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Russell Goings was one of the first African Americans to graduate from Xavier University in the 1950s and was also the first African American to own a brokerage firm on Wall Street. He sponsored a major exhibit a few years ago at Xavier of art by Romare Bearden, which he obtained through a long friendship with the Harlem renaissance artist.  

 

Fairfield University, the Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut, and WNPR collaborated on the program "African American Storytelling: From Griot to Written Word," an exploration of Goings’ poem "The Birth of 'The Children of Children Keep Coming: an Epic Griotsong." In 2001, Goings completed the epic 309-page poem that draws on the traditions of West African griots to sing the history of blacks in the United States.  The hour-long performance delineates and celebrates African American cultural history through a story and song adaptation of the poem. Tony Award®-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell narrates. WVXU (91.7 FM) broadcast the program on February 21 at 8:00 pm.