Welcome to Voices of History Scranton, a PA Humanities project inspired by the works of renowned playwright August Wilson and designed to showcase the voices of everyday Black Pennsylvanians. We launched the project in Pittsburgh in 2024 and expanded to Scranton in 2025, inviting community members to traditional story circles to share personal stories about their lives in the community.
In these three videos, you’ll hear the stories of young adults who discovered identity, purpose, and community through the challenges and opportunities that shaped their journeys in Scranton. Whether arriving from elsewhere or returning home, each of them reflects on what it means to navigate unfamiliar spaces, build connections, and turn personal experience into inspiration for creativity, leadership, and belonging. Their stories reveal how young people are not only finding their place in Scranton, but also reshaping the city by sharing history, building community and helping others feel at home.
“Ever Evolving”
Nyriq Johnson moved with his family from Newark, New Jersey, to the Valley View housing projects in Scranton in the early 2000s. He found a tight-knit neighborhood and more freedom to roam, but once they moved again to West Scranton he struggled to adjust to the new community among children who were raised differently. Johnson reflects on navigating cultural divides in two very different environments and describes feeling misunderstood, searching for connection, and later finding purpose in helping others transition into a new city with more support than he once had.
“I feel like I have a responsibility now to help those people that’s transitioning to Scranton get a deeper understanding of what Scranton has to offer, because Scranton does have things to offer. …Being in Scranton gave me an understanding of different cultures, being able to grow.”
“The Heart of Scranton”
Glynis Johns returned home to Scranton after graduate school filled with research and knowledge about the city’s Black community. Not content to leave the richness she found in the community’s archives and history to herself, she hosted an eight-week pop-up exhibit in 2019 that drew more than 1,200 visitors. Johns is now the founder and CEO of the Black Scranton Project, and shares how the organization came into being following that experience. She also speaks about the influence of her father, the perseverance that shaped her work, and the personal story behind the tattoo in his memory.
“I don’t think big dreams are unattainable.. I think it’s a mindset and the more you can envision it for yourself you’re more likely to be able to create it into your own reality. But if you have a dream, you have the ability and you have the talent, you can go after and do anything.”
“If You Can Make It In Scranton..”
Mmachi O. Dimoriaku came to Scranton from the Bronx for college, and not long after graduation found herself longing to return to Scranton to rejoin the arts and theater community. As she describes the creative journey and how she began carving out her own space through craft, performance, and collaboration, Dimoriaku shares how beauty school helped her to grow as an artist, how designing wigs for regional theater productions sparked a new passion, and how seeing her work come alive onstage became a defining creative moment.
“Seeing (my friends) make their own space in what seems like this vacuum of nothing, but it’s a lot that can be done around here, gave me the jealous bug in a good way and made me want to be a part of that in my own way. I didn’t know how to make it my own, I just knew that I love to act, I love to sing, I love to dance, I love to make things with my hands, I love making wigs, I love making jewelry. It kind of feels surreal.”
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