M.V. Living Legends

The Martha’s Vineyard Living Legends Oral History Program: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Immigrant Elders Oral History Project is a powerful portrait of Vineyard history and community. It’s spine-tingling to hear from the students, elders, and core project team, made up of about 15 multigenerational, multicultural volunteer educators, curriculum writers, historians, artists, and oral history specialists, who make this extraordinary program purr. 

Since 2017, students have conducted videotaped oral history interviews to preserve the dynamic voices and stories of outstanding yet underrepresented Island elders who have had a meaningful impact on our Island. The M.V. Living Legends program (MVLL) is designed and implemented through the M.V. Diversity Coalition education committee and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, M.V. branch. 

The multifaceted project begins with selecting an elder, whom students then research. For instance, for former MVRHS teacher and artist Janice Frame, students read an article about her and saw examples of her art. After visiting with the elder, with guidance from their teacher, and often oral historian and co-project director Linsey Lee, students craft questions, which they then pose during taped interviews. Lee comments, “It’s wonderful to see students ask different questions from what I might ask, and interact with the narrators in different ways.”

MVPCS Spanish teacher and college counselor Victoria Dryfoos notes that her class interviewed Washington Ledesma, who is from Uruguay. “Initially, we saw one of his shows, and he spoke about his journey of leaving Uruguay and everything he went through. It was an emotional experience for the students. They created the questions back in the classroom, and then did multiple interviews. It raised the bar for the students, because they knew he would take time to come in, and that it would be filmed made it more important to them.”

MVRHS teacher Corinne Kurtz, who teaches a women’s studies class, explains, “As a history teacher, hearing people’s stories and letting them tell it is really important. Watching kids hear the elders’ stories about themselves or someone they actually knew makes a significant impact, bringing history to life instead of reading about it in a textbook. For instance, they heard about Janice’s ancestor, who came out of slavery and walked the African American Trail of Tears. Interacting with someone who knew someone who knew someone makes history feel much closer. And it’s also honoring people who have lived more of the past than you.”

Frame reflects on her experience as both an interviewee and a former educator: “I think teaching is two ways. The teacher is learning as much from the students as the students are learning from the teacher.” She notes, “For the most part, the problem is that what students learn in the classroom doesn’t touch them. I think that’s what experiences under this program make them see. Their reaction to my stories surprised me. It makes you aware that you really do count. You don’t know how important your experiences are until you’re in front of kids, watching their reactions and listening to their feedback. It makes it real for them.”

Nyoka Walters, student intern from 2024 to ’26, illustrates Frame’s sentiments: “To have studied Black history and then to see that history as a living document is gratifying. It’s verifying history with real-life experiences … I found inspiration in listening to the academic paths taken by interviewees … the sacrifices of ancestors and family, and the struggles of the elders interviewed to pursue educational opportunities despite obstacles of racism and class discrimination.”

Access coordinator and instructor Michelle Vivian-Jemison at MVTV works with many of the students in the studio during the interviews. She says, “Students don’t necessarily get the real feeling behind history when it’s written on paper. But when they actually meet these [elders], get to know them, and learn things that happened in their lifetime, it’s really endearing to see that light happen within a student. You see it in the gleam in their eyes, and how it can affect their lives. They’re taking heed of the truth about history.”

Christopher Mara and editors at MVTV and Circuit Films help edit the videos. Over the past two years, the project has also involved two student editors, MVPCS 12th graders Christian Hayes and Augie Warner. Hayes says, “What’s been surprising is the impactfulness. Editing and chopping up videos is one thing, but it’s a whole separate situation when it’s something of such significance. We’re young, so when editing, we have to decide what our generation will be most interested in. I have to think about what I want people to know, what I want them to see.”

Hayes’ participation in MVLL has made a major impact. Having worked on editing the video on renowned culinary historian, author, and professor Dr. Jessica Harris, Hayes says, “Now, every time I’m eating a meal, I’m thinking, ‘How did this end up in my hand, and what is the history behind it?’ That’s something so important that everyone needs to feel.” 

Currently, teachers, students, and the general public can view a sample of the 18 interviews on various platforms (see below). Co-coordinator Lynn Ditchfield says, “We are working on creating an archive of interviews, thematically segmented, to be shared in schools, libraries, museums, and exhibitions.” Mona Hennessy, who is responsible for the finances and is one of MVLL’s co-coordinators, says, “Our desire is that the project becomes an example for other communities, especially for the BIPOC and immigrant population that have been neglected and denied education. We need their voices out there.”

Augie Warner says about his experience, “It started just as something to put on my résumé, but I quickly realized its importance. It felt really good to be creating something that was going to live past us and have such an impact.” He continues, “It’s taught me so much about respecting and celebrating diversity, and that the teaching of cultures is such an important thing for the youth of the Island. Diversity allows us all to be more enriched and connected as people. I think that’s where growth comes from. Being part of the process of putting things together and creating a story really helps you understand the importance of telling one, and that diversity is what brings growth.”

For more information about M.V. Living Legends: Black, Indigenous, People of Color and Immigrant Elders Oral History Project, visit bit.ly/MVLL_OralHistory. To watch samples from the MVLL project, view any of the following: bit.ly/MVLL_AncestorsInfluence, bit.ly/MVLL_LeoFrame, bit.ly/MVLL_JessicaHarris, and bit.ly/MVLL_JaniceFrame.

SIDEBAR:

Reflections from Tribal Elder Beverly Wright 

Deirdre Brown: Thank you so much for joining our Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School ninth and 10th grade Social Studies class as we participate with the M.V. Diversity Coalition on this important oral history project. Could you start by just introducing yourself, Beverly?

Beverly Wright: I’m Beverly Wright, born and raised here in Aquinnah. I have two grown children who have gone through the school. My daughter is a lawyer in Denver, and my son lives here on the Island. I was chair of the tribe for five terms. My grandfather was the chief of the tribe, and all my relatives that are still living are here too. I seem to be related to everybody in Aquinnah, if your last name is Vanderhoop or Madison. I can trace my lineage back to the 1870 Census here in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Miles Hayes: Can you share a little bit of growing up as a child? 

BW: The first thing I remember is that we went to a one-room schoolhouse, and each row was a different grade. There was a hot plate in the back of the room, and we had Campbell’s soup for lunch. The teacher would open up some cans, and that would be our lunch. When we had recess, there was a pond outside the school, which had polliwogs, so that was like a science lab for us. We’d see the polliwogs, and then we’d see them grow into frogs. 

Victoria Dryfoos: Would you please share the legend of Witch Pond? 

BW: Legend has it that this pond in Aquinnah, which has been scientifically tested to see if there’s no bottom, is Witch Pond, but Moshup foretold that there were going to be pale-faced people coming on blocks of ice. He didn’t know about the big boats, but pale-faced people were coming, and he and his wife and the tribe were going to be obsolete, not feel comfortable in the new surroundings. So he decided to ask his people, “Would you like to stay here on Martha’s Vineyard, or would you like to become killer whales and roam the ocean?” So some people chose to stay, but most people chose to be killer whales. He had a pet whale, so the legend goes that he dug Witch Pond so that the whale could come in from the ocean and come up into Witch Pond and visit Moshup. When I was a kid, it would freeze over in the winter, but it would freeze differently than other ponds would freeze — it would freeze clear. When you looked down, you would never see anything. I would never skate on it. 

Morgan C.: Can you briefly describe your career? 

BW: I was in the first graduating class at the regional high school. It took a long time for all the towns to get together to get a regional high school. Then I went off to B.U. for a little bit; I got married and was a New Jersey housewife for awhile. I moved back to the island, we opened up a business at the Cliffs, I was also assistant to the county commissioners in Edgartown. While I was doing that, the tribal members came to me and asked me to run for chair of the tribe. I did not want to do that. And then I figured, Well, why not? My kids were grown. My grandfather was the chief, and was always there for our tribal members. My mother was one of these very outspoken women, and was always pushing for things for the tribe. I guess it was in my blood finally, so I said yes. I was chair of the tribe for five terms. 

VD: Do you want to just tell us what you’re doing today? 

BW: I work at my cousin’s shop. I’ve been doing that for 20 years, and when I was selectman of the town, the Coast Guard was getting ready to decommission the lighthouse. Town meeting voted that we wanted to keep the lighthouse. Somehow I became chair of the lighthouse committee. I still volunteer as a docent on Sunday mornings. For almost a year now, I’ve been sitting on the Island Housing Trust, and I’m a board member and volunteer for the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living. It’s a really good organization for people with dementia. They have a place to go, and it gives their family some respite during the week. And I also volunteer at Island Grown Initiative. I was actually with Noni Taylor when it was started, ages ago, at the West Tisbury School. Amazing how it has grown and helped the less fortunate on Martha’s Vineyard! 

VD: What is one of your proudest accomplishments? 

BW: One of my proudest accomplishments would have to be my children first. Also I worked really hard to put the tribe on the path that all our tribal members wanted us to go, which is to bring in health and education, to take care of our land. How I would like to change Aquinnah for the better is out of my hands. There’s such a population growth here on the Island; it’s very expensive for my tribal members to live on the Island. A lot of tribal members have to move off-Island because they can’t afford to live here. It would be pie-in-the-sky thinking to say I’d like it to be the way it was before, but I know that can’t happen. Yet I would like the Island to know that we are still here, that we were the first inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard, tracing our existence on Martha’s Vineyard back 4,000 years. That’s something that our tribe is proud of, and I would like the residents of Martha’s Vineyard to know about it. 

As tribal people, we are always trying to keep our old ways, our culture, and our traditions, and then also to be part of the nontribal world. That’s very hard for all of us. We were one of the first tribes when the Pilgrims came in 1620. It’s hard living in two worlds if you want to keep your culture and your tradition. Some tribal members just go with the flow; others have one foot here and one foot there.