Elaine Armstrong is a remarkable woman. She is the former Dean of Students for the University of Rio Grande; she is also a historian, an advocate, and a role model. In January, the staff members at the GVESC had the privilege of listening to her speak in celebration of Black History Month. Inspired by her father’s anecdotes and her uncle’s antiquing, Elaine began collecting pieces of Black history in the 1970s. Then, she felt compelled to “tell the stories.” Today, she shares those stories in a variety of ways, as a historian at the John Gee Black Historical Center in Gallipolis, as a major contributor of artifacts to the Greenwood Rising Museum in Tulsa, and as a public speaker at events, big and small. When telling her stories, she stresses the resilience of the human spirit, paraphrasing Maya Angelou and stating, “And still we rise.”