Walking in a Mother’s Legacy
Sada Jackson lost her mother, Ileana Watson, to breast cancer in 2016. Just after saying goodbye to her own mother, Sada became a mother herself.
Years later, Sada was still longing for all the moments they’d never get to share — and thinking about all the questions she never got to ask. So she sat down at StoryCorps in Kansas City, Missouri with her mom’s best friend, Angela Morehead-Mugita, to get to know her mom a little better.
Top photo: Sada Jackson (right) at StoryCorps in Kansas City, MO in 2018 with her late-mother’s best friend, Angela Morehead-Mugita. By Savannah Winchester for StoryCorps.
Middle photo: Sada Jackson with her mother, Ilena Watson, in October 2014. Courtesy of Sada Jackson.
Bottom photo: Sada Jackson with her son, Kendrix, in November 2018. By Bria Siglar.
Originally aired May 10, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Adopted Woman Finds Siblings, Learns Family Secret
Lisa Bouler Daniels grew up knowing she was adopted; and as an adult, she began searching for her birth family.
By the time she found them, both her birth mother and her adoptive mother had passed away. But she did track down her biological brother: Benjamin Chambers.
And the story of her adoption unearthed a family secret that had been kept quiet for decades.
Photo: Benjamin Chambers and Lisa Bouler Daniels at the Chicago StoryBooth in December 2018. Rocio Santos/StoryCorps.
Originally aired April 26, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Visit to the ER Takes an Unexpected Turn
When Ellen Hughes’ son Walker tried a new medication, it was supposed to help him calm down. It wound up doing the opposite.
Thirty-three year old Walker became agitated and violent. Walker has autism and struggled to communicate what was going on. But his mom Ellen knew they had to get to a hospital.
When they arrived at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago, Walker bit Ellen. That’s when they encountered Public Safety Sergeant Keith Miller. At StoryCorps, Ellen told Keith how he helped her son — and herself — get the care they needed that day.
Top photo: Keith Miller and Ellen Hughes at the Chicago StoryBooth in February 2019. Photo by Rocio Santos for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: Walker Hughes with his mom Ellen Hughes. Courtesy of Ellen Hughes.
Originally aired April 12, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Remembering the Assassination of Civil Rights Leader Edwin Pratt
This is a story about an assassination of a Civil Rights leader you might not know about.
Throughout the 1960s, a man named Edwin Pratt was the head of the Seattle Urban League, where he rallied against discrimination in hiring, education, and housing.
On a snowy night in 1969, three men carried out a hit on Pratt in his home, while his wife and five-year-old daughter Miriam were inside.
Miriam recently came to StoryCorps with her godmother Jean Soliz, who was her babysitter and neighbor at the time, to remember the aftermath.
After 50 years, the investigation of Edwin Pratt’s murder remains unsolved.
Top photo: A family photo of Bettye, Miriam, and Edwin Pratt together in 1966. Courtesy Jean Soliz.
Middle photo: Miriam Pratt and Jean Soliz pose at their StoryCorps interview in Renton, WA on January 22, 2019. Photo by Dupe Oyebolu for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: Jean Soliz and Miriam Pratt make the black power pose together, a few months after Edwin Pratt’s assassination in 1969. Courtesy Jean Soliz.
Originally aired March 22, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
The Leesburg Stockade Girls, a Forgotten Moment in Civil Rights History
In July of 1963, a group of African American protesters were arrested during a series of non-violent, anti-segregation demonstrations in Americus, Georgia. More than a dozen girls, some as young as 12, were taken to the county jail before being transferred almost 30 miles away to the Lee County Stockade — a small cement building being used as a makeshift jail.
And although the girls were never formally charged with a crime, they’d stay there for nearly two months without their parents’ knowledge. One guard watched over them in this run-down structure with barred windows, a broken toilet, and very little food.
The girls were released after nearly two months when Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) discovered their location and sent a photographer, who published photos of the living conditions at the stockade.
More than fifty years later, a few of the Leesburg girls, now women in their sixties, sat down for StoryCorps to shine a light on this overlooked moment in civil rights history.
Also Verna Hollis, who was pregnant while imprisoned at the stockade, sat down for StoryCorps with her now-adult son, Joseph Jones III.
Top photo: (From left) Emmarene Kaigler-Streeter (who also recorded an interview with StoryCorps), Carol Barner-Seay, Shirley Green-Reese and Diane Bowens in 2016 outside the stockade building in Leesburg, Georgia where they were jailed as teenagers. By Alletta Cooper for StoryCorps.
Middle photo: Young women are held in the Leesburg Stockade after being arrested for demonstrating in Americus, GA. They have no beds or sanitary facilities. From left to right: Melinda Jones Williams (13), Laura Ruff Saunders (13), Mattie Crittenden Reese, Pearl Brown, Carol Barner Seay (12), Annie Ragin Laster (14), Willie Smith Davis (15), Shirley Green (age 14, later Dr. Shirley Green-Reese), and Billie Jo Thornton Allen (13). Seated: Verna Hollis (15). Photo by Danny Lyon for Magnum Photos.
Bottom photo: Joseph Jones III with his mother, Verna Hollis, in Americus, Georgia after their StoryCorps recording in 2016. Verna Hollis died the following year. By Alletta Cooper for StoryCorps.
Originally aired January 18, 2019, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
In the US 50 Years, a Man Reflects on His Arrival from Honduras
A half-century ago, Roy Daley was 23 years old and living in the capital of Honduras when a friend offered him a job in the United States. So he immigrated with little more than two shirts and a change of pants.
Roy came to StoryCorps with his wife, Ana, and his daughter, Lucy, to talk about his early days in America.
Top photo: Roy Daley with his wife, Ana Smith-Daley (L) and his daughter Lucy Figueroa (R) at the StoryCorps MobileBooth in Austin, TX. By Savannah Winchester for StoryCorps.
Originally aired November 23rd, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Olivia J. Hooker, Pioneer and First Black Woman in the Coast Guard
In November 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law a bill that established the United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. Known as SPARS, this new law allowed women to serve in the Coast Guard Reserve for the duration of World War II plus six months. Two years later, in October 1944, the ban on Black women becoming SPARS was lifted and in February 1945, Olivia Hooker joined four other women as the first class of Black SPARS.
An Oklahoma native, Olivia didn’t know anything about boats at the time she enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve. Joining her fellow SPARS at boot camp in Manhattan Beach, New York, a month after enlisting, she went on to spend her service time in Boston where she worked at a Coast Guard separation center. When the war ended, the SPARS program was disbanded and Olivia returned to civilian life having earned the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class, as well as a Good Conduct Award.
Following her military service, Olivia earned her master’s degree in psychology and in 1961 she received her PhD. When President Barack Obama spoke at the United States Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremony in 2015, Dr. Hooker, 100 years old at the time, was sitting in the front row. As the cadets listened, President Obama called her “an inspiration” for the remarkable life she had led, and shared with the graduates her belief that, “It’s not about you, or me. It’s about what we can give to this world.”
In September 2018, At 103 years old, Dr. Hooker sat down for a StoryCorps interview with her goddaughter Janis Porter, to talk about what it was like to be a groundbreaking part of military history, and to share what her time in the service has meant to her. She passed away two months after this interview.
On Veterans Day 2018, StoryCorps collaborated with Google and YouTube on an animated Doodle featuring a voice representing each branch of the military, including Olivia’s. Explore it here.
Top photo: Dr. Olivia J. Hooker (right) and her goddaughter, Janis Porter. Photo by Afi Yellow-Duke for StoryCorps.
Middle Photo: From the original caption for the extra photo: Olivia Hooker (in front) and fellow SPAR Aileen Anita Cooks, pause on the ladder of the dry-land ship ‘U.S.S. Neversail’ during their ‘boot’ training at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Station, Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, NY, 1945.
Originally aired February 28, 2020 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Olympic Gold Medalist Melvin Pender on the 1968 Mexico Games
Melvin Pender didn’t lace up his first pair of running shoes until he was 25 years old, while enlisted in the U.S. Army as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division.
So when he got the call to compete in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, it was a message he never had thought would come: at the time, Officer Pender was 31 years old and a platoon leader deployed in the jungles of Vietnam.
Many records were shattered at the games, but it’s the Black Power salute made on the podium by Tommie Smith and John Carlos that captured the headlines.
Pender was Carlos’ roommate at the games. At StoryCorps, Pender spoke with his friend Keith Sims about his experience at the Olympics.
Melvin Pender ultimately won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay race in the 1968 Olympics.
Soon after Mexico City, he was sent back to Vietnam, where he earned a bronze star for his service. He and John Carlos remain friends to this day.
Top photo: Keith Sims and Melvin Pender pose at their StoryCorps interview in Atlanta, Georgia on September 13, 2018. Photo by Kelly Moffitt for StoryCorps.
Second photo: Melvin Pender competes in the 100 meter race during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Here, he leads the group in the center. Courtesy Melvin and Debbie Pender.
Third photo: Melvin Pender receives the hand-off in the 4 x 100 meter relay during the 1968 Olympics, for which he won a gold medal. Courtesy Melvin and Debbie Pender.
Bottom photo: Melvin Pender receives a bronze star for his service in Vietnam on May 5, 1970. Courtesy Melvin and Debbie Pender.
Originally aired October 12, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Family’s Rise from Tobacco Sharecroppers to Generations of Achievement
In the early 1960s, Percy White III lived on a farm in Dinwiddie County, Virginia with his grandparents, his parents, and his two sisters. The house had no electricity and no running water. To get water, Percy’s family had to carry it from a nearby creek.
The land they lived on wasn’t theirs; it was owned by a man named Robert Marek, who people called Mr. Marks. Percy’s family worked the fields.
Percy came to StoryCorps with his friend Terry Wright, where he shared what life on the farm was like.
Top Photo: Percy White III is held by his father, Percy White, Jr, circa 1963. Courtesy of Percy White III.
Bottom Photo: Percy Ell White III and his friend Terry Wright at their StoryCorps interview on October 7, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. By Erin Dickey for StoryCorps.
Originally aired August 3, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Love Interrupted By A Wrongful Conviction
Brandy Carpenter, 38, and De’Marchoe Carpenter, 41, began their romance in the summer of 1994. Brandy was 14 years old. De’Marchoe was 17. And Brandy had had a crush on him for years.
But before they had their first kiss, De’Marchoe was arrested for a murder he didn’t commit in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
De’Marchoe was eventually exonerated by the Oklahoma Innocence Project, and walked out of prison on May 9, 2016. He and Brandy got married 13 days later.
At StoryCorps, De’Marchoe and Brandy talked about the toll his incarceration took — and continues to take — on their relationship.
Top photo: Brandy and De’Marchoe Carpenter at their StoryCorps interview in Oklahoma City. Photo by Kevin Oliver for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: De’Marchoe and Brandy Carpenter (back left and right), along with Brandy’s kids, during a 2010 prison visit. Brandy had kids with someone else after she and De’Marchoe parted ways. Now that they’re reunited, he’s become a father figure to them. Photo Courtesy De’Marchoe Carpenter.
Originally aired July 20, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.