Visiting my dad's childhood home

Traveling My Roots Podcast

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Visiting my dad's childhood home

Sound bite from Lynchburg, Virginia

Lisette Austin

May 09, 2022

I’m back with another newsletter - and my first true “sound bite from the road.” I recorded it on the first morning of my first Traveling My Roots trip last month. I think it captures the flavor of what this project is about.

What you’ll hear is raw, mostly unedited audio of me and my husband walking in Lynchburg, Virginia. We start on centrally located 5th street (one of the main Black business areas during segregation), then make our way towards 3rd & Federal Street where my adoptive dad’s childhood home still stands.

I had never visited it before, and it was also my first time exploring my dad’s hometown neighborhood. It’s only been 18 months since he died, so it was an emotional day and trip. But I’m so glad I went to Virginia to honor him, and learn more about his life.

You can see photos of the house and learn more about its history in this post on Instagram, plus I’m posting additional photos from our walk later today. (Read earlier posts from the trip too, and be sure to follow me on IG if you don’t already).

This is what I’ll be doing from now on – sharing bits of audio to give you a sense of my travel experiences and discoveries. I hope you’ll find it interesting. It’s a little taste of what I plan to craft into a larger narrative podcast.

Please let me know what you think of the clip - I always appreciate feedback. You can reply to this email, or click the Comment link below.

What I’m Reading

I’m currently reading an unusual book that I bought during my visit to Lynchburg’s small but impressive Legacy Museum of African American History:

Ten on Tin: My Mckinley Street Years 1950-1960 (a coming of age on Tinbridge Hill) is a memoir written by someone who grew up in the same historically black neighborhood as my dad. My grandmother, Fannie Womack is mentioned by name in the book, as the author lived a few minutes from her house and was later in her class at Dunbar High School. So far it’s a great read.