A Well-Kept Secret

“If you don’t have access to the information, you don’t know what your potential is.” Produced by Reagan Skaggs. Transcript for A Well-Kept Secret I remember going to Pulaski. Pulaski was a middle school back then. Seventh grade, we had a speech teacher. She introduced us to black poets—black poetry—and all of us kids was […]

Praying Hands

“I remember watching this church being built.” – Mrs. Felicia Rhetta Childress, confirmed in St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in 1955. Produced by Perry Lerit. Transcript for Praying Hands I remember the people in St. Augustine’s [St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Gary, Indiana]. Flossie Alexander, and we called them Flossie and Fritz because the two of […]

We Were Bussed

“… we were in school together, but we were separated.” Editing by Welcome Project intern Brandi Casada. Transcript for We Were Bussed Originally, the East Side of Gary, which is anything east of Broadway.  See, downtown was flourishing then, so we’re going to say from 8th Avenue down to 5th Avenue was the business district. […]

A Really Troubled Past

“It’s hard to argue with the values of a diverse population.” Edited by Reagan Skaggs.   Transcript for A Really Troubled Past Indiana has a really troubled past with race. Marion was a very segregated city, and Marion, Indiana is the site of the last lynching in Indiana in 1936. And I think that that […]

Settlement House

“If you could make it through the wobbles and the buckles in the floor at the Neighborhood House, you could skate anywhere.” This is an audio excerpt from Just What a Neighbor Does. To see the full video, click here. Transcript for Settlement House So, I grew up in a working class neighborhood on the […]

That Fear Creeping Up

“It really made me question, like, ‘Is this a place that I should be?’” Produced by Rebecca Werner with interviews recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. www.storycorps.org Transcript for That Fear Creeping […]

How Do I Contribute?

“And the fact that people always, like, write off Gary as this horrible place made me feel like I just had to have this conviction to like, change people’s minds, and to be there, and make a difference.” Produced by Rebecca Werner with interviews recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide […]

One Common Cause

“Part of being part of a community is reaching out and helping out each other and being there for each other.”   Produced and edited for the Welcome Project by Rebecca Werner and Brandi Casada. Transcript for One Common Cause I grew up in the Aetna section of Gary. And I may get emotional on […]