AUBURN - A small hollow gourd, the bold voice of an experienced storyteller and a whole lot of schoolchildren's voices filled the Booker T. Washington gymnasium Thursday.
The Auburn Human Rights Commission sponsored an annual Juneteenth Day event in honor of the time slaves discovered they were free. It took two years for the news to spread throughout the states that slaves were no longer bound to work because of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed in 1863.
D'Lores Simmons of the Blackstorytelling League of Rochester wove the past with the present in stories she told to students from the city elementary schools who packed into the yellow and white gymnasium.
While this was Simmons' first time at the celebration, representatives from the Rochester organization have spoken at the event for the past four years, executive director Karen Sheftic-Burns said.
After she was introduced, Simmons commanded the students' attention as she walked to the microphone by singing and shaking her shekere, a hollowed gourd covered in a beaded net that creates a rattling sound.
She learned the art of storytelling from her mother, who told Simmons she shared stories for many reasons.
“She said, 'I tell stories because they have meaning, because stories can teach you a lesson,'” Simmons told the more than 300 young students.
But the children didn't just listen. They would call out words in unison, respond to Simmons's cues, and call out answers to questions. During a story about a tailor, she used hand motions, along with the listeners, to show the clothes maker crafting a coat, jacket, hat and eventually a tie.
In the end, the tailor was left with a scrap he kept to remember, something she asked the students to do.
Another tale illustrated how many household and everyday objects were invented by black men and women in a narrative about her day spent with her grandson.
Sheftic-Burns praised the storyteller's ability to weave history and education with an attention-keeping story.
“I promise you (the children) have learned something from this,” Simmons said.
Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net
D'Lores Simmons of the Blackstorytelling League of Rochester wove the past with the present in stories she told to students from the city elementary schools who packed into the yellow and white gymnasium.
While this was Simmons' first time at the celebration, representatives from the Rochester organization have spoken at the event for the past four years, executive director Karen Sheftic-Burns said.
After she was introduced, Simmons commanded the students' attention as she walked to the microphone by singing and shaking her shekere, a hollowed gourd covered in a beaded net that creates a rattling sound.
She learned the art of storytelling from her mother, who told Simmons she shared stories for many reasons.
“She said, 'I tell stories because they have meaning, because stories can teach you a lesson,'” Simmons told the more than 300 young students.
But the children didn't just listen. They would call out words in unison, respond to Simmons's cues, and call out answers to questions. During a story about a tailor, she used hand motions, along with the listeners, to show the clothes maker crafting a coat, jacket, hat and eventually a tie.
In the end, the tailor was left with a scrap he kept to remember, something she asked the students to do.
Another tale illustrated how many household and everyday objects were invented by black men and women in a narrative about her day spent with her grandson.
Sheftic-Burns praised the storyteller's ability to weave history and education with an attention-keeping story.
“I promise you (the children) have learned something from this,” Simmons said.
Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net
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