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Shari Lyn Finnell

How did growing up in Gary, Indiana help Shari Finnell, a journalist with a degree from Northwestern University, to see the world as a place where anything was possible? Shari explains.

Stephanie Jean Edwards

African American, Civil Rights, Education, Indiana, Oral History

Stephanie Edwards felt Isolated and controlled while attending a minimally integrated school in Irvington. After leaving Indianapolis for college, she discovered a new view of the world and other African Americans who were active in the civil rights movement.

Ophelia Wellington

African American, Culture, Education, Indianapolis, Oral History, Performing Arts

Ophelia Wellington talks about creating Freetown Village as a new, innovative way for people to learn about self-reliant African American communities in Indiana through interactive theatre.

Leonard Stephen Scott

Education, Performing Arts, Values

Leonard studied dentistry to please his father, but he was personally drawn to music. He tells the story of a three day fast that led to creating a string of original gospel songs and ultimately TyScott Records.

Elaine Marie Eckhart

Careers, Childhood, Family

Elaine grew up working in the family business, an old fashioned pharmacy. She learned a great deal about running a small business and developed a deep appreciation for her father’s skilled ways with people and chemistry.

Sally Jane Perkins

Family, Religion

Reflecting on her path to professional storytelling, Sally Perkins tells of preparing to tell a flannel graph story at church, before she knew how to read, at the age of five! She has been telling stories in public ever since.

Joseph McDonald

Childhood, Oral History

Joe McDonald talks about learning to ride a horse and eating most meals in the resort restaurant while living in Clifty Falls Park during his childhood in the 1940s.

Rodney Layman Reid

African American, Childhood, Civil Rights, Indiana, Oral History

1968 was a definitive time for Rodney Reid. He started high school at the beginning of the mandate for desegregation. Rodney helped to found the Human Relations Council which brought a better balance to student government.

Ann O’Bryan

Childhood, Family, Oral History

Ann tells of growing up in the small town of Somerset Kentucky; family camping, bike trips with her father, and her love of nature.

True stories of everyday people

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