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African American History Month

  • “The next day, the police car pulled up and they said, 'We're taking y'all to jail.'”

    James Hanover Thompson (L) tells his brother Dwight (R) about his involvement in the "Kissing Case" of 1958. Read more...

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    Recorded in Wilmington, NC

  • “Ron was someone who didn't accept societal norms as being his norm.”

    Carl McNair remembers his brother, Ronald McNair, who was one of the astronauts killed aboard the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. Read more...

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    Recorded in Atlanta, GA

  • “He was a human being; I knew we had that much in common.”

    Mamie Todd (R) tells her daughter, Ann Todd Jealous (L), and grandson, Benjamin Todd Jealous, about demanding supplies from the white school superintendent while teaching at an all-black school in the 1930s. Benjamin Todd Jealous is President and CEO of the NAACP.

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    Recorded in Pacific Grove, CA

  • “We had to do a good deed every day...”

    John Hope Franklin, the late scholar of African American history, tells his son, John, about being a Boy Scout during the 1920s.

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    Recorded in Tulsa, OK

  • “As long as there was one black child left in town, they had to keep the school open.”

    Reverend James Seawood remembers how African-American families were forced out of Sheridan, Arkansas, when the schools attempted to integrate.

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    Recorded in Staten Island, NY

  • “We wanted to be treated as men.”

    Elmore Nickelberry and Taylor Rogers remember why they went on strike as Memphis sanitation workers in 1968.

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    Recorded in Memphis, TN

  • “I couldn't understand why all the black men had signs that said 'I AM A MAN.'”

    Reverend George Turks, Jr. remembers witnessing the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike as a teenager. Click here to see a photo from the strike.

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    Recorded in Memphis, TN

  • “A policeman was coming down the street...”

    Ella Owens (L) tells her daughter, Lynn Reed, about participating in a march during the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike.

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    Recorded in Memphis, TN

  • “She said, 'You know, there was a time we couldn't wear no fingernail polish...'”

    Mary Ellen Noone remembers a story from her great-grandmother.

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    Recorded in Montgomery, AL

  • “We went down there in a Pullman...”

    Leon May, who fought as a Marine in World War II, tells his daughter about leaving for basic training.

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    Recorded in Detroit, MI