Preserving 61 Somali Minnesotan grandmothers’ lullabies

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Literacy educator Marian Hassan, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, has documented 61 Somali grandmothers from across Minnesota singing lullabies and reciting poems for kids in their native language.

Over the past two years, Marian Hassan has recorded 61 Somali grandmothers from across Minnesota singing and reciting 67 Somali lullabies and poems for kids. She did it, in part, to preserve the Somali language in Minnesota and to increase awareness of the culture.

This month, the “Sing Again” project launched at the Minnesota History Center where Somali elders, youth and Minnesota educators gathered to celebrate this step in preserving oral traditions.

“We have oral history that has guided us through history,” said Hassan, who is a Somali immigrant. “This oral history is not a luxury. It's dependent on our survival in the pastoral society. We've communicated through poetry and...