Why We Play - Rev. Malika Leigh Whitney and Double Dutch Dreamz

NPR's The Pulse featured this story that I produced as part of their episode on ‘Why We Play’. It was a podcast from The Grandparents StoryLab, a new intergenerational storytelling project that I am co-developing that connects NYCs youngest and oldest generations through podcasts and art.

When Rev. Malika Lee Whitney was a child growing up in 1940s Harlem, street games were very popular among kids. Hopscotch, jacks, stick ball and stoop ball were played until the sun went down. But there was one game that she particularly loved — jumping Double Dutch.

For the past 14 years Rev. Whitney has been running the youth development program Double Dutch Dreamz in Harlem and around New York City. Now in her 70s, she still jumps. She says it contributes to her overall well being, exercising her heart and balancing her body through its meditative rhythms. 

Some of her young jumpers got to ask her about her passion during a podcast workshop at The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling and created this audio postcard.

“When I double Dutch I feel Free.” - Tilar

Photos by Rachael Bongiorno