LeAlan Jones To Speak in Geneva

On Sunday, November 7 at 2 p.m. the Geneva History Center will present A Perspective from LeAlan Jones.  Jones is a reporter, community activist, and football coach. In 1993 LeAlan Marvin Jones was a thirteen-year-old reporter for National Public Radio and worked with StoryCorps founder Dave Isay. The documentary he helped produce, Ghetto Life 101, became one of the most acclaimed pieces of audio work in the history of Public Radio. It detailed the life of two young men, LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman, growing up in the inner city of Chicago and the obstacles they faced as they tried to transcend their circumstances.  Jones will reflect about his experiences with StoryCorps and his award-winning documentary.

Artist Robert Shetterly, creator of the traveling exhibition, Americans Who Tell the Truth, painted  a portrait of Jones and will introduce him at the presentation.  Americans Who Tell the Truth is a provocative exhibition hosted by the Geneva History Center in 2009.  This November 7 presentation will take place at the Geneva High School Auditorium, 416 McKinley Avenue, at 2 p.m. Admission to the program is $5 for adults, $3 for Geneva History Center members.  Students are free.  For more information, contact the Geneva History Center at 630-232-4951.

StoryCorps is a nonprofit, oral history project and is dedicated to collecting and preserving oral histories of everyday Americans.  As part of Geneva's 175th Anniversary, StoryCorps personnel will be in Geneva November 1 through November 4 to capture the stories of 24 pairs of selected Genevans. To learn more about this project and the History Center's involvement, visit www.storycorps.org and www.genevahistorycenter.org.