In the fall of 2004 my grandmother Caryl (Taowee) Wilder told me the story of her involvement with the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. The recording sat dormant until today when I finally transferred it to my computer and uploaded it to Wild.er for you to hear.
Listen to a story of a fascinating time in this nation’s history and a wonderful portrait of my grandmother’s engagement with the issues of the day (29 minutes total).
On her return to her church community in Illinois she said:
It was strange how upset people got. People would come up to me and say, “Are you the person who went to Selma?”
and I said, “Yes” and they would get very upset as if I had done anything unusual. I was one amongst thousands, that’s all. It was odd to be earmarked that way.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Alyssa // Oct 7, 2007 at 12:46 pm
This is a gripping story and I’m so glad that you did this little project a few years ago. I’d love to do something like this with Da or Serena on the Antone/ Hamilton side of the family! Fabulous. Scott Simon couldn’t have done better himself
2 Evan // Oct 7, 2007 at 11:24 pm
You already started doing this with your own story about NPR so I’m sure you could pull this off with the older people in our family or the youngest. Imagine how fun to interview Anthony and Logan as well as Da and Serena. And judging from your recent gift to me I know you have audio editing skills! Time to get on the phone…
3 Christina // Oct 13, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Very cool Evan. I just need to get to a computer where I can actually hear the volume then I will listen to it. But I can’t wait. I have some recordings on a dictaphone (!!) of Taowee telling family stories and have no idea how to get them into good form…any ideas?
4 Evan // Oct 13, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I don’t even know what a dictaphone is! I’m sure we can figure something out though.
And about your computer speakers … someone get this woman some headphones! I’m going to find some old ones and send them if you can’t find any around the house.
5 Christina // Oct 15, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Evan, I am seriously not that much older than you so don’t embarass your older cousin by telling me you don’t know what a dictaphone is!
hahaha Geez I am still waiting to buy my first Walkman…(do they even sell those anymore?) btw, love the whole walking city approach…
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