Wellsville Library Helps Celebrate Black History

Thursday – February 24: In celebration of Black History Month the Wellsville Carnegie Public Library sponsored an extremely entertaining evening this past Thursday with the presentation of Storyteller Jocelyn Dabney. Dabney is a native of Smithfield, Ohio and is now a retired librarian residing in Youngstown. She holds a Masters Degree in Storytelling/Reading and we can vouch that her education is not going to waste. With singing and storytelling she had the whole audience gleefully participating in her program. For more on Dabney see our post dated February 16 when we first introduced her here.

Mrs. Dabney was accompanied by her husband Robert with his melodic singing and playing of the djembe drum. Djembe is pronounced jim-bay. It's origination is dated back to 12th Century Africa with the Mandinka peoples. It is made from a single piece of wood carved in the shape of a goblet and hollowed out with a skin cover on top. Its popularity makes it one of the most sought after drums in the western world.

Our only complaint about Dabney's performance was that it had to end. When you are having fun it's always disappointing when it comes to a conclusion. Dabney artfully intertwined bits of Black History with humorous stories and traditional music. She skillfully got her audience's willful participation with very little coaxing on her part. At the conclusion of the show you felt you were part of the cast.

It was very interesting when she told how “hand jive” music got started back in the days of slavery when the slaves weren't allowed to communicate verbally or with the widely used drum playing. We learned how the popular song “People Get Ready – there's a train a coming” was about the underground railroad when sympathizers harbored slaves traveling north to their freedom. Many folks traveling those paths to freedom passed through the Wellsville area, following the river north. Do you know what “sodisaluratus” is? Don't feel bad. We had no clue and we believe we saw only one head nodding yes when Dabney asked that question. It's baking soda, a necessary ingredient when making biscuits. One of her most entertaining humorous stories on the evening was about different people going to the store to get some “sodisaluratus” when “out jumped a big ol' bear!” on their way through the woods.

It was an educational and extremely entertaining evening that many of us young and old thoroughly enjoyed. We highly recommend that you catch one of her performances if you ever get a chance. You won't be disappointed. If interested in scheduling one of her programs or work shops you can contact her via e-mail at storyteller1114@aol.com.

Thanks to the Dabneys for a very enjoyable evening and a special thanks to the Wellsville library staff and the Friends of the Library for bringing the Dabneys to Wellsville.

ole nib