StoryCorps Griot: Celedonia 'Cal' Jones

From: StoryCorps
Series: StoryCorps
Length: 02:06

Celedonia "Cal" Jones tells his friend Robert Harris about moving to a new block in Harlem during the Depression. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: StoryCorps Griot: Celedonia 'Cal' Jones
From: StoryCorps

Jones_small Celedonia "Cal" Jones grew up during the Depression, as one of five children. Like many black families at that time, the Jones family had to move around Harlem to find affordable housing. And as he recently told his friend, Robert Harris, being the new kid wasn't easy. StoryCorps Griot is an initiative to record interviews between everyday African Americans across the United States. In West African tradition, the griot is a storyteller who preserves cultural identity and passes it on from generation to generation. The StoryCorps Griot booth is traveling from coast-to-coast collecting these interviews, which will be archived in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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Piece Description

Celedonia "Cal" Jones grew up during the Depression, as one of five children. Like many black families at that time, the Jones family had to move around Harlem to find affordable housing. And as he recently told his friend, Robert Harris, being the new kid wasn't easy. StoryCorps Griot is an initiative to record interviews between everyday African Americans across the United States. In West African tradition, the griot is a storyteller who preserves cultural identity and passes it on from generation to generation. The StoryCorps Griot booth is traveling from coast-to-coast collecting these interviews, which will be archived in the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Broadcast History

NPR News & Notes 12/11/07
Morning Edition 12/13/08

Transcript

Cal: I remember moving to 143rd street between Lennox and 7th. That was probably one of the toughest blocks in the city. The first day I came out to play and this fella comes up and he says, "Hey."
So I says, "Well I'm Cal," and I put my hand out to shake, and he, BANG, he hits me in the eye. I said all I wanted to do is be friends, he says, "And that's how we start friends in this block." So that was the kind of reception I got moving in to this block.

Cal: I remember this day, it was like 95 degrees, we were out on the sidewalk, and we were about nine and eleven years old. So I said let's play boxball and that was like hitting the ball you know ran the bases and all, and it was hot, so we said it's too hot to play. And we were talking and my brother said, "I guess it would really be something if someone tried to run around this court in this weather and so this fella Gordon said, "Ahh...
Read the full transcript