Mary Ellen Noone
Mary Ellen Noone’s great-grandmother, Pinky Powell, grew up on a plantation in Lowndes County, Alabama, in the early 1900’s.
In a chilling story told to her years earlier by her Mama Pinky, Mary recounts the severe consequences her great-grandmother endured simply for wearing nail polish into a local general store.
Originally aired March 21, 2008, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Eric Lamet
Eric Lamet and his mother lived as Jewish refugees in Italy during WWII. When the war ended, an Italian court declared his father legally dead, shortly after they got a postcard from him letting them know that he was alive and in a displaced persons camp in Austria.
Eric remembers the changed man he reunited with.
Originally aired March 14, 2008, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Martha Conant and Brittany Conant
On July 19, 1989, United Airline Flight 232 heading to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, suffered engine failure and crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa. Of the 296 people on board, 111 died. Martha Conant was one of the survivors and she tells her daughter-in-law Brittany Conant about the crash and how she lives with being a survivor.
Originally aired January 11, 2008, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Leon and Angela May
Leon May, who fought as a Marine in World War II, tells his daughter about leaving for basic training.
Wayman Simpson
Wayman Simpson served in the Korean War.
He was captured in 1950, soon after fighting began. As a POW, Simpson came under the command of a Korean officer nicknamed The Tiger, who led the prisoners on a brutal, nine-day trek that claimed nearly 100 lives.
Wayman came to StoryCorps to remember what came to be known as The Tiger Death March.
Originally aired November 9, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Mweupe Mfalme Nguni
Mweupe Mfalme Nguni remembers his first day at an integrated elementary school in 1965.
Jean Thackeray and Susan Thackeray
Jean Thackeray (left) tells her daughter-in-law Susan about a German POW who worked on her father’s Utah farm during World War II. She recounts coming across him crying over his lost Bible one day, and after she found it for him in the field, he carved her a necklace which she still has today as a thank-you.
Originally aired October 12, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Harvey Sherman
Harvey Sherman remembers attending the final game at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field on September 24, 1957.
Click here to hear Harvey remember the Dodgers’ infamous 1951 ninth-inning playoff loss.
Originally aired September 28, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Brian Delate and Tirsa Delate
Brian Delate talks to his daughter Tirsa about his service during the Vietnam War. Brian recalls making some of his best friends during the war, and remembers a friend from high school he was drafted with and their time together.
Originally aired September 14, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Iriel Franklin and Antoinette Franklin
Iriel Franklin (left) and her aunt Antoinette Franklin (right) discuss being forced to relocate to Houston, Texas, following Hurricane Katrina. For Antoinette one of her most difficult moments came when she saw her mother and aunt—her family’s matriarchs—have emotional breakdowns. For Iriel the panic of not being able to locate other members of her family was hardest.
Originally aired August 24, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.