Omar Leech
Omar Leech remembers his first exposure to gang life as a young man in Toledo, Ohio. Leech passed away in 2007 in a car accident in Atlanta. He recorded this interview there just three weeks earlier.
Originally aired May 29, 2007 on NPR’s News & Notes.
Jim McFarland
Jim McFarland recalls traveling with his grandmother from his home in New York City to the segregated South during the summers when he was a young boy. While he found some aspects of the South interesting, it wasn’t until he was 11 years old until he understood racism.
Originally aired May 15, 2007, on NPR’s News & Notes.
Johnnie Tyson and Sandra Fleming
Johnnie Tyson (left), who weighed 250 lbs when she was 9 years old, talks with her niece Sandra Fleming about the difficulties of growing up obese. “You have to be extremely heavy before you understand what a painful situation it is. I really believe it helps me to establish an empathy with most any problem that people have.”
Originally aired January 19, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Theresa Burroughs and Toni Love
When Theresa Burroughs came of voting age in Alabama, she was ready to cast her ballot—but she had a long fight ahead of her. During the Jim Crow era, the board of registrars at Alabama’s Hale County Courthouse prevented African Americans from registering to vote. Undeterred, Theresa ventured to the courthouse on the first and third Monday of each month, in pursuit of her right to vote.
Theresa Burroughs (left) came to StoryCorps to tell her daughter Toni Love (right) about registering to vote.
Theresa Burroughs died May 23, 2019.
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Watch “A More Perfect Union,” the animated version of Theresa’s story, and go behind the scenes to see the making of the animation.
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Originally aired January 12, 2007, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Jerome Smith and Carol Bebelle
Jerome Smith tells Carol Bebelle about an experience he had as a young man on a streetcar in pre-Civil Rights era New Orleans that made him the person he remains today.
Originally aired December 1, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Samuel Black and Edda Fields-Black
Samuel Black talks to his wife Edda Fields-Black about his father who worked 16-hour days operating the boiler room of a high school to ensure that the pipes did not freeze. “Working all those hours, he didn’t have time to discuss things. You had to get it right that time and that time only.” A stern disciplinarian, his father only had to look at his sons and they knew what he was thinking.
Originally aired September 29, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Danette Banks and Hasiyna Price
Danette Banks (left) and Hasiyna Price (right) are friends, neighbors, and cousins. Close for as long as they can remember, they discuss how Hasiyna, who describes herself “As the sweetest girl—if you don’t get on my bad side!” copes with scoliosis, and how it affects her relationships with boys.
Originally aired September 22, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
David Duplantier and Melissa Eugene
New Orleans police officer David Duplantier tells his wife, Melissa Eugene, about patrolling the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina.
Originally aired August 25, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Bobby Brown and Rufus Burkhalter
New Orleans Pump Station workers Rufus Burkhalter (right) and Bobby Brown remember the night Hurricane Katrina hit.
Originally aired August 25, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
John W. Taylor, Jr.
John W. Taylor, Jr. talks about how New Orleans has changed since Hurricane Katrina.
Originally aired August 25, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.