Legacies Project Oral History: Nellie Hill Trapp

Thu, 01/16/2020 - 9:13am

Born in 1922, Nellie Harrell grew up in Richmond, Virginia. She began dancing at age 14, and moved to New York City a few years. During the height of her career as a noted singer, dancer, and entertainer, she went by her married name Nellie Hill. Hill performed in early music videos called “soundies,” appeared on the cover of Jet Magazine, and frequented Black clubs such as New York’s Kelly’s Stables and Detroit’s Flame Show Bar and 20 Grand. In the 1950s she married James Trapp and had three children. After retiring, she volunteered at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Nellie Trapp was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.

In Our Own Words

Mon, 11/26/2018 - 12:20pm

Courageous survivors of Larry Nassar and the leaders of organizations fighting sexual assault unite for a panel discussion on the landmark case against the former Michigan State University physician convicted of abusing hundreds of girls and women.

Wayne County SAFE’s Trinea Gonczar and three other Nassar victims Larissa Boyce, Jessica Smith and Christina Baker Barba will conduct a panel discussion on the impact of these historic cases at a launch event for inourownwords.us. They will joined by Brigitte Gurden from Lansing’s Eve Inc., Natalie Rogers of Reclaim MSU, Michigan Public Radio Reporter Kate Wells and Alexa St. John, editor of the Michigan Daily.

On November 8th, the Heartland Independent Film Forum with the support of its media sponsor, the Michigan Daily, will launch a new website with a searchable database presenting more than 1,400 pages of unabridged victim impact statements at inourownwords.us. This resource is designed to help students, their professors, families, journalists and attorneys understand this decades-long pattern of abuse so that it never happens again. Created by web designer James Sparling, the site also honors the brave women who, with the help of the Indianapolis Star, broke this story.