DIAMOND, Mo. – George Washington Carver National Monument is pleased to host the 8th annual Storytelling Day on Saturday August 24, 2024, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This event celebrates the National Park Service’s 108th birthday (August 25, 2024) and focuses on stories of American culture and history. Come hear the stories of diverse experiences and special places and spaces from these dynamic storytellers. Our history is part of who we were, who we are, and who we will be. This event takes place outdoors under a tent and is FREE of charge. Everyone is encouraged to bring a lawn chair and a sack lunch and stay for all three performances. Storytelling Day is co‐sponsored by the Carver Birthplace Association.
11:00 a.m. Cherry and Jerry (Missouri African American Composers) – Cherry & Jerry is a percussion/piano duo that play ragtime, early blues, and jazz standards. Missouri was on the forefront of early American popular music, and African American composers were pioneers in the development of the new styles. The “father of ragtime,” Ernest Hogan, spent many years in Kansas City, while Scott Joplin created his classic ragtime style in Sedalia and St. Louis. Tom Turpin made St. Louis a ragtime capital and James Scott was making music in the Joplin-Carthage area. Hear about these composers and others as Cherry and Jerry share the music and stories behind Missouri’s African American Composers.
12:00 p.m. Suzanne Jones (Native American Storyteller) – Suzanne Jones is a high school science teacher. From 1999 until its close, she was involved in the American Indian Center of St. Louis. Since then, she has tried to provide education about Native Americans in the St. Louis area through community and civic engagement. This presentation focuses on traditional stories told primarily by Choctaw, Cherokee, and Delaware Nations/tribes, all of which Jones is either a tribal member or descendent. These stories are often told to educate children or entertain people at gatherings. Jones also a member of the Missouri Humanities Council Speakers Bureau program.
1:00 p.m. Angela da Silva (Lila, The Life of a Missouri Slave) – Angela da Silva, from St. Louis, Missouri is a cultural preservationist, independent historian, educator, playwright, performer, and pioneer of Black history tourism, starting the National Black Tourism Network in 1998. She has researched and given voice to historically based enslaved women’s characters, bringing forward stories that time and memory have forgotten. She has performed regularly at Missouri schools, libraries, and historic sites including Daniel Boone Historic Home. Da Silva will present Lila, the Life of a Missouri Slave. Lila’s story is universal. Her life was of pain and untold suffering that was shared by many enslaved women, but there were also moments of happiness and laughter. Lila was one of the millions of faceless, nameless Black women whose contributions to the wealth of the nation transcended not only her labor but her soul. Yet she endured and thrived and lent her strength to the survival of a people.
Administered by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, George Washington Carver National Monument preserves the birthplace and childhood home of George Washington Carver – scientist, educator, and humanitarian. The park is located two miles west of Diamond, Missouri, on Highway V, then ¼ mile south on Carver Road. For more information, please call the park at 417-325-4151 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., visit the park website at www.nps.gov/gwca, or visit the park Facebook page.
