Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

We Take From It What We Need: A Portraiture Approach To Understanding A Social Movement Through The Power Of Story And Storytelling Leadership, Karen Lynn Gilliam

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examined a social movement through the power of story and storytelling and its influence on behavior from a purposeful sampling of individuals who heard the story of Joan Southgate’s journey. Ms. Southgate, a 73-year-old African-American, walked the 519 miles of the underground-railroad across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and into Canada. The grand narrative of the underground-railroad is a never-ending story, subject to change with each re-telling and/or unveiling of polyphonic microstories. Stories have the ability to capture emotion and reason, hearts and minds. While storytelling is thought to be a most powerful means of communicating, very little scholarly …