Longtime Friends Reconnect in a Homeless Shelter
Longtime friends Barbara Parham and Jeanne Satterfield first met during the 90’s — two native New Yorkers who had moved to Boston and found a sense of community and camaraderie in the city’s LGBTQ scene.
The pair ran in the same social circle for a number of years, but gradually drifted apart. Barbara had moved back in with her mother and was caring for her during a serious illness. And Jeanne was working full-time as a drug and alcohol counselor.
They’d see each other on occasion — sometimes at the doctor’s office, once at a memorial service for a mutual friend — but for the most part they were leading separate lives.
It wasn’t until 2017, when Barbara and Jeanne really reconnected; this time, at a place neither one of them expected to be: the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter.
Top Photo: Jeanne Satterfield (left) and Barbara Parham (right) in front of the Pine Street Inn homeless shelter in Boston, Massachusetts. By Jud Esty-Kendall for StoryCorps.
Originally aired December 21, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
An Online Search for a Father Turns Up a Sister
When Courtney McKinney was 16 years old, she learned that she’d been conceived through anonymous sperm donation. As an adult, Courtney discovered she had a half-sister: Alexandra Sanchez.
Theirs is one of the many families that have expanded as a result of online DNA testing.
At StoryCorps, Courtney told Alex how she’d set out looking for her father, and about the moment she found a sister instead.
Top photo: Alexandra Sanchez (left) and Courtney McKinney at their StoryCorps interview in Dallas on April 29, 2018. By Kevin Oliver for StoryCorps.
Bottom photo: Sisters Courtney and Alex on the first day they met each other in person. Courtesy of Alexandra Sanchez.
Originally aired June 15, 2018 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
The Country’s Oldest Female BMX Bike Racer on Her Thrills and Spills
At nearly 70 years old, Kittie Weston-Knauer is the oldest female BMX racer in the United States.
When she started competing in off-road bicycle races, or BMX, in the late 1980s she was often the only woman on the track. It was her son Max Knauer, a championship BMX rider himself, who introduced her to the sport when he was ten years old.
While Max, now 40, is currently retired from the sport, Kittie has no plans to quit any time soon. She looks forward to the day she can watch her grandchildren hit the track — and hopes Max will start competing again with them, too.
Top photo: Max Knauer and Kittie Weston-Knauer at their StoryCorps interview in Des Moines, Iowa on April 20, 2018.
Bottom photo: Max Knauer assists Kittie Weston-Knauer as she prepares to start her first-ever BMX race on Mother’s Day of 1988. Courtesy of Kittie Weston-Knauer.
Originally aired May 11, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Mother on Growing Up in the 1960s in a Large Black Suburb
More than half a million Americans have recorded StoryCorps interviews across the country. Often, participants use the opportunity to pass vital wisdom and stories from one generation to the next. That was the case in this StoryCorps recording from Norfolk, Virginia.
Charisse Spencer came to StoryCorps with her teenage son Myles to tell him what it was like growing up in the 1960s in Cavalier Manor, Virginia — at the time, one of the largest black suburbs in the country.
Bottom Photo: Charisse Spencer (right) with her sister Carol in 1967. Courtesy of Charisse Spencer.
Originally aired April 27, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Original Cast Member of Hair on the Groundbreaking Broadway Musical
The rock musical Hair centers on a “tribe” of hippies who resist the Vietnam War to celebrate peace and love in New York’s East Village.
Mary Lorrie Davis was part of the original Broadway cast in 1968. She came to StoryCorps to tell her friend, Rima Cohn, what it was like to be part of that moment.
Photo: Rima Cohn (left) and Mary Lorrie Davis at their StoryCorps interview in Culver City, California. Photo by Melissa Kuypers.
Remembering DJ Simmonds, Officer Injured During Capture of Boston Marathon Bombers
On April 15, 2013, two explosives placed near the finish line of the Boston Marathon detonated within seconds of each other, killing three people and injuring over two hundred others.
In the days following the attack, a massive manhunt took place. Four days later, police confronted the bombers on a suburban street in nearby Watertown, Massachusetts.
Boston police officer D.J. Simmonds was one of the officers who arrived on the scene. He was injured by a homemade bomb the Tsarnaev brothers threw at police.
Simmonds’ injuries led to his death almost a year later.
At StoryCorps, his parents, Roxanne and Dennis Simmonds, sat down to remember their son.
Middle photo: D.J. Simmonds. Credit: Boston Police Department, via the Associated Press.
Bottom photo: from left to right, Dennis, Nicole, Roxanne, and D.J. Simmonds. Courtesy of the Simmonds family.
Originally aired April 13, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A 10-year-old Describes His First School Active Shooter Drill
On February 14, 2018, a gunman shot and killed 17 people and injured 17 more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, making it one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history. This has heightened the national dialogue around school safety, a conversation that one family decided to bring to StoryCorps in Houston.
There, 10-year-old Dezmond Floyd sat down with his mother, Tanai Benard, after experiencing his first active shooter drill with his fifth grade class.
Originally aired March 23, 2018 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Top photo: Tanai Benard and her son, Dezmond Floyd, at their StoryCorps interview in Houston, Texas.
Michelle Obama Portraitist Amy Sherald on Her Hustle to Succeed
Baltimore artist Amy Sherald unveiled her rendering of Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery on February 12, 2018.
Sherald likes to warn people that the artist’s path is not for the faint of heart.
In 2004, Sherald was training for a triathlon when she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. Then, in the fall of 2012, she stopped at Rite Aid on the on the way to her studio. She blacked out and was rushed to the hospital. Her heart functioning had dropped to just 5 percent. She needed a transplant.
At StoryCorps, Sherald told her friend Elise Pepple how her failing heart pushed her to succeed as an artist.
Top photo: Amy Sherald (right) presents her portrait of Michelle Obama to the First Lady. Courtesy of Saul Loeb / Getty Images.
Middle photo: Amy Sherald’s portrait of Michelle Obama. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.
Bottom photo: Amy Sherald with her friend Elise Pepple. Courtesy of Naomi Blech / StoryCorps.
Doctors on Their Groundbreaking Multigenerational Passion for Medicine
Dr. Jenna Lester comes from a family of African American women who have dedicated their lives to medicine. Her grandmother, Ruby Brangman, became a nurse practitioner during the 1970s. At that time, Ruby was one of the first black women in her profession in New York state.
A generation later, Jenna’s mother, Sharon Brangman, became a doctor. Sharon says it was her own mother’s determination that set her on that path.
At StoryCorps in New York City, Jenna and Sharon sat down to reflect on their family’s legacy.
Top photo: Sharon Brangman and Jenna Lester at their StoryCorps interview in New York City.
Bottom photo: Sharon Brangman, Ruby Brangman, and Jenna Lester in 1988, when Jenna was three months old. Courtesy of the Brangman family.
Originally aired January 26, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
A Mother on the Challenges of Becoming a Teenage Parent
April Gibson and her teenage son, Gregory Bess, love talking to each other. Gregory says they can talk for hours, and that he feels he learns more from his mom than from school. But there was one subject that they hadn’t really explored.
So when the StoryCorps MobileBooth traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota recently, April invited her son to sit down with her for a recorded conversation.
Gregory asked about his mom’s childhood and their family’s past. He learned that his mom was a quiet kid who liked to write, and that his grandfather was a party DJ before becoming a pastor.
But April knew her 16-year-old had something more he wanted to talk about.
Bottom photo: April Gibson and Gregory Bess in 2001. Courtesy of April Gibson.
Originally aired January 19, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.