We the Blues People: Black Music, Memory, and the Stories Our Elders Carry
Our elders carry histories that live in songs, family stories, church traditions, neighborhood memories, and everyday experience. The Blues People Elder Memory Project brings these forms of knowledge together, recognizing Black elders as cultural authorities, community historians, teachers, and tradition keepers.
Through Blues music, Black folklore, oral history, and guided conversation, we create opportunities for elders to share what they know—and help determine how their stories are documented, preserved, interpreted, and shared.
This work begins with relationships, listening, and respect for the people who carry the knowledge.
Built With Community
Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation welcomes conversations with Black elders, families, senior centers, churches, libraries, cultural organizations, and community partners interested in bringing this project to their communities.
Each collaboration begins with local relationships and priorities. Elders help shape the program, with activities developed around their interests, accessibility needs, and decisions about sharing their knowledge.
The Stories Our Elders Carry
Everyday memories help us understand the history of a community. This project invites elders to share their knowledge of:
- Blues and other Black musical traditions.
- Family life, storytelling, and traditions passed between generations.
- Churches, neighborhoods, schools, and community gathering places.
- Agricultural and industrial work.
- Migration and the relationships between people and place.
- Photographs, recordings, keepsakes, and family archives.
Elders help guide the conversation, identifying the stories and experiences they consider meaningful.
Music, Memory & Community
Programs bring together traditional Blues performance, cultural history, listening, and conversation. Depending on the community’s interests and the agreed program, activities may include elder listening circles, family-memory activities, small-group storytelling, oral-history interviews, family-archive workshops, and intergenerational exchanges.
There may also be opportunities for elders to interview one another, advise the project, and help shape future programs.
Bring the Project to Your Community
Community Introduction — 75–90 minutes
A gathering combining Blues history, traditional Blues performance, and guided elder conversation. This offers a starting point for meeting participants and exploring community interest.
Half-Day Community Experience — Up to four hours
A deeper gathering that may include music, a listening session, family-memory activities, community discussion, and participant feedback.
Full-Day Community Experience
A coordinated day that may include a public presentation, elder listening circle, small-group story sessions, an oral-history or family-archive workshop, and planning conversations with local partners.
Eight-Week Community Initiative
A sustained collaboration that may include elder advisory sessions, programs at selected community sites, four to eight oral-history interviews, intergenerational activities, community-facing materials, and a gathering to share the work with participants.
Each program is developed around community interests, accessibility needs, resources, and an agreed scope. Contact us to discuss program fees and partnership possibilities.
Elders Help Shape the Work
Participation is voluntary. Elders may join conversations and activities without agreeing to be recorded.
Before any documentation begins, participants will receive clear information about how recordings, photographs, and quotations may be used. Consent remains an ongoing conversation, and public use must stay within the agreed permissions.
Ownership and licensing of new recordings will be established in writing before documentation begins. Sensitive information will be handled carefully, and participants should receive copies of public materials whenever feasible.
The project is developed with elders, with respect for their knowledge and their decisions about sharing it.
Keeping Knowledge Connected to Community
Depending on participant permissions and the program’s scope, the work may result in oral histories, audio features, publications, educational materials, or community presentations.
Participants and community partners will help inform how this knowledge is interpreted and shared. A central goal is to return the work to the people and communities whose experiences make it possible.
Get Involved
Elders and families: Express interest in participating, suggest a story or topic, or ask questions about the project.
Community organizations: Discuss hosting a program, connecting with participants, or helping shape a local gathering.
Funding partners: Explore support for program delivery, documentation, accessibility, and materials that bring the work back to participating communities.
Interested in the Elder Memory Project?
Want to discuss Hosting or Supporting a Program?
Contact: Lamont Jack Pearley @ lamontjackpearley@jackdappablues.tv
Contact us for upcoming program dates, locations, and participation details.