From gathered lore to a living telling
You have listened, investigated, preserved, interpreted, and listened for healing. Now you choose one story and shape it so it can be heard, seen, and felt. Words, rhythms, tones, and spirit become the story, and the story becomes the family.
The Djeli never simply read the past aloud. They sang it, praised it, named the ancestors, and drew the listeners in with call and response. You will do the same.
On the Assata Shakur Journey, your Return is a family timeline or a corrected family tree. You will also perform one story from it, 2 to 5 minutes long, when you give it to your family.
How-To Study: Shaping a story to be told
Open the video in GHL
Gather your names, dates, and stories
Pull together your interview logs from Challenge III, your choice board and touches from Challenge IV, and any family records you found. Then choose one story to perform, a story that:
- Your elder gave you permission to share with the family
- Moves you, and that you think will move your family
- Shows who your family is, how they made it through, or how the light still shines
Choose your Return form
- Illustrated family timelineA poster, scroll, or slidesFamily events, choices, and touches with their years, set beside Black history.
- Corrected family treeA drawn or printed treeNames, dates, and places, checked with elders. Mark what you corrected and who confirmed it.
- The tellingPerformed at the Return, and recordedOne story from your timeline or tree: spoken, sung, or acted, 2 to 5 minutes.
Checking names and dates: family Bibles, funeral and homegoing programs, obituaries, military papers, and church records are good places to look. FamilySearch.org is free and holds census and vital records. When records and memories disagree, note both, and ask an elder.
Give it a shape
Many stories we’re taught follow the lone hero who wins in one try and goes home. Our stories often move differently. The Story Structures for Liberation field guide offers shapes built for a long, shared struggle. One is the Sankofa spiral: go back to fetch what was left behind in order to move forward. A simple Sankofa shape works well here:
- Go backOpen in the past. Where and when? Who is there?
- Fetch itWhat happened, and what did the family carry through it?
- Bring it forwardWhat does it mean for us now? This condition is not the future.
The Djeli’s tools
Open each one. Use two or three in your piece.
Praise naming
The praise singer names a person together with their worthy deed, so the community remembers both.
“Hattie Jones, daughter of Birmingham, who stopped being afraid in 1963.”
Call and response
Give your listeners a line to answer back. It turns an audience into a family again.
You: “And did she turn back?” Family: “No, she did not!”
Repetition
Repeat a key line at the start, middle, and end. It helps listeners remember and gives the story a heartbeat.
A proverb or family saying
Use one of the sayings you gathered in Challenge III. A proverb carries the lesson in a few words.
“It’s a poor dog that won’t wag its own tail.”
A song or sound
A line from a song your family loves, a hum, a clap, or a drum beat can open or close your piece.
The elder’s own words
A short quote, or a clip from your recording, lets your elder speak in the piece. Ask permission first.
Tell the truth, and mark what you imagined. You may fill in what a room looked like or how the weather felt. Say so, or keep it clearly small. The facts, names, and dates belong to your family, and you check them with your elder.
Check yourself
Answer each in your head, then open it to compare. Your graded quiz is in GHL.
What are the three parts of the Sankofa shape?
Go back, fetch it, and bring it forward.
Why use call and response in a family story?
It turns listeners into participants and affirms that the story belongs to all of us.
What is praise naming?
Naming a person together with their worthy deed, so the family remembers both.
What must you do before using your elder’s words or recorded voice?
Ask their permission, and check facts, names, and dates with them.
Family Research: Plan, check, and gather
Plan your piece below, then take it back to your elder before you finish it.
Performance planner
Your plan saves in this browser only. The card at the bottom shows your piece at a glance.
Take it back to your elder
- Share your draft timeline or tree with at least two elders.
- Check every name and date: spelling, pronunciation, places, and who belongs where. Write down each correction and who made it.
- Ask: “Did I tell it right? What did I miss? Is there anything you don’t want in it?”
- Gather what you need: photos to scan, a song your family sings, a keepsake to show, or a short recording of your elder’s voice, with permission.
- Finish a first version to share in the circle this week.
Making the recording: a phone works. Find a quiet room, hold the phone about a hand’s length from your mouth, and do a short test first. For a timeline or tree, a large poster works at a gathering; slides work on a video call. Photograph a poster in good light for your portfolio.
Personal Reflection
Write your answers here or in your journal. The copy button above includes your plan; this one adds your reflections.
Demonstration: First performance
First, respond to two tellings
Answer before you call. Respond to two performances from classmates or from the Ancestor Shelf, using the four moves:
- Name itGive the piece a temporary name.
- Take itSay one thing it taught you.
- Ask itAsk the performer one question.
- Link itConnect it to your own family or adopted line.
Then, post your first version
Post a photo of your draft timeline or tree and a recording of your telling. It doesn’t need to be finished. This is a rehearsal.
This week, listeners add a fifth move: name the moment that landed. Which line, image, or sound stayed with you? That tells the performer what to keep. Post an answer back to close the circle, and choose your tier with the teller’s blessing.
Bring to your weekend session
Bring your piece. The circle is a rehearsal room this week: you’ll perform for each other, practice call and response with a real audience, and may work with a featured guest in storytelling, drama, or music.
For the family
Your Djeli-in-Training is building a family timeline or a corrected family tree to give back at the Return, and will perform one story from it.
“I’m making a piece from the story you told me. Will you listen to my draft and tell me if I got it right? Do you have any photos, songs, or keepsakes that belong in it?”
Help by listening to drafts, correcting names and details, lending photos to scan, and, if you’re willing, recording a line or a song for the piece.
Challenge VI checklist
0 of 8 done