Hugh Morgan Hill (July 12, 1921 – November 3, 2009) who performed as Brother Blue, was an American educator, storyteller,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, musician, and street performer based principally in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

area. After serving as First Lieutenant from 1943 to 1946 in the segregated United States Army in World War II and being honorably discharged, he received a BA from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1948 (cum laude in Social Relations), was accepted into the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) before transferring to receive a MFA from the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(Divinity with pastoral sacred storytelling) from the

Union Institute Union Institute & University (UI&U) is a private university in Cincinnati, Ohio. It specializes in limited residence and distance learning programs. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and operates satellite campuses ...

, having delivered his doctoral presentation at Boston's

Deer Island Prison The Deer Island Prison (–1991) in Suffolk County, Massachusetts was located on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Once known as the Deer Island House of Industry and later, House of Correction, it held people convicted of drunkenness, illegal posse ...

, accompanied by a 25-piece jazz orchestra, with a video recording for his dissertation committee's further consideration. While performing frequently at U.S. National Storytelling Festivals and flown abroad by organizations and patrons from England to Russia and the Bahamas, Brother Blue regularly performed on the streets around Cambridge, most notably in Harvard Square. He was the Official Storyteller of

and of Cambridge by resolutions of both city councils.Brother Blue on Street Storytelling | The Art of Storytelling Show
/ref> Brother Blue was a 2009 recipient of the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal from the

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, formerly the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, is part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research located at Harvard University. Its main work is ...

at Harvard University, named for William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, the first African American to earn a Harvard PhD in 1895. Brother Blue's award was accepted posthumously on his behalf by his spouse, Ruth Edmonds Hill,

oral historian Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

at the

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

at Harvard University, on December 4, 2009. In his performances and in private communications, Brother Blue frequently exhorted people to tell "stories that change the world," with the combination caveat-encouragement, "We want a story from your heart. If it's not from your heart, don't tell it." He died in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, aged 88.

Youth and early career

Hill was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. Raised in the boisterous revivalist African Methodist Episcopal church of the 1920s and 1930s, he was the grandson of a slave who heard tales of his grandfather's slavery from his father, a devout Christian. The Hills lived in a poor area in Cleveland, Ohio where they were one of few black families. Brother Blue recalled his childhood as a rough time, saying "I'm like a flower who grew up in rocky soil." During Sunday church services, Blue found his voice telling stories, carrying this art forward into Sunday school sessions he taught after prayer.The Story of Brother Blue
/ref> Entering Harvard on scholarship, Brother Blue won the undergraduate Boylston Prize for his recital of a speech penned and originally orated by Haitian slave rebellion leader

Toussaint L'Ouverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (; also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda; 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803) was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louverture ...

. He subsequently won the

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

International Media Competition for delivering selections from

The Autobiography of Malcolm X ''The Autobiography of Malcolm X'' was published in 1965, the result of a collaboration between civil and human rights activist Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley. Haley coauthored the autobiography based on a series of in-depth interviews he ...

. Inspired by American Civil Liberties attorney

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...

of Scopes Trial, son of an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

family, Brother Blue initially intended to apply to law school in order to become "the black

." However his storytelling calling brought him successfully to Yale School of Drama's graduate school instead before obtaining his doctorate in Divinity from the Union Institute.The Age-Old Teachings and Joyful Beseechings of Brother Blue , News , The Harvard Crimson
/ref>

Iconography

Brother Blue and Ruth's ubiquitous symbol is the blue butterfly, inspired by the blue morpho native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. The story of a caterpillar's struggles, hopes and dreams and metamorphosis into a butterfly was one of Brother Blue's signature motifs. Brother Blue also acknowledged the butterfly's ancient Greek association with the psyche. Blue's clothing was often covered in butterfly medallions and blue butterflies were frequently painted on his cheeks and the palms of his hands, sometimes even drawn on with a ballpoint pen. In the later part of his career, Brother Blue constantly wore a broad, breast-plate-sized medallion around his neck which was one of many butterfly-themed gifts with which people expressed their appreciation and affection for the Hills. Brother Blue's publications, media jackets, festival banners, ornamental staff, and stages were also frequently decorated with butterflies. In his role as Merlin in the 1981

George A. Romero George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...

film ''

Knightriders ''Knightriders'' is a 1981 American drama film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Ed Harris, Gary Lahti, Tom Savini, Amy Ingersoll, Patricia Tallman, and Christine Forrest. It was filmed entirely on location in the Pittsbu ...

'', blue butterflies can be seen as the camera zooms in on his hands as they wave goodbye during a funeral which he officiates in the film. Brother Blue wore a predominantly blue ensemble, sporting blue turtlenecks or collared shirts and blue pants. He frequently wore a blue beret on which butterfly pins, some with rhinestones or sea opals, were affixed. He wore a sash emblazoned with "BROTHER BLUE STORYTELLER" in his capacity as Official Storyteller of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ribbons laced his shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles and he was known to carry bright blue balloons. Inspired by Judaic, Vedic, African traditions, he often appeared barefoot or would take off his shoes in the early course of a performance to touch earth as sacred ground. Brother Blue's 2002 business card read "Storyteller, Street Poet, Soul Theater".Spinning a Blue Yarn | FM | The Harvard Crimson
/ref>

Opus

"From the middle of the middle of me," Brother Blue would say, twirling his finger in the air and tapping it on a listener's heart, "to the middle of the middle of you ..." as part of his traditional opening. He would continue, "I am older than the oldest stories, I am the storyteller." A signature story which gave form to one face of this archetypal "storyteller" from Blue is his tale of Muddy Duddy, a fictional musician who could hear the sound of a harp coming out of the earth. Brother Blue's unique style of storytelling made extensive use of rhyme, rhythm, and improvisation. He referred to himself as a street poet and, alluding to Saint

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

, as "God's fool". He told idiosyncratic versions of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'', "The Big O, Othell-O" and ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'', a variety of self-mythologizing autobiographical stories, and his signature story about a caterpillar's first vision of a butterfly. American theater director

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...

(Harvard College Class of 1981) cast Brother Blue as an idiosyncratic actor in updated classical productions in such venues as The

American Repertory Theater The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

. As an educator, Brother Blue taught at the

Episcopal Divinity School The Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) is a theological school in New York City that trains students for service with the Episcopal Church. It is affiliated with the Union Theological Seminary. Students who enroll in the EDS at Union Anglican st ...

and

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

, with Ruth Hill through the Harvard Storytelling Workshop in venues across Harvard University's campus, on television through WGBH, and in a later, more casual forum, Storytelling with Brother Blue. Predominant themes in Brother Blue's performance and teaching were birth, love, anguish, death, ugliness, impairment, imprisonment, divinity, freedom, imagination, and the discontent which transforms social roles. He drew thematic inspiration from ancient story cycles,

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and Franco-Welsh legend,

, modern

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

interpretations, and improvisation. These themes were often embodied by picaresque characters, though Blue also utilized high-status characters such as Othello or unnamed archetypal personalities such as the Old Storyteller or This Little Girl or Someone Who's Somewhere Everywhere.

Teaching and story coaching philosophy

Brother Blue's refusal to assign grades to graduate students in his university courses was a source of controversy. He formally espoused an ethic of not "criticizing" in the usual sense, but instead "appreciating" and "saying thank you" in response to performances he proctored, coached, or judged. This stance was in line with a liberal humanist understanding of oral storytelling critique, which was expanded on later in Blue's lifetime by Doug Lipman's guidelines for Story Dynamics coaching, Jay O'Callahan, and others among Brother Blue's League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES) colleagues who. Cautious of "the green dance" of pursuing wealth, Brother Blue eschewed the world of commerce as much as he rejected quantifying people's aptitude, explaining that he preferred to address people "in their wonderfulness." Improvisation was a pervasive element in Brother Blue's performances and one of the chief skills he encouraged in his students. "I call it cosmic jazz. I don't repeat myself, I don't write it down, you can't get it in a book, in a book" he said (2008). In the early and middle parts of his career, Brother Blue practiced Calling the Muse to open any gathering of storytellers or storytelling.

Tradition strands

Universal traditions

Brother Blue believed that telling stories is a divine calling. "I think I was anointed to be a storyteller—I mean touched by the fire," he said. "I can tell stories in my sleep and blow the world away!" Stating that he was "working on greatness!" he described what he sought from everyone as "stories to change the world." He declared that "Love will overcome all in this world. Love’s gonna win. Nothing can stop this. There will be these fools that come along, and I don’t mind being that fool, who is trying to express that. I have this madness—volition—this chosen madness to believe that I can change this world". "Storytelling is a sacred art," he emphasized. "And the irony of it is that most people—if you say that—back away. They want to be amused mostly, or have a way of passing a little time. Not Blue. Even when I'm trying to be funny, I'm trying to give you my soul. That's strong".

Music and song and the European bardic tradition

Brother Blue's chief musical instruments were harmonica and human voice, and occasionally tambourine, and drums. He also made music with a set of genuine early American slave chains in a signature story he developed during his time as a Divinity School teaching fellow. Finger snapping, stomping and dancing, often barefoot, are featured in many of his performances. At Harvard, Brother Blue studied under

Albert Bates Lord Albert Bates Lord (15 September 1912 – 29 July 1991) was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of his mentor Milman Parry, carried on Parry's research on epic poetry. Early life Lord was bor ...

who, with

Milman Parry Milman Parry (June 23, 1902 – December 3, 1935) was an American Classicist whose theories on the origin of Homer's works have revolutionized Homeric studies to such a fundamental degree that he has been described as the "Charles Darwin, Darw ...

, compared the oral storytelling methods of surviving contemporary Slavic and

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to communi ...

bardic In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

storytellers with the language and content and literary formats of the Homeric epics, concluding that Homeric works derived from or were transcribed out of oral storytelling forms, as ultimately documented in ''The Singer of Tales'' (1960) Other academic influences included global mythography through the work of

Marija Gimbutas Marija Gimbutas ( lt, Marija Gimbutienė, ; January 23, 1921 – February 2, 1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of " Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis ...

and

Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...

which Brother Blue addressed in his training of others. Albert Lord's 1954 class also led

Herbert Mason Samuel George Herbert Mason (1891 – 20 May 1960) was a British film director, producer, stage actor, army officer, presenter of some revues, stage manager, theatre director, stage director, choreographer, Production manager (theatre), produc ...

to write his intensely personal ''Gilgamesh, A Verse Narrative'' (1970) as Mason's young friend lay deathly ill, and which was narrated for accompaniment to the international museum exhibit, ''Treasures of the Royal Tombs of Ur'', with dedication to both Mason and the Hills by a student of Brother Blue and Ruth Hill as ''Gilgamesh: God King of Sumer, The Oldest Story in the World'', along with

Diane Wolkstein Diane Wolkstein (November 11, 1942 – January 31, 2013) was a folklorist and author of children's books. She was New York City's official storyteller from 1967 to 1971. Biography As New York's official storyteller beginning in 1967, Wolkstein visi ...

's portrayal of ''Inanna''. Brother Blue also advised a live, partially extemporaneous performance of the Gilgamesh and Inanna cycle for this exhibit at the

Bowers Museum The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of A ...

in Santa Ana, California. Professor Albert Lord said that Brother Blue was "sui generis," meaning in Latin "of a kind of his own" because Brother Blue "does not really belong to any particular tradition in storytelling" but is "a phenomenon in himself." European figures referenced in Brother Blue's opus include: Albert Einstein, Homer, Virgil, Dante, William Shakespeare and particularly St. Francis of Assissi and Don Quixote, to whose life stories he would compare his, his colleagues' and his audiences' works and lives. "I bring Homer to the streets. I bring Sophocles," he said. "To tell stories, you should know Chaucer. You should know Shakespeare. You should know Keats. You have to be constantly reading. You read, you think, you create. You have to know the new moves: You must be able to rap and be able to sing the blues!".

United States pan-cultural traditions

United States historical and cultural figures referenced in Brother Blue's opus include:

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

and

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

. Brother Blue said he wanted to be "the black

," which is why he had intended to go to law school before finding his calling at Yale School of Drama.

African-American and African traditions

African-American and African-related motifs referenced in Brother Blue's opus include: "a chicken with a busted wing," lions, elephants, Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

. Blue spoke about skin color and racial issues, and his own experience of being African American. Brother Blue was frequently featured by the U.S. National Association of Black Storytellers and is frequently referenced by the U.S. griot movement, spearheaded by oral storyteller griots such as Michael D. McCarty in Los Angeles, California, who are extending the original West African griot tradition.

Awards

* W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, 2009 * National Storytelling Network Lifetime Achievement Award, 1999, “for sustained and exemplary contributions to storytelling in America”. Steve Kardaleff, interim executive director of the U.S. National Storytelling Network introduced Brother Blue's award with “His mother is verse, rhythm and rhyme, and his father is reportedly inverse time.” A nominator had described Brother GBlue as “a walking, talking, living legend.” * League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES) Brother Blue (Hugh Morgan Hill) and Ruth Hill Award, 2002, founding recipient, an annual award named for Brother Blue and Ruth Hill and honoring extraordinary commitment to and support of storytelling and storytellers. Brother Blue described this award's purpose as "To honor those who give their lives to storytelling to change the world."Brother Blue quoted by LANES board member Laura Packer
/ref> *

Cambridge Center for Adult Education The Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE), a non-profit corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been teaching adult education courses at 42 Brattle Street since taking over the building from the Cambridge Social Union in 1938. The CC ...

Anne Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet ( née Dudley; March 8, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in ...

Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000 for “contributions to the poetry community.” * Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Peace Commission Peace and Justice Award,1999 * U.S. National Storytelling Association Circle of Excellence Award, 1996 * U.S. National Association of Black Storytellers Esteemed Elder, 1995 * U.S. National Association of Black Storytellers Zora Neale Hurston Award, 1986 *

Boston Music Awards Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyho ...

“Best of Boston” award for Best Street Performance, 1982 *

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

Local Programming Award, 1975 * WGBH Special Citation for Outstanding Solo Performance on Public Radio, for “Miss Wunderlich,” which he told on “The Spider’s Web” (WGBH, Boston), 1975 *

International Media Competition winner, circa 1940s, Poetry on Sound Tape award for delivering selections from

* Boylston Prize, circa 1945 for recital of a speech by Haitian slave rebellion leader

. * Brother Blue was also posterboy for the

Spoleto Festival USA Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due ...

in Charleston, South Carolina

Performances and bibliography

* "Brother Blue: Storyteller" and similar program titles, Cambridge Community Television regular series and special features (live and recorded, 1980s-2000s) * ''Brother Blue: A Narrative Portrait of Brother Blue a.k.a. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill'' (Portrait Series) by Warren Lehrer (Bay Press, WA, October 1995, ) contains several of Brother Blue's stories conveyed through Warren's imaginative typesetting. * “Miss Wunderlich” in ''Jump Up and Say: A Collection of Black Storytelling'' (Simon and Schuster, 1995) and in Homespun, Tales from America’s Favorite Storytellers (Crown Publishers, 1988) * “The Rainbow Child” in ''Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope'' (New Society Publishers, 1992) * “The Butterfly” in ''Talk That Talk, an Anthology of African-American Storytelling'' (Simon and Schuster, 1989) * New Age Conference, Florence, Italy (live, 1988) * “Muddy Duddy” in ''The Wide World All Around'' (Longman, 1987) * UNICEF pavilion, 1984 World’s Fair, New Orleans, Louisiana (live, 1984) * Merlin in ''

'' directed by

(1981) * New Age Conference, Florence, Italy (live, 1978) * Official Storyteller, United Nations Habitat, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (live, 1976) * Boston’s First Night (live, 1974–2009) * Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, New York * New York Folk Festival, New York * Artscape, Baltimore, Maryland * Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee * National Storytelling Festival, Jonesborough, Tennessee * Africa in April, Memphis, Tennessee * American Imagery Conference * Sacred Dance Guild Storytelling festivals include: * Mariposa Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Toronto Festival of Storytelling, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Vancouver Storytelling Festival, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada * Yukon Storytelling Festival, Yukon Territory, Canada * Sharing the Fire, sponsored by the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling * Corn Island Storytelling Festival, Louisville, Kentucky * In the Tradition… festival/conference of the U.S. National Association of Black Storytellers

External links

Official Brother Blue website

Brother Blue and his wife on StoryCorps

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brother Blue 1921 births 2009 deaths Male actors from Ohio African-American male actors American street performers American storytellers American male voice actors 20th-century American educators Harvard College alumni Yale School of Drama alumni Male actors from Cambridge, Massachusetts American male television actors 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male actors 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American people