Race & Equity

StoryCorps Charlotte

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour stopped in Charlotte in April and May 2024. These are some of the stories people shared. StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that records, preserves and shares the stories of everyday people. Since 2003, they have recorded over 80,000 interviews, amassing the largest collection of human voices in their archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

A son talks mental illness, coming out with his Caribbean mother

WFAE | By Nick de la Canal

Published June 23, 2024 at 4:26 AM EDT

Theophilus Timothy grew up with mental illness and came out as gay in high school. At StoryCorps, he asked his mother, Kathleen Timothy, what it was like from her perspective. — Theophilus Timothy grew up with mental illness and later came out as gay in high school. At StoryCorps, he asked his mother, Kathleen Timothy, what the experience was like from her perspective.

Theopolis Timothy was in his mid-20s when his family moved to Charlotte in 2019. He'd been experiencing symptoms of mental illness and, along with his younger brother, had come out as gay a few years earlier.

His mother, Kathleen Timothy, says coming from Trinidad, she had a different cultural understanding of mental illness and homosexuality.

They talked it over at StoryCorps, mother to son.

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support for StoryCorps' Charlotte visit was provided by Johnson & Wales University.