BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — When you hear the word griot, the first thing that comes to mind is a storyteller, but the two words don't actually go hand in hand.
A griot isn't someone who just tells you a story, they educate and entertain you.
Take Mrs. Janice Curtis Greene for example, Maryland's official griot.
Becoming Maryland's griot was an honor she knew she could use to help people.
"When I was suggested to work on the commission, I didn't know what that entailed, but I am one of many commissioners I represent Baltimore County, okay, and that is to find historical places, to help people, restore historical sites, colored schools, churches, museums, guide them, help them get their grants, bring out people who nobody had ever heard of in places in Baltimore County," Greene said.
She told WMAR that she lost her sons while they served in the armed forces and she used that loss to support parents who have also lost children.
"After my sons died, I wrote a story, I tell that story, and the first time I told it, people in the audience were waving their hands and crying, and people were saying, I've lost a child. I've lost a child. I thought I was the only one that felt like that, I thought, and then that became my mission," said Greene.
Greene has served as Maryland's official griot since 2017 and is inspired by many, but one person carries a lot of weight in her long list of role models, Harriet Tubman.
She's portrayed many characters in her years of telling stories to the masses, but Tubman carries a special place in her heart.
Not only does she admire Tubman for her brilliance, but for her strength and determination to succeed through her multiple missions.
Before she portrays a character, she has to reach out to the families of the people she is portraying to get permission to tell their story.
She's reached out to Tubman's great great niece, whose gave her a lot of information to tell that story to the best way.
"I think Harriet Tubman is the most brilliant person in the world. If she were Catholic, she'd be a saint. She'd be canonized by now, but I hold her up as the standard of bravery, of brilliance. And the more I read and the more I learn about Harriet, from talking to people who knew her and from visiting Cambridge, her impact on this state is how she teaches you how to be as a person. That is her impact, that you live a selfless life," said Greene.
Tubman was the first Black woman to lead a military operation, one of many firsts in her history.
But firsts are something that didn't really sit right with Greene, she expressed this while speaking on Maryland's first Black governor, Wes Moore.
She said it's a shame that Moore was the first Black person to become governor in Maryland, but she has the utmost respect for him, his time served in the military, and his vision for the state of Maryland.
"Now, I had heard him speak, and he has charisma, and people say they got it whatever it is. Governor Moore has it, just like whatever it is to me, Obama had it. Michelle has it. But there's a gentleness about him. There is a sincerity about him that I pick up. And it's not political pandering. You know, you can tell when somebody telling you a bald-faced lie, I want to cut all of this, and I'm going to do this in the world, the world is gonna be great again. And you say you can't do that, why would you tell me you can? But there is a sincerity about him," said Greene.
History means a lot to Greene, she tells stories because she does not want the people, or their impact, to be forgotten.
Whether it's Tubman, Rosa Parks, or Mary Carter Smith, she's done the research, spoken to the families, and put the work into her clothes to make she has the perfect portrayal.
For anyone who aims to keep the storytelling alive, she says to seek community, specifically, the National Association of Black Storytellers.
"Find Black storytelling organizations. Start Black storytelling organizations. Start things in your school, [and] gather children on your porch. Find your passion, and it may be storytelling, maybe art, because, in art, you tell stories because it's an art form. Not everybody's going to dress up. You know, you may not want to do that, but you can still tell the story," said Greene.
Greene told WMAR that it won't be long before she eventually hangs up her status as Maryland's griot.
But even during her interview, through her words alone it seemed like she could tell stories for the rest of time.
For her, storytelling is about finding what touches your heart and telling those stories for generations so they will never be lost.
"That's why the griot was here to tell the history, to tell the stories, because they will be lost, and if we don't, nobody else will."