The train car was packed with boxes, a piano, and most of his family squeezed tightly inside. All their tickets were one-way; their plan to escape Jim Crow was finally in motion. At only four years old James Earl Jones sobbed, not understanding why his mother left him to be raised by his extended family.
Jones arrived in Michigan. Like the other six million Black people vacating the South during the Great Migration, his family was ready to start a new life. But the trauma of abandonment stayed with him, and he developed a stutter. Other children made fun of his speech, so Jones stopped speaking altogether.
Jones refused to speak for years, so how did he grow up to be James Earl Jones, one of the entertainment industry's most iconic voices? How did he transform from silent to superstar?
An English teacher encouraged him to recite poetry aloud. He was scared, but he did it. And once he started, he didn’t want to stop. In college, Jones majored in theater, which led to his work in over 100 films, voicing iconic roles like Darth Vader and Mufasa, and the voice of CNN.
Jones still worked with his stutter until his death in 2024. We’re all working through trauma, especially anti-Black trauma. Jones reminds us that we all have the power to move forward and thrive.