Beloved Executive Director Linda Jenkins Brown is now an Ancestor
On August 15, 2009, Executive Director Linda Jenkins made her transition surrounded by family and friends. There is now within our organization a void that cannot be filled. We acknowledge that we are hurting beyond measure. Our heartfelt sympathies are extended to Brother Charlie Brown and family. Although Sister Linda Jenkins Brown has made a transition, yet her presence can still and will always be felt as she watches us from the other side as our Guardian Angel.
Linda Jenkins Brown has been intricately involved with the Black storytelling festival and conference since its inception. NABS Co-Founders Beloved Mary Carter Smith and Linda Goss often said Linda could also be considered a co-founder. She was there with them planning the first national gathering of Black storytellers – “In the Tradition…” A Festival of Black Storytelling.
Linda, in her leadership role as Basileus (President) of Alpha Zeta Chapter, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., worked with a dynamic group of Zetas and community volunteers to administer a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities and Maryland Humanities Council. That historical event on the campus of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, affirmed Black storytelling as a vital part of our American culture and became the spark that ignited the interest of Black Storytellers to form the then Association of Black Storytellers which is now the National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc.
The first festival was a pivotal point in her life, a life changing experience. Black storytelling became a passion. Each year thereafter, Linda served on or supported the festival and conference planning committees providing guidance and garnering support of local Zeta chapters. Under her leadership as NABS President and Festival Director, the 15th anniversary event became the National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference, formally adding an educational component. It was the first festival sponsored by NABS. She then stepped up to the challenge of leading the Board of Directors to convene the 16th festival and conference, the first sponsored by NABS without a host organization. For her, it is the most memorable. She presented the Zora Neale Hurston Award to Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Later, she was appointed Festival Director for the 20th anniversary festival and conference, a reunion of past featured tellers in Baltimore providing volunteer performances to further the mission of NABS. All were an affirmation that “Where there is a will, there’s a way.”
In support of the Co-Founders’ vision and during her term as NABS President, Linda initiated the Circle of Elders Award, Youth Award, Affiliate Program Award and Affiliate Membership Award; published the first and only NABS Youth Newsletter; and, with her husband, Charles Edward Brown II, was a 2002 and 2004 festival and conference sponsor for the Growing Griots. She served as NABS President-Elect, Treasurer, Interim Secretary, Newsletter Editor and Membership Committee Chair. In 1998, she was appointed as the first NABS Executive Director and assumed the position, in 1999. She is known to have prepared nomination packages for NABS members who received national and regional storytelling awards, to host receptions for storytellers, and, more importantly, for initiating a NABS policy to render financial support for storytellers who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Linda willingly accepted the request to write Mother Mary’s obituary, an emotional experience that lead her to write the article entitled “Mary Carter Smith: A Storytelling Ambassador” published in the 2007 September/October National Storytelling Network magazine.
From 2004 to 2007, Linda was as an appointed member of the NSN Board of Directors. During her tenure, she served as Finance Committee Chair and initiated policy for the formation of its investment, audit and personnel committees. Among the NSN members, she is known for her 2005 financial “story” report that engaged, energized and educated its members in Oklahoma City. Linda is a member of the League for the Advancement of New England Storytellers and a life member of NABS, NSN and the Griots’ Circle of Maryland. She is a recipient of an Outstanding Leadership Award for her service as National Program Director for Storytelling for Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., under the former leadership of International Grand Basileus Jylla Moore Foster, and The Duafe Award (Phenomenal Womanhood) created and presented by NABS Co-Founder Linda Goss and 2007 recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston Award.
