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A​.​I. Ancestral Revival // Letters from Loula to her son

by The Growth Eternal, W.D. Williams, Black Wall Street

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1.
To Mr. WD Williams. 617 James Hall, Hampton Institute, Hampton Virginia. April 15th, 1924. My own darling boy. You know not how your precious mother pray for your success and try to comfort you and keep you cheerful in our parting Stre I un away. I wish so much you could take your mother away from here if you had another job. And not come here but papa tries to cheer me and say we can pull out. see papa say if he had you here and helping him for I am almost useless to papa I pray highly for your return for tor due useful. I looked fou yaz cake I tho’t you had got and I found it here where Massy didn’t send it off them I baked. for the pens found then had more been sent out. Persy is baking you a cake which I sending you will sure get this time the cake you was to have gotten is all tsneyed up. Your mother Mrs Loula T Williams Phone 0 5061, Dreamland Theatre Tulsa Oklahoma.
2.
Mr WD Williams 617 James Hall Hampton Institute Hampton, VA Dec 29, 1923 My Dear Son Willie, Mother is improving fast. I wish so much I could see you. I think I’d grow better imminently. I had a lelleu from Hoise. i've aee all doing weekly. Having some good shows and good pictures. I’ve just completed having the show eeiled. It cost 650 dollars. I took down my nonsense premium to 85 dollars. I love all the help. Haele salary Mr Brown quit I loaned him $1111.33. He is leaving the Dixie going back to Mr Alestin also Mrs Brown.The entire town cry shame on Brown going to the Hinie. I think he couldn’t stand the laughter. Mr Clinton the butcher ploped dead yesterday. Heart Vailiene Tillie Johnson lived here three weeks made me some money. Jakk Wiggins will here this next week. I trust you got the christmas money $8 and $14. Sister told me once she sent you a little christmas money, it little but it’s best we can do. Write sister a sweet letter thanking her. Let me hear from you often. One girl you met in Langston came here this week call to see me. Your girl from school called to see me. I’m done visiting. Tonshal said she would call again before she went. Afraid to share but i think she has some haels. Each one ask about you. Good night be a good boy and pray. Always remember mother. Goodnight, your loving mother, Mrs Loula T Williams Phone 0 5061 Dreamland Theatre Tulsa, Oklahoma

about

empowered by two types of AI, a replica of my great-grandfather reads intimate letters from his mother while accompanied by AI-generated music based on his vocal performance.

the first letter was written exactly one century ago from today.

I can never meet my great-grandfather W.D. Williams, his parents Loula and John, or see their legendary Dreamland Theater - a beacon of Tulsa's Black Wall Street. After finding an interview W.D. did in the early 1970s and hearing his voice for the first time, it inspired me to highlight my family's story using the tools of our time: text to speech synthesis powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The two letters are from mother to son, in the aftermath of the race massacre as Daddo was finally old enough to go to college, Hampton University. I hope to track down the remaining 10 letters in the near future.

We already hear so much about abuses of power, racial bias, and exploitive use of this explosive new power called AI - I hope and pray this can serve as an example of using AI to gain a greater intimacy with our past and honor those who've come before us in new, radial ways.
...
learn more about Loula Williams, "Daddo" W.D. Williams, his father John Williams, and all of Greenwood thru the resources below:

BOOKS
Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/625438/built-from-the-fire-by-victor-luckerson/

Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
muse.jhu.edu/book/16522

ARTICLES
www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tulsa-race-massacre-century-later-180977145/

credits

released December 29, 2023

text-to-speech AI voice generation - elevenlabs.io
audio-to-midi AI - ai-midi.com

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The Growth Eternal Los Angeles, California

TGE is a spiritual, afro-surrealist bass & vocoder music project. Tulsa, OK native Ghalani started the project in 2018, disillusioned with academia while trying to connect with their ancestral lineage through a Jazz degree. The music textures take you on an emotional journey, using sound as medicine by weaving thru genres in a way that feels grounded and refreshingly innovative at the same time. ... more

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