Bobby Norfolk

Bobby grew up a shy child in North St. Louis with a debilitating stutter. Son of an elevator operator and confectionery clerk, Norfolk’s future was hazy as a poor black kid surrounded by violence and gangs in the inner city. As a youth, Bobby wondered “What could a discouraged kid from the low-rent blocks of St. Louis do with the rest of his life?” Norfolk’s path toward storytelling and success began in 1961 when he suddenly overcame his stutter when performing in a fourth-grade poetry recital. From that moment, his teachers helped him grow both as an individual and a performer.“They saw things in me I didn’t see in myself, which is the mark of a master teacher, to see inside the student with low self-esteem (who) hasn’t found his or her gifts,” Norfolk said in a recent interview. His teachers put him in drama class, glee club, poetry recitals and talent shows. “Whenever I performed, I wouldn’t stutter.” he said.