Linda Goss
African American Storytelling

Linda Goss’ Storytelling Tradition

“I was raised on pinto beans, fried apples, and storytelling. I loved listening to the storytelling of my Granddaddy Murphy, Uncle Buster, my father and mother, and other family members. Each of them had their own way of telling a story. Grandaddy Murphy would begin his stories by asking a question. He told animal tales about the frog who wanted to be a singer. This story became one of the most popular stories I tell and an illustrated children’s book. He also talked about life during slavery, and his childhood. Granddaddy Murphy would make faces, mimic characters, and make loud sounds. My father loved jazz and blues. He told me rhythm tales and chants. My mother was a school teacher and a public speaker. She was known for her oratorical skills. She told me wisdom tales and taught me play party songs. The first song I remember her singing to me was “All Hid”. She would call out “all hid” and have me answer back by saying, “all hid”. Uncle Buster was the oral historian of the family and for the whole segregated black community. He could recall whole clans of families, their births, their deaths, and important or funny events in their lives. Two of my aunts were singers, one of them made beautiful quilts. I was mesmerized by the stories and the way they told the stories. I came up learning this heritage of family folklore, oral history, legends, stories about courtship, the civil rights struggle, and tales from personal experiences. This had a tremendous effect on me and led me to develop my own way of telling a story by totally involving my listeners by using call and response techniques that can be traced back to Africa. My storytelling is more than just narrative. My approach to my art is inherently multi-disciplinary, multi media, and collaborative. It involves praise singing, chanting, blues singing, oral history, field hollers, work songs, vocal and facial expression, body movements, costume, using story cloths, ringing bells, playing the spoons, tambourines, and other percussion instruments. I tell folktales, original stories, personal narratives, dilemma tales, and wisdom tales. My audiences are active participants. I engage them in play party songs and dance. I pass these tales and songs down and encourage my audience to pass them down to others.”

Artist’s Statement

“I am a storyteller, a gatekeeper of the culture, a dream weaver of the spoken word. I am a black woman with a working class southern background, currently living in the urban area of Philadelphia, Pa. I am inspired to do what I do by the inner beauty in all of humanity. My fluid identities have been a potent influence on my work as a storyteller, writer, and collector of tales and play party songs. I am inspired by the struggles and triumphs of my African ancestors, those known and unknown who survived and those who did not survive the Atlantic slave trade, also known as the Middle Passage. I am inspired by the rhythms of my cultural community, the beat of the drum, the sound of the human voice, the hand claps, the stomps, and the shouts. All of my work is built around the transformative power of storytelling, empowering all people to acknowledge and express their stories.”

Linda Goss’ Professional Profile:

• Award-winning Storyteller, Author, Educator, Composer/Lyricist, and Performance Artist.
• Geier Foundation Visiting Professor in Storytelling and Artist-In-Residence. East Tennessee State University, Spring 2005.
• Storytelling teacher, Harambee Charter School. Philadelphia, PA, 2004-present.
• Artist-In-Residence, Rosenbach Museum and Library. Philadelphia, PA, 2001-present.
• A pioneer and one of the leading experts in contemporary African-American storytelling. Known for call-and-response performances. Over 30 years of performance and teaching experience. Co-founder of “In the Tradition” National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference, 1983-present. Co-founder of The National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. (NABS). Director, In the Tradition National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference, 1984. First president of NABS, 1984-1991. Founding member of Keepers of the Culture, an affiliate of NABS, Philadelphia, PA. Founding member of Patchwork: A Storytelling Guild of the Delaware Valley.
• Has performed in over 30 states in the USA, also in Canada and Trinidad. A selected list includes: Universities, colleges, private, public, and parochial schools and organizations. Has performed at The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesburg, Tennessee, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Wolftrap Farm Park, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution (Discovery Theater), Walt Whitman Cultural Art Center, Anacostia Museum, National Archives, Baltimore Museum of Art and Newark Art Museum. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh sponsored the “Linda Goss Program” throughout the Pittsburgh community. Made debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1998. Created and directed production, Unknown Ancestors, an African ritual about family, unity and heritage, and River Mama, a folktale drama with music, song and dance.

Awards, Honors, and Fellowships (selected list)

• Inclusion in the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ Directory of Artists, 2005 Artists in Education program.
• Gerald Davis Travel Grant Award, American Folklore Society (AFS) to attend the AFS Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in 2005.
• Named the Village Griot, The Village of Arts and Humanities. North Philadelphia, 2005-present.
• Received 2003 Oracle Lifetime Achievement Award “For Sustained and Exemplary Contributions to Storytelling in America.” From the National Storytelling Network, National Storytelling Conference, Chicago, IL.
• Recognized as Master Storyteller and recipient of the 2003 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Apprenticeship in Traditional Arts (along with Irma Gardner-Hammond, Apprentice), administered by the Institute for Cultural Partnerships.
• Named Official Storyteller of Philadelphia by Mayor Goode, 1984-present.
• “Linda Goss Day” proclaimed by Mayor Ashe, Knoxville, TN (2001).
• “Linda Goss Day” proclaimed by Mayor of Alcoa, TN (1986).
• “Linda Goss Day” proclaimed by Mayor Barry, Washington DC, 1985.
• Featured on the Today Show, January 1987.
• Cover, American Visions, magazine, 1987.
• Cover and poster pullout, Learning Magazine, 1988.
• Artist in Residence (AIE), Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), 1980-1995. (First Storyteller with PCA)
• Received Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship, 1989 and 1992.
• Recipient of Zora Neale Hurston Award, National Association of Black Storytellers, 1985.
• Featured articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post and the New York Times.