January 5, 2011
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Birmingham has many stories to tell. Several come to mind immediately - the stories of steel, civil rights, race relations, the rise of the city as a medical research destination and its rich musical history. Imagine you can hear those stories from the points of view of the poor, rich, old, young, famous or not, and learn their struggles, passions, successes, bittersweet memories and forgotten places.
Those stories will be told, one at a time, to StoryCorps, an independent, nonprofit organization that collects and preserves the histories of Americans, when its three-member team and traveling recording studio come to Birmingham Jan. 6-29, 2011.
At least 60 people already have signed up to share their stories, and more slots will open Friday, Jan. 7.
Students and faculty in UAB College of Arts and Sciences Digital Community Studies program, which is a community partner for the StoryCorps tour, will work with the crew and record interviews with members of the community.
Birmingham's local National Public Radio affiliate, WBHM 90.3, which lobbied for years to bring StoryCorps to Birmingham, will be helping to gather stories and make them heard locally on its "Tapestry" program. Listeners already hear excerpts from StoryCorps each Friday on the "Morning Edition" program, and segments of selected interviews may air nationally. Assistant General Manager Mary Hendley says the station plans to create other opportunities for listeners to hear some of the stories recorded here.
Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants, making it one of the largest oral history projects of its kind. Each conversation is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama's largest employer. For more information, please visit www.uab.edu/home/.