missouri humanities council

2010 Award Recipient

Gladys Caines Coggswell – “Stories From the Heart: Missouri’s African American Heritage”

Distinguished Literary Achievement

Gladys Caines Coggswell shares both her own life and the untold stories of African Americans across the state in her latest book, “Stories From the Heart: Missouri’s African American Heritage.”

Coggswell, an award-winning fulltime professional storyteller, moved to the small town of Frankford in Pike County in the 1970s. For the past 20 years, Coggswell has been traveling throughout local communities sharing her storytelling talents and collecting additional stories. During her visits she heard from many African Americans, gaining new and richer insights to the African American experience.

“I wanted to write about ordinary people who made it, just by contributing as they went a long. These were ordinary people, but they had, what I felt were, extraordinary stories,” Coggswell said. “They didn’t have it so easy, but they made the world a better place just by being in it. These are people that have made it in spite of the odds being against them. Most books are written about famous people or superstars, people who make a lot of money. You have to be determined to do your best, whether you have a lot of money or not.”

To illustrate the contributions of these ordinary Missourians, one of the stories Coggswell recounted was of Jerry Grimmett who served in combat overseas, during World War II and was awarded two bronze stars. When he returned home, however, employment was hard to find. He struggled but kept sight of his goals, made a good living working construction and was a leader in the community.

“The stories collected here are truly important to the tellers, their families and local communities and will be of immense importance to those of us who have read our U.S. and Missouri history without hearing the voices of ordinary people and their extraordinary lives,” said Lisa Higgins, Ph.D., director of the Missouri Folk Arts program.

“Mrs. Coggswell’s book is a next step in scholarship, an opportunity for some descendents of Missouri’s slaves and historic African-American figures to ‘tell the story of how [they] have overcome,’ as predicted in an old gospel tune.”

In addition to “Stories From the Heart,” Coggswell travels the state giving dynamic performances, workshops and speeches. A typical performance may include songs and stories of her own creation, along with material from various cultures and elders she has interviewed or from her childhood where she got her first dose of storytelling.

“Whenever I did something sinful, my great grandmother had a story about someone who behaved in the same obnoxious manner,” Coggswell said. “Of course, that someone always came to a bad end. I didn’t want to come to bad end, so I tried to behave.”

Now Coggswell loves nothing more than sharing her love of stories with young children, just as her great grandmother did.

“Nothing can compare to the unconditional love of stories by the little ones who let you know they want to hear more. They want to hug, they ask, ‘When are you coming back?’ and they let me know that I am doing the right thing,” Coggswell said.

Though children love hearing stories, listening to storytelling is a meaningful experience for people of all ages and cultures.

“Storytelling gives us a reason to be who we are and what we are,” Coggswell said. “It is universal and helps us to understand each other better.”

Throughout her career, Coggswell has appeared in PBS specials, was interviewed by CSPAN staff and is noted in several books. She also is a former radio show host, recorded four storytelling audiotapes, created two educational videos and wrote “Why There Are No Dragons.” The Missouri Folk Arts Program named Coggswell Missouri’s Master Storyteller for several years. Other awards include an honorary life membership from the National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS), Outstanding Professor from UMC, Missouri Historical Society Research Grant (the Brownlee Fund), Oral Histories Project Grants and three achievement proclamation’s for outstanding work in the area of story- telling from the Missouri State House of Representatives. She also won the 2005 “Individual Artist of the Year” award from the Missouri Arts Council and the Griot’s award from the St. Louis Black History Museum.

“Stories From the Heart” was made possible thanks to grants from the Missouri Historical Society’s Brownlee fund of Columbia and the Fund for Folk Culture’s Artist Support Program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation with additional support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. Coggswell also thanks editor Rebecca B. Schroeder who encouraged her to write, Lisa Higgins from the Missouri Folk Arts program for her generous and continued support, David Moore and Claudia Powell from the Western Historical Manuscript Collection and the Missouri Arts Council. She especially thanks Dr. Dana Everts-Boehm for getting her started as a Missouri Folk Artist.

Coggswell is married to Truman Coggswell Sr., has a son, Truman Jr., two step-daughters, Robin and Donna, and many grandchildren.