Interesting Black History Month Program
Jane Beck, " Daisy Turner, in the Tradition of the West African Griot "

Acclaimed folklorist, author and commentator Dr. Jane Beck is coming to the Varnum Library in Jeffersonville Tuesday February 23 at 1:00 pm. She is presenting the program "Daisy Turner, in the Tradition of the West African Griot " Daisy Turner was the daughter of former slaves and listened to her dad tell stories of his past every night after dinner. She drank these in and added stories of her own, narratives of discrimination, resilience and strength.

Jane Beck first met Daisy in 1983 when Daisy Turner was 100 years old. From their first phone call, Turner’s straightforward attitude was apparent. “Are you a prejudiced woman?” she asked Jane. Beck has written she was caught off guard: “I stammered that I didn’t think so. Her voice became warm and welcoming: ‘Well, come anytime.’ ’’ “Daisy was a marvelous storyteller,” Jane recalls. “I was drawn right in. I could not believe what I was hearing.” In the program at the Varnum, Jane Beck will share these powerful and rare accounts of the African American experience in New England, using many family photographs and of course Daisy Turner’s own recorded voice.