Buffalo Women Brings Black History To Life Through Story Telling

Do you love a good Story? Do stories from the past fascinate you? Now you’ll have a chance to experience the stories from the past come to life! Celebrate Black History Month with local storyteller Sharon Jordan Holley on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.  Admission is free for museum members, $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and students with ID, $2.50 for children and free for kids under seven.

Holley, a storyteller and retired librarian, is a founding and performing member of Spin-A-Story-Tellers of Western New York and co-founder of Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of Western New York. Her unique approach to African American storytelling incorporates songs, chants, raps, costumes, instruments and props in her performance of traditional legends and stories. Holley has taken her passion for African American storytelling across the country to various libraries, schools, community events and colleges.

Holley has also contributed to publications such as “Talk that Talk: An Anthology of African American Storytelling,” “The African American Book of Values,” “Many Voices: True Tales from America’s Past” and “Sayin’ Somethin’: Stories from the National Association of Black Storytellers.”

In addition to her storytelling performances, Holley is involved with workshops on Kwanzaa, Family Storytelling, African American History and African American Literature. In 2006, she was a recipient of New York State Governor’s Salute to Harriet Tubman Spirit Award and in 2009 received the Zora Neale Hurston Award from the National Association of Black Storytellers.