Antonio, falsely imprisoned in 1989, tells the story of his arrest, trial, imprisonment, and finally release. He also gives personal recollections of his life before and after this life changing incident.

Edited by Janet T. O'Keefe

Antonio Hudson and Mary Miller

Barbara Smith, a longtime member of the Flint, MI community and a teacher of over 40 years in the Flint Community Schools relates changes that she has seen in the schools and community. She also speaks about the Water Crisis and about her vision and hopes for Flint and the African American community and for the Future generations.
Edited by Sean Reed

SUBSTITUTE Smith Acevedo

Darius, a young man soon to go off to college, relates to Leslie stories about his family, growing up and going to school in Flint, MI. He also talks about the Flint Water Crisis and his SYI work at the library.

Edited by Sean Reed

Darius Hollowell and Leslie Acevedo

Attorney, Ed Powers relates to friend and colleague, Linda Pohly stories of his early years growing up in Detroit and Oak Park and his memories of the Jewish Community there. Later in Flint he became active in the Jewish community and after graduating from UM in 1959 and afterwards from the Law School in 1967, he worked as an attorney in Flint, MI.

Ed Powers and Linda Pohly

Life partners, Sean Chevrier and Sarah Zuburt talk about their life in Flint, MI; the "Flint Water Crisis" and efforts to rebuild Flint in which they are involved.  The recollect their family lives and other memories of their life and talk about their current life and work.

Edited by Sean Reed

Sarah Zyburt and Sean Chevrier

Sonja Lee and her daughter, Charis Lee, discuss how their lives have been impacted by the Flint Water Crisis.  They were especially impacted by the loss of their family German Shepard dogs, who were drinking the lead poisoned water, and died.

Edited by Sean Reed

Sonja Lee and Charis Lee

Best friends Telaya Doby and Irisha Smith talk about their lives, school, interests, and the Flint Water Crisis.

Edited by Sean Reed

Telaya Doby and Irisha Smith

Todd and Roshanda Womack share stories of their life together and history for their children and future generations to share. They talk about growing up in Flint, the neighborhoods, the schools and their family stories.

Edited by Sean Reed

Todd Womack & Roshanda Womack

Valerie Southall grew up and raised her family in Flint. Her father was a doctor here and her granddaughter, McKenna, is a nurse at Hurley Hospital, Flint, MI.  She talks about the effects on people health, emotional effects and physical effects from the lead-poisoned water during the Flint Water Crisis. She also mentions a support group Flint Recovery Group that meets to support community members who are stressed as a result of the Flint Water Crisis.

Edited by Sean Reed

Valerie Southall and Alta Parsons

Victoria Jewell shares with Michael Madden her perceptions of Flint and the Flint Water Crisis; stories about summer jobs as well as other childhood and family memories and her love of books and reading.

Edited by Sean Reed

Victoria Jewell and Michael Madden

Winners of the Flint Public Library 2022 Scary Stories to Share. True stories of spooky encounters submitted by our patrons. Thank you to Jerry Wolfgang, Chris Ringler, Shannon Martines and Spencer MacLeod.

Spencer MacLeod

Shannon Martines

Jerry Wolfgang Michaels Voice

Jerry Wolfgang Face

Chris Ringler

Cipriano Noveloso talks with his son Bernard Noveloso. Cipriano tells Bernard about being a young single man in the Phillipines and somewhat reluctantly applying for immigration to the U.S. at the urging of a friend. When his application was finally considered years later, he was married with a young child, Bernard’s older brother.

Edited by Sean Reed

Cipriano  Noveloso  And  Bernard  Noveloso

Dolores Ennis, on the right,  talks with her friend Gloria Coles about growing up in Flint in the 1930s and 1940s in a neighborhood where “everybody knew everybody,” and recounts her most rewarding experience coming from her many years of teaching in the Flint schools.

Edited by Sean Reed


Dolores  Ennis  And  Gloria  Coles

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Alice Evans (on the left) talks with her friend since childhood, Wanda Harden. Alice tells about growing up blind and going through school in Flint, MI, including her high school days in “Wildcat Country” – Flint Northwestern High School. After a difficult start at Michigan State University, Alice has enjoyed a decades-long career in radio.

Edited by Sean Reed.

Alice  Evans  And  Wanda  Harden  1

In this clip, Marva Hudson (right in photo) tells her friend Mary (Cookie) Miller about her son and an early scare where he was almost taken from her as an infant, then his arrest and incarceration and the journey Marva has been on ever since. 

Edited by Sean Reed

Marva  Hudson  And  Mary  Miller

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Stacie Riggs (left in photo) talks with her niece Irisha Smith about growing up being almost raised by Irisha’s mother Brenda, Stacie’s older sister by 12 years. They also talk about challenges at school from being mixed race, and how Irisha's grandma fostered many children over the years.

Edited by Sean Reed.

Stacie  Riggs  And  Irisha  Smith

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Maryanne Mott, daughter of Charles Stewart Mott,  talks with her daughter Marise Mott Meynet Stewart about getting a sense as a child of what it meant to be a “Mott” and beginning to understand her mother and father’s charitable work. Marise asks what her mother’s vision is for the future of Flint.

Edited by Sean Reed.

Maryanne  Mott  And  Marise  Mott  Meynet  Stewart

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Edward Seleksky talks with his daughter Mary Jo Sekelsky about receiving his high school diploma 68 years late and about researching the history of his large family.

Edited by Sean Reed.

Edward  Sekelsky  And  Mary  Jo  Sekelsky

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Mary Margaret St. John talks with her daughter Alesia Byrd Johnson about their musical careers together as violinists in Flint, centered on the Flint Institute of Music and the Flint Symphony. Mary Margaret’s husband and Alesia’s father William C. Byrd, conducted the Flint Symphony during its transition from an amateur to a professional orchestra.

Edited by Sean Reed.

Mary  Margaret  St  John  And  Alesia  Byrd  Johnson

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Sharon Simeon tells her husband Marshall Sanders about coming to live in Flint as a result of searching for her birth mother, and about finding a whole family here.

Sharon  Simeon  And  Marshall  Sanders

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Cynthia Jones, biological grandmother of Brandon Jones, relates the story of Brandon’s birth and an extraordinary coincidence made possible by Cynthia’s job as a social worker. The story reveals why Cynthia and Brandon refer to their relationship as mother and son.

Cynthia  Yolanda  Jones  And  Brandon  Jones

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Barbara Welch and daughter Wanda Harden talk about the Episcopal Church and their affiliations with Christ Episcopal Church and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Flint, Michigan.

Barbara  Welch  And  Wanda  Harden

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Rosia Thomas Anderson (right in photo) speaks with her daughter Michelle Anderson. Rosia recalls being a young divorced mother living with her children in Howard Estates, a public housing project in Flint, Michigan, and tells about how the mothers organized to make a great environment for their children.

Rosia  Thomas  Anderson  And  Michelle  Anderson

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Veronica West tells her son John West, Jr. about growing up on a farm near Suttons Bay, Michigan, in the 1930s in a close-knit Bohemian community.

Veronica  West  And  John  West  Jr

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Elner Taylor tells her husband Joseph Taylor about growing up in Lexington, Mississippi, during the 1960’s. Elner’s parents took in and housed Freedom Riders from the north and helped train blacks in the community to pass the onerous tests required for black voter registration.

Elner  Taylor  And  Joseph  Taylor

In this excerpt from StoryCorps @ your library, Ingrid Halling talks with her niece Ana Schlansky about her family’s coming to Flint as refugees in 1952, her family’s learning English, and the type of community they found in Flint. 

Ingrid  Halling  And  Ana  Schlansky #1

Gloria Coles Flint Public Library serves the people of Flint, MI with a Main Library located on the beautiful campus of the Flint Cultural Center. The Library was one of ten libraries selected nationwide to participate in StoryCorps @ your library in 2015. FPL is collecting the voices of people in our community to begin a long-term oral history project that celebrates Flint's remarkable past and our hopes and dreams for the future.

Gloria Coles Flint Public Library

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