Crossings|the Refugee Experience in America Vincent Hostak

Tiyya was founded by refuges and women of color, creates communities of support and organizes access to economic opportunities and critical resources for immigrants, refugees, and displaced indigenous communities. We visit with the organization’s Director of Operations Shukry Cattan and explore the roots of the foundation and its social enterprise programs serving the immigrant, refugee and displaced indigenous communities in Orange County and Los Angeles. One of those programs featured in our conversation today is Flavors from Afar, a unique catering and brick and mortar restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Ethiopia neighborhood. We’ll also hear from a chef and artist who’s talents were further cultivated within Tiyya

In this episode, with guest interviewer Pauletta Jackson, we visit with Dr. Arthur C. Jones, founder of the Spirituals Project and author of Wade in the Water: the Wisdom of the Spirituals.  Dr. Jones introduces us to the importance of these songs, part of the cultural heritage of enslaved Africans, how the practice of singing became significant in resistance, survival and the reinforcement of community in times of great struggle.  Dr. Jones discusses how these songs carry forward to generations who find these and new meanings in the music while enriching both the listeners and the artists who sing them.  His education and practice as a clinical psychologist, teacher, a scholar of the roots and development of Spirituals and indeed, signing from the canon, formed his deep understanding explored in this episode.

In this March 2022 episode we celebrate the life of Harriet Tubman during the month of her 200th birthday. Tubman was, of course, one of the most prominent “conductors” on the Underground Railroad and a woman who self-emancipated from the bondage of slavery.   But she was also the first American woman to lead a major military operation in wartime (as a volunteer), a nurse/healer, and recruited black soldiers for the Union war effort. She led humanitarian efforts to bring freedom seekers health services at Fort Monroe.  These African Americans were among the Civil War's refugees who found themselves at a site known as "Freedom's Fortress." We hear the voices of Harriet Tubman through Pauletta Jackson and Frederick Douglass through Isaac Points.  Writer: Janice Pugh.  Producers:  Vincent Hostak and Janice Pugh. With thanks to our additional Producer: Susan Billotte.

In 2019 the National Park Service created a recognition of the timeless significance of the Underground Railroad. It coincides with the month of September when notable abolitionists self-emancipation. We’re proud to be associated with a campaign to add Colorado to the now 12 US states with an official proclamation naming September International Underground Railroad. Guest Roger and Susan Billotte, describe the process of bring the commemoration to the Governor’s office with sponsorship from the oldest predominantly African American Church in the Rocky Mountain Region.  Part of Crossings-Refugees’ group of episodes exploring the international abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad and Civil Wartime Union refugee camps. See the proclamation at: https://crossingstherefugeeexperienceinamerica.wordpress.com

In this episode we visit with Isaac Points who was intrinsic to the long running Five Points Juneteenth Celebration in Denver. One of the largest in the country, this celebration was previously centered in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. The area is rich in African American cultural history but was also a community historically victimized by Redlining practices. Isaac shares his experience growing up in the community, helping to establish the celebration, and his reflections on Abolitionist movements framed as a refugee migration within our own country.

This episode also describes our coming series of episodes on Abolitionist movements and the Underground Railroad- seen through the lens of historic refugee and resettlement efforts. We will also look at little known Union Refugee Camps, where escaped slaves seeking refuge were labeled “contraband,” as referenced in Zora Neale Hurston’s recently published Barracoon. For now, we begin in 1865 as seen through celebrations in the 21stcentury.

In late December 2020 we interviewed Marieke Slovin Lewis and Sarah Reader Harris who spoke about their project lifting the stories of refugees and asylees into songs. Leveraging Sarah’s experience as a poet/author, Marieke’s musical training and foundations in participative storytelling, they met weekly with residents at Belgium’s largest refugee arrival center, Le Petit-Château. Prior to the pandemic, on Monday afternoons, a courtyard of the castle-like structure along the Canal de Bruxelles was filled with music and singing in as many as ten languages. Marieke and Sarah recount a 3+ year project as poet-songwriters in residence, a journey to nurture the voices and stories of refugees—from Story to Song.