Uncover history through the tales of those near and dear to you with Michelle Duster, author of Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells— and great-granddaughter of Ida B.
What’s in Store
- Discover what makes your story and background unique
- Explore various impactful formats in which you can tell your story
“You don’t have to know everything and you don’t have to do all of the work in order to create a piece that will capture history, whatever kind of history that you want to write about… No matter what you do, it’s going to be different than anybody else in the world, so know that your work would be unique and special to you.”
-Michelle DUSTER
Write along with Michelle’s playlist!
Prompt #1: Finding Your Unique
Write about what makes you unique. How does this make your story unique from others?
Prompt #2: Follow Your Fascination
Think of a person, community, organization, group, or location that you find fascinating.
Write about why they are fascinating or unique. What makes them stand out to you? Inspire you?
Q&A with Michelle Duster
What are some other medias other than books that you share your story in?
Well, I have written mostly books, but for Ida B. the Queen, it is available as an audiobook. And I was actually the person who did the voiceover for it, so that’s an audio outlet. It’s also available in e-book.
I’ve been involved in some films and documentary films as ways to tell either Ida’s story or some other topics that are related to the things that I’m interested in. I’m interested in things like riots, things that are kind of difficult topics, but they’re interesting to me. And I’ve also gotten involved in public history projects, which I didn’t talk about because that’s not so easy to do. It requires a lot of money. But I’ve gotten involved in getting historical markers placed in different areas to tell the history of whatever that neighborhood or that organization is. I was involved in the creation of a mural, which is visual, you know, painting. It’s portraits of ten different women that are on this huge wall. And so that to me is storytelling.
All of what I just mentioned is considered public history and I’ve been really interested in that type of work because I think people learn in different ways and they should learn in different spaces. And so I think all of it matters. You might not necessarily be able to get a historical marker placed or statue created, but you can create a poster or create a smaller visual way to tell a story.
How does it feel to be so connected to your family’s history, especially considering that African-Americans and other people of color don’t know their history? What would you say to someone like me who doesn’t know their ancestors?
I mean, I’m definitely fortunate that I grew up in a community that was very focused on making sure that we knew who our family was and what our culture was. I know that I’m fortunate that I grew up that way. What’s going on right now is pretty scary as far as these efforts to make sure to keep information from people. It feels empowering to know where I come from. And in the history of my culture, what I would say to someone like you is just learn as much as you can, talk to as many people as you can. There’s a lot of information available in libraries, in archives. Even on YouTube, there are videos I set up sometimes literally and just watch— speeches and videos of people that I admire. There are a lot of documentary films or short films on YouTube that that are fun to watch, and you can learn in that way as well. Another thing that is considered public history are exhibits. You can go to a museum. I don’t know where you live, but sometimes they have virtual tours online. There’s a lot of things you can do to kind of immerse yourself into learning about your ethnic culture, your regional culture.
This event was originally recorded on January 28th, 2022.
Teaching Artist
Michelle Duster
Michelle Duster is an author, professor, public historian, and champion of racial and gender equity. She has written, edited, or contributed to sixteen books. Her most recent is the picture book, Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth (January 4, 2022) which followed Ida B the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells – released in January 2021. She also co-wrote the popular children’s history book, Tate and His Historic Dream; co-edited Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism; Shifts: An Anthology of Women’s Growth Through Change; Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls; and edited two books that include the writings of her paternal great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for Ms. Magazine, TIME, Essence, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, People, Glamour, Daily Beast, and the North Star. She has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, WTTW, CBS & CW as well as numerous radio shows. Her advocacy has led to street names, monuments, historical markers, murals, statues, and other public history projects that highlight women and African Americans, including Wells. She is working on several other projects that celebrate trailblazers, including the picture book, You Dared which will be published in 2024.
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Michelle Duster
Michelle Duster is an author, professor, public historian, and champion of racial and gender equity. She has written, edited, or contributed to sixteen books. Her most recent is the picture book, Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth (January 4, 2022) which followed Ida B the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells - released in January 2021. She also co-wrote the popular children’s history book, Tate and His Historic Dream; co-edited Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism; Shifts: An Anthology of Women’s Growth Through Change; Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls; and edited two books that include the writings of her paternal great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for Ms. Magazine, TIME, Essence, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, People, Glamour, Daily Beast, and the North Star. She has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, WTTW, CBS & CW as well as numerous radio shows. Her advocacy has led to street names, monuments, historical markers, murals, statues, and other public history projects that highlight women and African Americans, including Wells. She is working on several other projects that celebrate trailblazers, including the picture book, You Dared which will be published in 2024.
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