Brother Blue Circle of Elders

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if you are not here to change the world
if you just want to get rich
you can laugh all the way to the bank
                 me
i'm better off here in the street
with my honor
with  my sacred calling
      - Brother Blue The Portrait Series 

NABS Circle of Elders was conceptualized by our ancestor, Hugh "Brother Blue" Morgan.  Brother Blue is an icon.  He was an internationally renown storyteller who is deemed the "Father of American Storytelling."  His storytelling was transformative from streets, to prisons, to enclaves at the United Nations.  Dr. Hugh "Brother Blue" Morgan was a professor of philosophy and pastor at Harvard Divinity School.  He was the endearing spouse of Dr. Ruth Hill.  You can often hear storytellers use the term "blueism,"  to identify a Brother Blue teaching, expression, or way of life.   The Circle of elders was initiated in 1997 to recognize the contributions and honor the presence of Elders in the Storytelling Community.  In 2013, NABS re-named the perennial presentation the Brother Blue Circle of Elders Award.  

 

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For More on Brother Blue Click on the Buttefly                         

      AWARDEES

1997

David Anderson, PhD

1998

Alma Greer
Onawumi Jean Moss 
Anita Timbers (ancestor)
Thelma Shelton Robinson

2001

Elaine Ford Gregory
Thelma Shelton Robinson

 2002

Amy Davis Jackson

2003

Carol Sayers Puryear (ancestor)
Fellisco Keeling

2004

Johnny Bellamy
Genevieve Bellamy

2005

Velma Gladney
Vanora Franklin Legaux

2006

Mattie Clark (ancestor)

2007

Eleanor Randall Anderson
Andrea Fain
June McAbee
Deacon Alfred Mitchell
Kathryn L. Morgan (ancestor)
Joan Stevenson 

2008

Dr. Joyce Duncun (ancestor)
Gwendolyn Hilary
Gloria Kellon
Gomez W. Payne (ancestor)
Thelma T. Ruffin Thomas

 2010                                             2017                     

Ernestine Brown                            Baba Tony Brown
Barbara Freeman Eady                 Beverly Cottman
Adella Gautier(ancestor)            Ruthie McIntyre (ancestor)
Baba Jamal Koram                     Sylvia Yancy Davis
Mildred P. Stennis (ancestor)      Amy  Johnson
Nothando Zulu                            Thomas Saxon Southern
Vusumuzi Zulu 

2011                                           2018

Yvonne Harris                               Charlotte Blake Alston                      
Victoria Smith                                Roxanne Erickson
Eleanora Tate                                Kay L Merrill  
                                                         Elisha Minter 
                                                        Gwendolyn Napier
                                                        John "Kinderman" Taylor posthumously

2012                                           2019

Mama Edie Armstrong                   Janice Bishop   
Charlie Brown                                Sandra Williams-Bush
Kucha Brownlee                             Gloria Elder                       
Kooki Davis                                    Wanda Gigetts                               
Lyn Ford                                         Janice Curtis Greene                               
Akbar Imhotep                            Irma Gardner-Hammond                                                     
James McAbee                         Cheryl Sparkle Mosley                     
Edna Ruff                                   Pat Mardia  Stepney
Yawa Tupra

2013                                           2020

Sharon Jordan Holley                   Robert and Jocelyn Dabney
Oluremi Ann Oliver                       Charlotte Starks
Tejumola Ologboni
Caroliese Frink Reed                         
 2021

2014                                       Nashid Elimu Furaha-Ali 

Ruth Brown Anderson                    Paris W. Greene
Sylvia Brown ( ancestor)                Candece Tarpley
Deborah Pierce-Fakunle                Diane Williams
Linda Gorham                                 Ivory Williams
Eslyn Hinmon
Gwen Marable                                       2022
                                                  Dr. Christine Arinze Samuel
2015                                         Honorable Tom Gene Curtis
Alice Butler Collins                           Mary Grant
Esther Culver                                   Oba William King
Clarence Mollock                             Michele Rudolph
Eunice White                                    William Starke

2016 
Karima Amin 

Jackkia Boyd
Jennie Crittendon
Rosa Ashby Metoyer