Anna Freeman and Brianna Freeman
Most of the people who step into a StoryCorps booth have never interviewed anyone before. But, as every great interviewer knows, the best moments are often the ones you can’t plan for.
That’s what Anna Freeman discovered when she sat down with her 8-year-old daughter, Brianna, in our Chicago StoryBooth and asked what seemed to her to be a simple question.
Bottom photo: Brianna Freeman poses as her favorite mythical creature, the unicorn. Courtesy of Anna Freeman.
Originally aired December 29, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Thompson Williams and Kiamichi-tet Williams
Thompson Williams and his son Kiamichi-tet came to StoryCorps in 2014 to talk about Thompson’s father — and Kiamichi-tet’s grandfather — Melford Williams, a tribal leader with the Caddo Nation in Oklahoma and a World War II veteran.
During that conversation, they also remembered a family Christmas in 2001.
They were living in Edmond, Oklahoma at the time. Kiamichi-tet was 11 years old and his sister, AuNane, was 14. Thompson was a teacher’s assistant for students with special needs — work he loved but that didn’t pay well. His wife was an artist, selling paintings and handmade Christmas ornaments.
As the holidays approached, Thompson realized they wouldn’t have money for gifts, and he was faced with a difficult decision. But, as he remembers here, it was his children who would help him make the right choice.
Originally aired December 22, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Hear more on episode 514 of the StoryCorps podcast, His First and Greatest Teacher.
William Lynn Weaver
Dr. William Lynn Weaver grew up during the 1950s and 1960s in Mechanicsville, a black working-class neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee.
In 1964, he was one of 14 black teens who integrated West High School. He told that story in two other StoryCorps segments here and here.
After graduation, Weaver went on to study at Howard University. This story took place when he came home during his freshman year for Christmas break.
Dr. William Lynn Weaver died in May 2019.
Originally aired December 15, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Bottom photo: Dr. William Lynn Weaver with his younger brother, Wayne, in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1963. Courtesy of the Weaver family.
David Wynn and Carolyn Lyon
The scene could be a bleak one — a hospital room, a patient near death, and no family or loved ones present during their final moments. But David Wynn and Carolyn Lyon are determined to prevent the lonely from dying alone.
David and Carolyn are volunteers at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, where they sit at the bedside of dying patients. David has been doing these vigils since 2008; Carolyn began in 2011.
When they get a call from the hospital staff that someone is alone and nearing death, David and Carolyn rush to the hospital — even in the middle of the night — to sit by the side of a stranger.
Originally aired November 24, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Ronald Clark and Jamilah Clark
During the 1940s, custodians who worked for the New York Public Library often lived inside the buildings they tended. In exchange for cleaning and keeping the building secure at night, the library provided an apartment for the custodians and their families.
Ronald Clark’s father, Raymond, was one of those custodians. For three decades he lived with his family on the top floor of the Washington Heights branch on St. Nicholas Avenue in upper Manhattan. Three generations of the Clark family resided in that library until Ronald’s father retired in the late 1970s.
After college, Ronald got a position as a professor teaching history at Cape Cod Community College.
At StoryCorps, Ronald told his daughter, Jamilah Clark, how living inside the library shaped the man he would become.
Originally aired October 13, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition and re-broadcast on February 22, 2019.
Bottom photo: Ronald Clark, his parents, and his daughter Jamilah. Credit: Clark family, courtesy of NYPL.
William Lynn Weaver
In 1964, Dr. William Lynn Weaver was one of 14 black teens who integrated West High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. At StoryCorps, he spoke about his experiences in the classroom and how difficult it was for him to get a quality education there.
Dr. William Lynn Weaver died in May 2019.
Originally aired September 29, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Top photo: Dr. William Lynn Weaver as a member of the West High School Rebels during his senior year in 1967. From the 1967 West High School Yearbook.
Bottom photo: Dr. William Lynn Weaver at his StoryCorps interview in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Armeen Hamdani and Talat Hamdani
On September 11, 2001, Salman Hamdani was a 23-year-old emergency medical technician, NYPD cadet, and aspiring medical student who rushed to the World Trade Center that morning to help.
Like thousands of others, Salman never came home that night. And as his family searched for him in the weeks that followed, he was wrongfully linked as an accomplice in the attacks.
His mother, Talat Hamdani, came to StoryCorps with her niece, Armeen Hamdani, to remember the days after Salman went missing.
In April 2002, a month after his remains were found, Salman was finally given a hero’s burial — with his casket draped in an American flag. Hundreds of people attended his funeral, including then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city’s police commissioner.
Today, there are scholarships in Salman’s name at his alma mater, Queens College, and at Rockefeller University. The street on which he lived in Bayside, Queens, was renamed in his honor.
Originally aired September 8, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Photos of Salman courtesy of Talat Hamdani.
Max Hanagarne and Josh Hanagarne
StoryCorps gives people the chance to talk to each other about the events that have helped shape who they are. Josh Hanagarne did just that with his nine-year-old son in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Josh has an extreme form of Tourette’s syndrome, in which his tics — or involuntary movements and noises — have been so severe, they’ve put him in the hospital. He first started showing symptoms of Tourette’s when he was around the age his son is now.
One thing that helps Josh minimize his tics is when he is talking to someone. At StoryCorps, he sat down for this conversation with his son, Max.
Originally aired September 1, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Francine Anderson
Francine Anderson grew up in rural Virginia during the 1950s. It was the Jim Crow South and “Whites Only” signs punctuated the windows of many businesses. Francine came to StoryCorps to talk about one night when she became aware of what those signs meant for her family.
Editor’s note: This story contains a quote where a racial slur is used.
Originally aired August 18, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Left photo: Francine’s father, Frank Napoleon Anderson. Photo courtesy of Francine Anderson.
Right photo: From left to right, siblings Frank, Lynne, baby Ife, Francine and Tony Anderson, shortly after the incident took place. Photo courtesy of Francine Anderson.
Sylvia Bullock and Marcus Bullock
In the mid-1990s, Reverend Sylvia Bullock was raising two kids on her own near Washington, D.C. while working and going to college full-time.
Her teenage son, Marcus, saw how hard his mother was working — and how little they had — and decided to take matters into his own hands. He and a friend committed a carjacking, and although he was 15 years old, Marcus was tried as an adult. He served eight years for the crime.
Marcus was released in 2004. Since then he has created an app, called Flikshop, that makes it easier for inmates and their families to stay in touch. His mom works for his tech company as Fulfillment Manager and Mom-In-Chief. She received her Doctor of Ministry in 2008.
Originally aired August 11, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.