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International Storyteller, Educator and Author Brings African American and African Folklore Traditions to Life  

With a cast of voices, an assortment of sounds and a body in motion, the award-winning, international storyteller and author Bobby Norfolk masterfully weaved a web of tales, folklore and history around his audience on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Lovejoy Library. 

Norfolk’s performance kicked off the library’s celebration of holiday traditions from around the world during the month of December, according to Simone Williams, Diversity and Engagement librarian and assistant professor. 

Norfolk started his presentation with his rap rendition of “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” 

“… He should have learned not to be so greedy,” sang Norfolk, as he snapped and swayed. “He should have learned to help the needy. So, the goats ate grass, and they got fat. Trip trap. Trip trap. That’s that.” 

“We took a 400-year-old Norwegian folktale and put it into the African American tradition of meter, rhythm and rhyme,” explained Norfolk. “That is the key to story. No matter what color you are, what borders you have, what food you eat, what clothes you wear, what religion you are, within that thin veneer, beneath all of that – is the human soul. And that is what resonates with stories.” 

“The human brain is hardwired for story,” he continued. “Everything we see, hear, taste, touch and smell comes through a story.” 

Norfolk shared his personal story with the audience. He recalled his early years when he stuttered. 

“I stuttered terribly, and by the time I got to the fourth grade, I was listening to this white guy named Jimmy Dean,” said the 73-year-old. “He wasn’t making sausages back then, but he was doing ballads like ‘Big Bad John.’” 

Norfolk studied, recited and practiced the folk song that played on AM radio, and the stuttering started to lessen its grip. When Norfolk arrived at Sumner High School, he had teachers who saw his talent and encouraged him to get involved in talent shows, poetry recitals, the drama club and other activities. His drama teacher instructed him to practice meditation techniques before going on stage. 

“Within a few months, the stuttering stopped, and the career began,” Norfolk revealed. 

The storyteller then segued into a history lesson about his high school’s namesake, Charles Sumner. 

“Charles Sumner was a white abolitionist from Massachusetts, who was almost beaten to death on the U.S. Senate floor by Preston Brooks, a representative from South Carolina because Charles Sumner dared to talk about the horrors of slavery in America,” said Norfolk, a 1969 graduate of Sumner High School, which was established in 1875. 

Norfolk cited some of the “luminaries” who attended his high school, such as Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Ron Townsend, Billy Davis Jr. of the Fifth Dimensions, Redd Foxx and Margaret Bush Wilson. 

“Margaret Bush Wilson went to the Supreme Court to challenge redlining in the Shelley versus Kraemer case,” said Norfolk. “It goes on and on, and from that legacy, I started to find out this thing about story and storytelling.” 

In 2004, Norfolk graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a bachelor’s in U.S. History and journalism. Later, in 2018, UMSL awarded him with a Doctor of Humane Letters Honoris Causa. 

Norfolk’s series of jobs before becoming a full-time storyteller included being a stand-up comedian, performing with the St. Louis Black Repertory Theater and working as a national park ranger at the Gateway Arch. 

After resigning his job at the Arch in 1987, Norfolk began his storytelling work in earnest around the country and across the globe. He recalls being captivated with “Anansi the Spider and his Six Sons,” a fable from the Ashanti culture, during his travels to Ghana. Norfolk enthusiastically performed the story, to the delight of the audience. 

“I have seen Mr. Norfolk perform at different locations,” said Williams. “I am always impressed by his ability to bring storytelling to the forefront and engage with the audience. Mr. Norfolk has educated so many children in the St. Louis area, and those of us who are now adults incorporate his storytelling techniques into our classrooms or libraries.” 

“When he started reciting Paul Laurence Dunbar’s A Negro Love Song, I was immediately transferred to my eighth grade English class, where we recited this same poem and Dunbar’s other poems daily,” continued Williams. “Mr. Norfolk tells stories with such talent, skill and gusto. He is simply amazing.” 

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Bobby Norfolk is an award-winning, international storyteller and author.