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3. Stories Of Atlantic City

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Jane Gadson-Rice talked about growing up on the Northside of Atlantic City, which was populated by Blacks who owned and ran businesses, restaurants and hotels. She said the Black community was very successful, but then suffered as Atlantic City declined as a popular resort in the 1960s. Stories of Atlantic City was created as a way to shed light on the marginalized communities and individuals within Atlantic City while building a collaborative space for journalists and residents to work together. Stories of Atlantic City focused on creating a restorative narrative, a journalistic method intended to build trust and communication within communities who have experienced.

Galloway, N.J. – Stockton student Tariq Baker said his interview with Atlantic City resident Ron Jordan gave him new perspective on the civil rights movement and its relationship to Black Lives Matter today.

“You can see that he lived through racism, but he was still hopeful,” Baker said. “Now he sees people our age come together better. It plays a part in how we are going to change today. Mr. Jordan really put things in perspective for me.”

Baker and Jordan were part of the Intergenerational Storytelling project coordinated for the Stories of Atlantic City project at Stockton. Students in Associate Professor of Communication Studies Christina Morus’ Media, Civil Rights and Social Change course interviewed 11 Atlantic City elders.

A Zoom presentation on the project was presented on Feb. 16.

“These interviews really show the power of community storytelling,” Morus said.

Michael Stafford said the interview was an opportunity for him to tell a personal story about racism in America through the microcosm of Atlantic City. He said being isolated during COVID-19 pandemic made him think more about his life and society.

“I think racism is dying a natural death,” he said. “This is a way to interact with young people and give them a perspective on being a victim of white supremacy.”

Jane Gadson-Rice talked about growing up on the Northside of Atlantic City, which was populated by Blacks who owned and ran businesses, restaurants and hotels. She said the Black community was very successful, but then suffered as Atlantic City declined as a popular resort in the 1960s.

“We stayed in our areas,” she said of the city. “I went to a segregated school. But in the 1940s we also had a Business and Professional Directory. That’s how prosperous it was on the Northside.”

Ralph Hunter said it was the experience of seeing successful people who looked like him that convinced him to move to Atlantic City from Philadelphia.

“I was 16 or 17 and it just fascinated me,” he said. “I said ‘this is the place for me.’ ”

Student Tina Byrne said the interviews made her think of Atlantic City as a community and not just a place to visit, or study at the Stockton campus.

“It is a historically rich community,” she said.

Student Emily Montgomery said people tend to think of the civil rights movement as being something that happened in the South, but the stories showed her how it affected local residents.

‘This is a city full of amazing people” said Sam Apple, who is interning with Stories of Atlantic City.

Alma Johnson helped coordinate the interviews through the Golden Circle group. The interviews with Michael Stafford, Juanita High, Alma Walker, Clifford McWhorter, Ralph Hunter, Jane Gadson-Rice, Alfreda Mills, Ron Jordan, Yvonne Jordan, Yvonne Preston and Devolia Hill can be viewed on the Stories of Atlantic City website at storiesofatlanticcitycom.

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Contact:
Diane D’Amico
Director of News and Media Relations
Galloway, N.J. 08205
Diane.D’Amico@stockton.edu
609-652-4593
609-412-8069
stockton.edu/media

These are the stories of Atlantic City residents.teachers.clergy.workers.mothers.communities.fathers.nurses.organizers.champions.students.tenants.families.

Photos by Nastassia Davis, Jason Smart, Christian Correa, Ray Nunzi, and Christina Noble.

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One of the best parts of the project was seeing how truly excited and enthusiastic the students were through the whole process. Seeing them engaged and actually listening and then so excited to tell our story gave me some comfort that they’d tell it correctly.

Zach Katzen

For me, one of the highlights of the project was hearing all the stories of the newsmakers and people we’d profiled last month. The event also brought out a number of people who weren’t featured in the series but also had great stories to share.

Buzz Keough

What I liked about the project is in the bringing together the community to highlight its diversity and those positive experiences that unite us rather than divide. I enjoyed learning about the passion of emerging community leaders and what moves them to act for the benefit of others.

The City Of Atlantic City

Michael Everett

What I liked best about the project was that real life stories were told about people who live in the community. The whole story, and not just the negative side of the story. The specific part in the process that stuck with me was how passionate everyone involved with the project is about changing the narrative of our city and making sure our stories are being told.

Lyntaga Smith

For me, the best part about this project was meeting members of the Atlantic City community who are endeavoring, each and every day, to make the city a better place to live and thrive. Interviewing such passionate educators – and activists, in a way – left a great impression on me that not only is it important to bring their stories to the forefront, but also that I myself can get involved and help, even in the tiniest ways, to make the environment around me better.

Marissa Luca

Stories Of Atlantic City

What I liked most about the project, hands down, had to be the diversity and inclusion. Some look at Princess, Inc. and what my team and I do for this community as a “little program,” but genuine mentoring, community service, and offering resources to the underserved in communities bogged with blight is more than “a little” anything.

Stories Of Atlantic City

Indra Owens

Stories of Atlantic City is a collaborative project focused on telling restorative, untold storiesabout the city and its people. Stories of Atlantic City is supported by Stockton University with funding from Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the NJ Local News Lab Fund at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a partnership of the Dodge Foundation and Democracy Fund.