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AWARDS

Brother Blue and Mama Ruth Hill Circle of Elders Award

if you are not here to change the world if you just want to get rich you can laugh all the way to the bank me I'm better off here in the street with my honor with my sacred calling.  Brother Blue The Portrait Series

NABS Circle of Elders was conceptualized by our ancestor, Hugh "Brother Blue" Morgan.  Brother Blue is an icon.  He was an internationally renown storyteller who is deemed the "Father of American Storytelling."  His storytelling was transformative from streets, to prisons, to enclaves at the United Nations.  Dr. Hugh "Brother Blue" Morgan was a professor of philosophy and pastor at Harvard Divinity School.  He was the endearing spouse of Dr. Ruth Hill.  You can often hear storytellers use the term "blueism,"  to identify a Brother Blue teaching, expression, or way of life.   The Circle of Elders was initiated in 1997 to recognize the contributions and honor the presence of Elders in the Storytelling Community.  In 2013, NABS re-named the perennial presentation the Brother Blue Circle of Elders Award.

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Honorees

2024

Steven H. Hobbs     Linda Brown     Karen Burdnell    Gail Harrison

2023

Joan Washington Neighbors     Karen Aduul-Malik (Queen Nur)     Ilene Evens     Len Cabral

Denise Chapman Acosta     Bob the Griot (Robert Smith)

2019

  • Janice Bishop

  • Sandra Williams-Bush

  • Gloria ELder

  • Wanda Gigetts

  • Janice Curtis Greene

  • Irma Gardner-Hammond

  • Cheryl Sparkle Mosley

  • Pat Mardia Stepney​
     

2016

  • Karima Amin

  • Jackkia Boyd

  • Jennie Crittendon

  • Rosa Ashby Metoyer

2014

  • Ruth Brown Anderson

  • Sylvia Brown

  • Deborah Pierce-Fkunle

  • Linda Gorham

  • Eslyn Hinmon

  • Gwen Marable

2012

  • Mama Edie Armstrong

  • Charlie Brown

  • Kucha Brownlee

  • Kooki Davis

  • Lyn Ford

  • Akbar Imhotep

  • James McAbee

  • Edna Ruff

  • Yawa Tupra

2010

  • Ernestine Brown

  • Barbara Freeman Eady

  • Adella Gautier

  • Baba Jamal Koram

  • Mildred P. Stennis

  • Nothando Zulu

  • Vusumuzi Zulu

2018

  •  Charlotte Blake Aston

  • Roxanne Erickson

  • Kay L. Merrill

  • Elisha Minter Gwendolyn Napier

  • John “Kinderman” Taylor (posthumously)

2017

  • Baba Tony Brown

  • Beverly Cottman

  • Ruthie McIntyre

  • Sylvia Yancy Davis

  • Amy Johnson

  • Thomas Saxon Southern

2015

  • Alice Butler Collins

  • Esther Culver

  • Clarence Mollock

  • Eunice White

2013

  • Sharon Jordan Holley

  • Oluremi Ann Oliver

  • Tejumola Ologboni

  • Caroliese Frink Reed

2011

  • Yvonne Harris

  • Victoria Smith

  • Eleanor Tate

2008

  • Dr. Joyce Duncun

  • Gwendolyn Hilary

  • Gloria Kellon

  • Gomez W. Payne

  • Thelma T. Ruffin Thomas

2006

  • Mattie Clark

2004

  • Johnny Bellamy

  • Genevieve Bllamy

2002

  • Amy Davis Jackson

1998

  • Alma Greer

  • Onawumi Jean Moss

  • Anita Timbers

  • Thelma Shelton Robinson

2007

  • Eleanor Randall Anderson

  • Andrea Fain

  • June McAbee

  • Deacon Alfred Mitchell

  • Kathryn L. Morgan

  • Joan Stevenson

2005

  • Velma Gladney

  • Vanora Franklin Legaux

2003

  • Carol Sayers Puryear

  • Fellisco Kling

2001

  • Elaine Ford Gregory

  • Thelma Shelton Robinson

1997

  • David Anderson, PhD

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