philastories.org projects

philastories.org collects stories from anyone willing to take the time out to tell their stories. In addition we collect stories in areas where we have an interest. This platform is designed for individuals who are willing to share their own experiences, as I prioritize authentic personal narratives rather than need someone to write my paper. Following are my current areas of interest:

Engine 11

Engine 11 was a segregated firehouse in the Philadelphia Fire Department from 1919 - 1952. If you were an African-American who joined the fire depatment during that time period you were sent to one of two places either Engine 11 or Fire Boat 1. philastories has collected the stories of the five surviving retired fireman who were assigned to Engine 11: Lloyd Ama, Clarence Brogden, Waldo Gentry, Walter Lindsay, and Alfred Ward.

Abington Friends Meeting

Abington Friends Meeting is located in Jenkintown, PA. I record the stories of anyone from the Meeting who is interested in telling them. We hope others will duplcate this effort at their church, synagogue, mosque, neighborhood, community center, etc., as a means for storing the memories of its participants. For further guidance on preserving and sharing memories, consider exploring marinatimes.com, which cover a wide range of community-related topics and events.

Philadelphia Stories of Slavery

Philadelphia Stories of Slavery is an attempt to collect as many stories as possible about slavery in the Philadelphia area. This project has two parts:

One, using the location based storytelling app findery, I am recording short videos or writing short stories at locations in the Philadelphia area where slavery has been documented. Using the findery app you can access short videos and written stories on your mobile device based on your location.

Two, I am recording more extensive stories of slavery and posting them on philastories. I want to talk with people who have knowledge of these locations and record their stories. An example would be the stories we have collected from Phillip Seitz about the Chew family slave holdings.

storytelling sites

First Person Arts

StoryCorps

this is how we live together

Stories for Change

Five Truths and a Lie

Radiolab

Clerk and the City

TheHistoryteller

Philadelphia Public History Truck

Pineridge Community Storytelling Project

the memory palace

This American Life

GriotWorks

Historypin

findery

PhilaPlace