alone.

Boedeker Films is a nonfiction media house that creates interactive content for museums, as well as long form documentaries for companies like PBS and National Geographic. When McCann and Director Jeff Boedeker recognized the opportunity to make a film in time for the 19th Amendment’s anniversary, These Things Can Be Done became their first independent venture. McCann’s goal for the project was in line with the Boedeker Films approach, which is to create engaging, informative content. In other words, better than a high school history class.

“When I was in Virginia public schools, I was like, ‘History is so boring, I don’t even care about the dates of these battles of the civil war,’ you know? You just learn these sanitized facts without really understanding the power structures that are around them,” said McCann, who has a degree in American Studies. “When I happened to take a history class in college, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, history is actually really interesting!’” 

She’s particularly interested in 19th and 20th century American history, because, she said, “Everything about it has a direct impact on everything we experience now.” That’s what McCann and Boedeker hope to communicate with These Things Can Be Done, which features interviews with modern activists like Aurora Higgs, who are working to build on the suffragists’ accomplishments.

Unfortunately, the pandemic hit right when they were beginning to film reenactments, so the crew had to get creative when it came to showcasing the more historical content. The film does feature some small-scale reenactments, plus high-quality photo animations to help bring the story alive. Luckily, they had already completed all of their interviews pre-pandemic. They look really good.

As you might remember from Mrs. Banks’ jaunty song in Mary Poppins, suffragist efforts in the early 1900s involved women from all across the world and a variety of political climates. In the United States, Jim Crow laws ruled the South, making it close to impossible for Black people to vote. 

“Culturally, Virginia is just different from the North,” said McCann. “You had to be in your place, you had to be more feminine, you couldn’t rock the boat too much.”

Women’s suffrage was a great triumph, but for southern states still wrestling with post-Confederate ideals and white-favoring policy, it’s an untold, messy history. For example, in Virginia, the Black community and the white community fought separate battles. The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, an organization of white women (which, interestingly, met on West Franklin Street in the heart of Richmond), used white supremacy to their advantage. They argued to policymakers that Jim Crow laws would prevent Black women from voting, therefore increasing white representation. 

“It was a heightened moment of white supremacy taking hold again in the south and enacting laws to maintain that control,” said McCann. 

Black women fought more privately, having not been invited to join many of the suffrage movements. But even after the 19th Amendment, they faced major obstacles. “Maggie Walker actually played a big role in trying to get Black women the right to vote, and getting them registered, and helping them pay their poll taxes and helping do things like try to organize them so there weren’t long lines of Black women freaking out all the white people,” McCann said.

The Library of Virginia has an online exhibition called We Demand, where you can do some post-movie reading about their experiences with crowded basement voter registration halls.

These Things Can Be Done also highlights the ways in which the suffragist movement in Virginia was, despite its flaws, pretty magnificent. “They created a lot of lobbying methods, like the index cards they used to track legislatures — which is a really common lobbying tactic nowadays,” said McCann. 

Likely as a result of women being able to quickly mobilize themselves into a lobbying force, the Equal Suffrage League evolved into the League of Women Voters, which still works to provide voter education and registration for Virginians. McCann also recalled that women fought for many of the child labor laws in the 30s and 40s.

For McCann, it was difficult to get everything that happened during the early 20th century fight for women’s suffrage in Virginia into one hour. “There’s so many interesting things that we didn’t have time to fit into an hour,” she said. “That was the hard part – what do we focus on here? What are the takeaways?”

Ultimately, she hopes modern viewers will be able to learn lessons from the struggles women’s suffrage advocates went through in the early 20th century, and apply them to the many battles for social justice that face Virginians today.

“Learning the pros and cons of how they addressed those structural barriers helps you understand how to organize for things that we need nowadays,” she said. What better way to reflect on these issues than from the comfort of your own couch?

Virginia Public Media will rebroadcast These Things Can Be Done on its VPM-Plus TV channel (57.1 over the air, 524 on Verizon Fios, 797 on Comcast) at 8 PM on Monday, August 17; 5 PM Tuesday, August 18; and at 10 PM on Friday, August 21. It’s also available for streaming right now at VPM’s website.

Photos via Laura McCann/Boedeker Films

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