Ray Christian – A Resilient Storyteller | By Karen Rieley

Ray Christian:

A Resilient Storyteller

By Karen Rieley

“You can’t deny a person’s individual story. Their perception is absolutely true. Factual stuff you can debate. But we’re not going to debate what you feel.”

Christian performs his storytelling on the Moth Main Stage in New York (2019). Ray Christian holds a doctorate in education leadership (EdD) from Liberty University.

Dr. Ray Christian didn’t grow up in the High Country; in fact, he spent the first third of his life in Richmond, VA, living in a ghetto with his illiterate mother, who he credits with driving his thirst for education, his two older sisters and an “emotionally inaccessible stepfather,” as he describes it. Then, there were 20 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and paratrooper awarded The Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

He learned a lot about life while he was in the service where he was forced to grow up fast. He also credits that experience for convincing him that he needed a college education. He wanted options after his 20 years of service ended, and education was a steppingstone. It’s these last 20 years in education in the Appalachian Mountains, however, that have defined Christian and given him a spotlight in the world.

With a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from Excelsior College, a master’s degree in public history from N.C. State University, and an Education Specialist (EdS) degree from Liberty University, he became an adjunct professor at Appalachian State University after moving to Boone, NC, when his wife was hired by the university.

“I taught at Appalachian State for about 15 years, but I’ve taken a little pause right now to take care of my health and focus on reaching a broader audience with my storytelling,” said Christian.

“Education is a great equalizer in terms of giving you more options. But people have to believe they can work around whatever disadvantages may exist in their life to achieve education. Often people who have come up hard have the least amount of empathy. They think that if they succeeded in getting an education, everyone else ought to be able to as well.”

He wrote his dissertation on research that has been done on risk and resilience in African American children, exploring why some children do well in spite of their environmental and social disadvantages. He talks about risks as factors that create negative social outcomes and low academic achievement, such as limited education opportunities, racial discrimination and parental conflict. He also referred to research that describes resilience as those factors that contribute to children’s academic success, such as parental involvement, parental education, and religious exposure.

“A lot of people don’t have the factors that let them get over that last hump. One day may be the last straw. ‘I failed one more class. One more person told me I’m a bad person, and there’s no way I can do this.’ You can never have enough people tell you that you can do it.”

Christian sees the achievement gap as wider for Blacks in Appalachia than for Blacks living in urban areas, with the number one reason being the lack of community. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Watauga County’s Black population is less than two percent, with other counties in the High Country being no more than five percent

“The absence of a Black community is magnified in rural areas where family and church mean a lot,” Christian said. “Small, tight-knit groups form and are very exclusive.”

Christian notes that Boone Mennonite Brethren Church, the largest Mennonite congregation in North Carolina, is the only church in Watauga County with Black origins. In 1911, Rev. Tschetter started Mennonite services in Watauga County in what became known as the Junaluska community of Boone. In 1918,

Christian displays a captured Iraqi flag outside Kuwait during the first Gulf War (1991). Christian is a military veteran with 20 years of service in the U.S. Army.

the congregation built the church that still stands today.

As an adjunct professor, Christian taught two courses, “The Souls of Black Folk,” and “Storytelling: Life in the Narrative.” He loved the classes and hopes to get back to teaching them soon. “At first, [students] are careful, especially the white students, because they don’t want to say anything offensive,” he said. “But near the end of the class, they’re throwing everything out. Some stories are universal. We’re not so different after all—we have the same problems, same concerns, same fears.”

Christian has become one of the best and most famous Southern storytellers in the world. His stories have appeared in Reader’s Digest’s “Best Stories in America” (2016 and 2017). He was selected as the 2017 Serenbe France Focus Storytelling Fellow (Atlanta, GA), and his stories have been featured on NPR radio shows such as “The Moth Radio Hour,” “Snap Judgment,” and “Backstory,” as well as the “Risk” podcast.

Additionally, Christian is a 12-time Moth Story Slam Champion and winner of the 2016 National Storytelling Festival Story Slam. He has appeared on Moth Mainstage, The National Storytelling Festival Exchange Place (2019) and was part of the 2018 tour of “Snap Judgment Live!” In 2018, he was named as the bestknown storyteller in the south by Bitter Southerner magazine.

Christian is currently the producer and host of “What’s Ray Saying,” a podcast that utilizes history, storytelling and commentary to provide a unique perspective on the African American cultural experience. He is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists, has been selected by the Department of State as a Fulbright Specialist scholar in education and storytelling narrative, and will teach faculty and graduate students abroad in these disciplines.

Christian and his wife, Tiffany, live in a remote area about eight miles outside of Boone where they’ve raised six children. Four are still in the area and two live out of state. “We’re the only Black family in our area,” he said. “Even though we’ve lived here for 17 years, some people still get weirded out when they see me out and about. They don’t expect to see a Black person living there.”

He added, “Despite the challenges of raising Black children in Appalachia, we find the school system here in the Boone area outstanding,” Christian said. “Teachers colleges in the state and at Appalachian State University have produced lots of good teachers.”

At the heart of everything for Dr. Christian is storytelling. In his podcasts, he explores issues such as the legacy of Black children in slavery, plantation life and current trends; Black leadership; Black hair issues; Black Americans and the police; the origins of a false narrative of Black American history; the nature of Black American assimilation into white culture; Blacks and whites in education; and dying while Black.

“You can’t deny a person’s individual story. Their perception is absolutely true. Factual stuff you can debate. But we’re not going to debate what you feel.

“History isn’t a series of starts and stops; it’s one long continuum,” he said. “It’s important to remember so we don’t repeat mistakes. Stories serve to inspire and connect us to another time.”