Storytellers In the Spotlight - Larry Castleberry

Behind every great story is a storyteller with a journey of their own.

Storytellers in the Spotlight celebrates the voices of the Detroit Association of Black Storytellers by giving you a closer look at the people behind the stories. Each episode shares a glimpse of their journey, the stories that have shaped them, and the wisdom they’ve gained along the way.

It’s a celebration of our storytellers, their experiences, and the legacy they continue to share.

In this episode of D.A.B.S. Storytellers in the Spotlight, Larry shares the people and experiences that shaped his journey, his love of personal and historical stories, and the wisdom he has learned along the way, including a powerful lesson about choosing how we respond to the words of others.

Come meet the storyteller behind the stories.

The Journey. The Story. The Wisdom.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:00

Every storyteller has a journey, and every journey carries a story, and every story leaves wisdom behind. Welcome to Dab Storytellers in the Spotlight, where we honor the voice, preserve the memory, and carry the legacy forward.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

Under ancient skies, a drum once called our names, carrying the heartbeat of those who walked before. Every rhythm held a teaching. Every silence held a dream. Around the fire, stories rose like sparks, climbing into night, refusing to fade. Here we remember. Here we are.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

Here we become from village paths to crowded the street. From Whitford Craft to Thunder.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Larry's love of storytelling began with his mother and was later shaped professionally through the guidance of Ivory Williams. His involvement with Toastmasters and the Detroit Association of Black Storytellers helped strengthen his craft. Larry enjoys telling personal stories, tall tales, and historical stories, especially those highlighting lesser-known African-American figures. Through stories such as Big Bad John and Amos, he shares lessons about staying calm, rejecting her for words, and choosing to respond thoughtfully rather than react.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, hello. My name is Larry Castleberry, and I'm a storyteller. The first question is what brought me to storytelling? Well, that was actually pretty easy. What got me interested in storytelling and what developed my love of stories in general was my mom. Or my mama, as I like to say. When I was a little boy, she would read to me. We had the entire Dr. Seuss book category. We had the Grimms, Brother Grimm's fairy tale, Brother's Grimm fairy tale. And she would read those stories to me every night. When I got older, I was able to read for myself, then I started to read those books. And so she also got me a show and tell. So for those of you who remember back in the 1970s, you had this box TV that you would put this record on. You would take this film and stick it in a slot on the side, and as that film would go up, the story would play. So I have always loved listening to stories. But as I got older, I started to make up my own stories. And I started doing this in kindergarten when my teacher, Mrs. Bagsby, would actually call me up to the front of the class to tell stories to other students. But what got me into being a storyteller as a professional, that goes to Mr. Ivory Williams, the D, the master storyteller. Ivory was actually teaching a workshop at Wayne County Community College. I just simply heard about storytelling, and I signed up for the class, went there, met Ivory, and understood that he had actually left his corporate job to be a full-time storyteller. Now, I was not willing to do that, but I did want to learn more about storytelling, especially when I learned that you could actually go out and make a living, or in my case, I just wanted to make some funds from doing something that I love doing. And so my question to Ivory was, Well, how do you become a storyteller? And her answer, his answer was join Toastmasters. After I did that, I said, How do you become a storyteller? Then I decided to join Dabs, and it has been a great ride ever since. Storytelling is something that I love to do. There is no limit to what I am doing. Because the only limitation I have, that's what's up here. That's what limits my stories. I love researching stories. And the stories I tell are personal stories. I'm going to say tall tale stories that I make up, historical stories, which I love because being a member of DABs, I will hear about so many African-American historical individuals that I personally have never heard of. And they will look at me and say, You don't know who that person is? In fact, two individuals that I can think of right now from a Michigan perspective, William Lambert and Mr. DuPont, George D. Baptiste, I said DePont, George D. Baptiste, two individuals who were very instrumental in the Underground Railroad here in Michigan, didn't know anything about them. So I've had a luxury of looking up, learning about them, and actually telling their story. So that is something that I enjoy doing, keeping history alive, saying thank you for those who have come before, who have sacrificed. Telling their story is my little way of saying thank you and keeping their memory alive. The story I'm going to tell you today is called The Story of Big Bad Job. Now, back in the long ancient days, I mean a long time ago. A long, long, long, long, long time ago. We're talking ancient history. We're talking so long ago that if you wanted to make a phone call, you had to dig in your pocket and pulled out these things called a dime, where you would then go to the city called a payhole and put the 20 cents in to make a call. Yeah. This was before the internet. This was before Google. Clearly, it was before cell phones. This is the ancient history of the 1970s. Yeah. Now, on one side of town was a man who was big. He was bad. He was strong. His name was John. And John had everybody on his side of town fright. I mean, John would sit there, he would pop his packs. Oh, John had muscles on top of muscles. But John loved to fight. John liked to hurt people. And John had a secret weapon that he would use when he would fight. He would always do something to get you to react. And then he would counter and pouse. Oh, as I said before, the people were just afraid of big bad John. But then one day John heard that there was just this gentleman on the other side of town called Amos, who had never, ever lost a fight in his life. Well, when John heard about this, John knew who he had to go challenge. So John went to the other side of town to meet and confront this man named Amos.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Now, unlike John, Amos didn't have all those big muscles. He couldn't pop his pet. I mean, Amos was getting up there naked, but he was still able to do that. Amos always had a smile.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Always happy, had this very tranquil, serene presence about him. So when Big Bad John came up to him, he said, Amos, I understand you have never, ever lost a fight in your life. Well, I'm here to put the first L on your record. I challenge you to a fight. All of Amos's family and friends who were there ran up to Amos and they gathered around. He said, Amos, Amos, Amos! Come back, back up. We heard about this guy, John. He hurts people! Oh, he hurts people! Everybody on the other side of town is afraid of this man. Amos looked to his left right straight ahead. And he said, I have never ever run from a challenge in my life. And I'm not about to do so now. He walked over to Big Man John and says, John, I accept your challenge. Now this was a 1970s, so they couldn't fight right there. There, they had to make a big to do about it. So they agreed to leave one week later. That next week, John came with his entourage, took his shirt off with all those muscles showing. Then came Amos. Sweet Amos standing with his hand like this, just waiting with a smile on his face. Not a word in the world, world. You would think Amos was about to go out for a walk and not about to fight. Oh, but John started in. Oh John started in throwing punches. John started in on his secret weapon to do things to get Amos to react. First, he talked about Amos' bald head.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

He talked about the ear hairs on Amos' ears. He talked about the nose hairs coming out of Amos' nose.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

And when none of that worked, he even talked about Amos' mo. Oh, that's not right. And anybody from Detroit knows that's dangerous. But Amos he just sat there with a smile on his face. Not moving, not worrying, just smiling. And after one hour, John ran out of things to say. John realized that there was nothing he could do to get a reaction out of Amos. And without that reaction, he couldn't counter it. So he realized he couldn't beat Amos. John stepped back and took a bow to admit his defeat, and he and his entourage walked away. All of Amos' family and friends gathered around Amos. Oh, they were so happy. Oh, Amos, that was incredible.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Amos, how Amos?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I I I do have a question for you. How could you just stand there and let that man talk about you and you not do anything?

SPEAKER_00 11:51

That man talked about your bald head. That man talked about your ear hairs. That man talked about your nose hairs.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

That man even talked about your mama. So A so looked at his family and his friends. He turned his head to his right and to his left. Then he looked at each one of them and he said, When a person gives you a gift that you do not accept, to whom does the gift belong? All of Amos' family and friends said in one voice, so Amos said it again. When a person gives you a gift that you do not receive, to whom does the gift belong? And so what Amos was telling them, what I'm telling you, is when someone gives you the gifts of saying bad things about you, saying untrue things about you, they're saying bad words about you, they're giving you a gift. And if you do not accept the gift that they're giving you, then they have to take their gift. And just like big bad jobs, they have to go home. That's the story of Big Bad Job and sweet, lovable. Yes. Now that's a story I tell a lot at schools. And obviously the message in that story is this people are gonna talk about you. They're gonna say mean things about you. And that old adage of sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. We all know that's not true. Words hurt, words hurt a lot. But what I try to use as story to teach the kids is they're giving you a gift. You don't have to accept their gift. Okay, you don't have to react. There's a big difference between responding and reacting. Responding means you take a moment, you think, you reflect, and by staying calm, you make better decisions. Reacting means you just do something on the spur of the moment without thinking.

unknown 14:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

You just do. And we don't want to react. And what I'm trying to teach the children is don't react. Don't accept the gift they're giving you. Let them take their gift back. So, I have enjoyed talking to you, and I'm gonna say, have yourselves a good day.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Thank you, Larry, for sharing your journey, your story, and the wisdom you carry with us today. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us for Storytellers and Sunday. Today's for my first storytelling is more than something. It is how we're gonna find this.