From PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm Jennifer Hickson.

Memories are vital to storytelling.

At the Moth, we ask that the stories people share are from their own memories,

meaning that while it's tempting to tell a story that you heard from your grandmother about when she was a child,

we always want our tellers to be first-hand witnesses.

In some cases, however, our ancestor stories are very much relevant to our lives today.

Some stories start way, way earlier,

like this first one. Hannah Drake's tale starts before she was born, and even before her

mother was born, and even before her grandmother was born. Hannah Drake told this at the

Muhammad Ali Center in Kentucky, where we partner with Louisville Public Media.

The show was especially thrilling for us because Lonely, Muhammad Ali's widow, was in attendance.

Here's Hannah Drake.

In 2016, I had the opportunity to travel to Senegal with the group of performing artists called Roots and Wings.

There were about 10 of us and my daughter had an opportunity to join us on this trip.

It was the first time that either of us were leaving the United States.

The week that we were leaving, I logged on to Facebook, and I remember

watching Philando Castile being murdered by the police in the passenger seat of his girlfriend's

car. And his girlfriend's car.

And his girlfriend was streaming it live on Facebook.

And he had on a white t-shirt,

and I remember watching the blood start to pull across his shirt.

And his girlfriend was screaming,

...