The Chicago History Museum closed its 2015 Out at CHM season on May 7 with an audience riveted to every fascinating moment of sadness, laughter, shock, understanding and endearment that is inherent in the stories belonging to and told by everyday people without suppression or limits.
For 12 years, the national nonprofit StoryCorps has invited the country into the intimate surroundings of a booth and, with a facilitator present, two people whether family, lovers, close friends or simply colleagues come to know each other often in ways unexpected. Those who listen in on NPR via its website or the Morning Edition show are brought along for the ride.
There was much the same feeling, as StoryCorps founder David Isay shared a few clips from those stories and took questions from UIC ( University of Illinois at Chicago ) Gender & Women's Studies Associate Professor Dr. Jennifer Brier, Ph.D., on his work assembling the chronicles of raw humanity discovered in each of the more than 90,000 people who have walked into a StoryCorps booth in Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco or the mobile versions which have traversed the nation. In particular Brier focused upon StoryCorps OutLouda multiyear initiative designed to collect and conserve LGBTQ history not with dates or data but through the memories and feelings of members of the community who lived it and continue to propel it forward.
Isay stated that he was the "proud son of a gay dad." When his father told him he was present at Stonewall, a fascination with the story and people who had been a part of the history created in 1969 spurred Isay to create a radio documentary about it. In as much as the uprising is credited for being the naissance of the modern LGBTQ movement, it was also the catalyst to Isay's eventual founding of StoryCorps and the Out Loud program.
"My Dad was the most important person in my life," Isay recalled. "He was a psychiatrist, helped to change the DSM III and was a real hero. He wanted to see [Out Loud] done before he died. A couple of years ago he got diagnosed with cancer and was dead four days later on the anniversary of Stonewall."
Despite challenges in funding the program, Isay's determination to honor his father's wish led to Out Loud's launch on June 28, 201445 years to the day that one man began a legacy passed from father to son and the LGBTQ movement whose myriad voices will forever be preserved in the Library of Congress claimed its place in the American narrative.
For more information on StoryCorps Out Loud, visit http://storycorps.org/outloud.
For more information on the Out at CHM series, visit www.chicagohistory.org/planavisit/upcomingevents/out-at-chm .