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StoryCorps: Recording The Lives And Stories Of Everyday Americans StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate the lives of everyday Americans by listening to their stories.
StoryCorps

StoryCorps

Sharing And Preserving The Stories Of Our Lives

An Interview Reveals Hard Family Truths

When Rahsheed McKenstry, 10, and his mother Rhonetta McKenstry entered the StoryCorps booth in Memphis, Tenn., he quickly found his own interview style ... a style that uncovered hard truths.

An Interview Reveals Hard Family Truths

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Learning to Read After Decades Brings Joy

Joe Buford, 63, has a high school diploma but kept a secret, even from his family: He couldn't read. He managed to fool others into thinking that he could. And he was terrified that his inability would be passed on to his kids.

Learning to Read After Decades Brings Joy

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A Chance Encounter

At a StoryCorps booth in Oakland, Calif., Cheo Taylor asked his father, Donald, about how his parents met. Donald Taylor first saw his future wife, Doris, in 1958. Shortly afterward, they married, later divorced, and then re-married each other.

A Chance Encounter

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Sanitation Workers Remember King's Last Stand

Forty years ago Friday, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tenn. Sanitation workers, who were on strike in the city at the time, remember the indignities they suffered and the civil rights leader who came to support them.

Sanitation Workers Remember King's Last Stand

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Opinion

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

Julio Diaz ends his daily subway commute one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. One evening, his routine was broken when a teenage mugger took his wallet at knifepoint. But neither of them could have predicted what happened next.

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

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Opinion

Driveway Moments

Seeing Red over Injustice

Mary Ellen Noone's great-grandmother became the victim of a vicious, racist store owner just for wearing nail polish. Noone says she's still angry that someone could have that much control over another person — who just wanted to feel like a woman.

Seeing Red over Injustice

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Separated by War, Father and Son Reconnect

Eric Lamet's family became separated from his father during World War II and thought he was dead. But after the war, they learned he had survived. When the two met again, Lamet barely recognized the man he remembered as a dapper dad.

Separated by War, Father and Son Reconnect

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Living in the Backward World of the '60s

Tia Smallwood remembers what it was like to attend college in the late 1960s, when women were struggling to break into fields historically closed to them. She talks to her daughter about her unusual first job interview and the complicated choice she had to make between motherhood and career.

Living in the Backward World of the '60s

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Lucky Osborne grew up with his grandparents at the end of a country road in Mississippi. He remembers shooting alligators and ducking his grandmother's wooden spoon. And the story of an upside-down cafe sign that didn't need fixing.

Daddy Charlie and the Curious Sign

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Opinion

A Transformative Moment Sparks Change of Life

After leaving the Marines, George Hill became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and found himself on the streets of Los Angeles. But a handful of change from a fellow homeless man sent Hill on the path to recovery and joy.

A Transformative Moment Sparks Change of Life

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A Valentine's Romance That's Lasted 40 Years

Peter Vincelli and Mary Beinert were high school sweethearts in Brooklyn in the 1960s. They fell in love when they met 40 years ago this week — on Valentine's Day. He says it was love at first sight. She says it was love at first kiss.

A Valentine's Romance That's Lasted 40 Years

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Father Finds Peace in Forgiveness

After Hector Black's daughter was murdered seven years ago, all he could think about was revenge. But after learning about the killer's troubled background, Black asked authorities to spare his life.

Father Finds Peace in Forgiveness

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Collecting More Than an Obsession for New Yorker

Harley Spiller has about a million objects crammed into his small apartment, including a world-record 10,000 Chinese takeout menus. He also collects bottle caps, packs of gum, and other odds and ends. He thinks he's got his hobby under control.

Collecting More Than an Obsession for New Yorker

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