Connecting Generations

May 9, 2005

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Media Contacts: Amy Penry, 732-7302, or Lisa Lockheart, 732-7303, at the
Rock Island Public Library



Connecting Generations Project Collects Life Stories of Minority Rock Islanders

May 24 Reception Will Display Interview Results


Rock Island, IL: An oral history and literacy project known as “Connecting Generations” is ensuring that the life stories of some Rock Island minority seniors are passed on to the next generation.

Connecting Generations is the Rock Island Public Library’s version of the Iowa Stories 2000 literacy initiative created by Iowa first lady Christine Vilsack. With support from Mrs. Vilsack’s private foundation, Quad City libraries from Rock Island, Moline, Davenport and Moline are creating literacy projects that stress the importance of sharing stories to foster family identity and prepare children to read.

The Rock Island project paired seniors from the Martin Luther King Center’s ACTIVE Club (Aging Citizens Taking Interest in a Variety of Experience) with students involved in the Minority Teacher Incentive Program (MTIP) at Edison Junior High and Washington Junior High schools.

Using a common set of questions, the students interviewed seniors about how their lives have changed in the last 50 years. Photos and excerpts from the videotaped interviews will be shared with participants and their families at a reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on May 24 at the Martin Luther King Center, 3101 7th Avenue, Rock Island.

The interview pairs included:



  • Mrs. Betty Brownrigg and Brittney Hart, Edison Junior High


  • Mr. Samuel Brownrigg and Raynikka Adams, Edison Junior High


  • Mrs. Ola Angle and Aramis Conner, Washington Junior High


  • Mrs. LaVadia Hall and Charvez Clark, Edison Junior High


  • Mrs. Erma Golden and Brooke-Lynn McNeal, Edison Junior High


  • Mr. Matthew Parker, Junior and Nicole Tavizon, Washington Junior High


  • Mrs. Marlene Toney and Jeriahmy Smith, Washington Junior High


  • Mrs. Ruth Johnson and Chakendra Hearn, Washington Junior High


  • Mrs. Fannie Haynes and Bryan Thomas, Edison Junior High


  • Mrs. Lee Barber and LaDerrick Gamble, Washington Junior High

Following the interviews in early April, the junior high students worked with volunteers from the Black Hawk College Brotherhood and Sisterhood on Campus clubs to create a scrapbook of what they learned from the experience. The Black Hawk College students also interviewed additional ACTIVE club members for the oral history project. Both the videotaped interviews and scrapbooks will be archived in the Rock Island Public Library.

Members of the Rock Island Connecting Generations planning committee included Amy Penry and Kris Cawley, Rock Island Public Library; Bobbie Lastrapes, of the Rock Island/Milan School’s Minority Teacher Incentive Program; Lanette Johnson, Edison Junior High School; Detella McLeod-McCann, Washington Junior High School; Ida Robinson, Martin Luther King Center; and Willie Seward, of Black Hawk College.

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