Search Interviews

Cousins Cynthia Gomez (68) and Amanda Gonzalez (42) talk about their grandmother Rosa Maria Chavez, their identities, and how they are finding healing through uncovering their family history.

In this interview, conducted in November 2017 in Flushing, Michigan , Aarika Hopson (15) interviews her mother Janet Hopson (51) about her life as a preachers daughter living in Detroit, Michigan with seven sisters and a loving family. At 3:50,...

Halicue Hanna (50) talks to StoryCorps facilitator Jeb Backe (26) about her spiritual path to Hoodoo. She reflects on her family roots in Mississippi, her connections to her ancestors, and her experience practicing Afro-Cuban dance.

Jaha Cummings (50) speaks with his mother Martha Bireda (78) about the importance of community, people who influenced him during childhood, and carrying on his ancestors' legacies.

Matt Mayberry (58) interviews his colleague Mayor John Suthers (71) about his experience in public service, how the city has changed over his life, and his reflections on leadership. Mayor John Suthers also shares stories from his childhood growing up...

One Small Step partners Donovan Dahmen (52) and Chel Anderson (67) talk about community, spirituality, their connections to nature, and being outside the dominant political systems in our society.

Jamie Citerin talks with her mother (64) about her life from growing up in Elkhart Indiana to family history, to being a young mother in the 1970's, from her faith to historical events that she has witnessed/experienced.

Spouses Lee Bass (69) and Agnes Bass (70) discuss their family history. They talk about their childhood, the different places they have traveled to, and what they consider to be the highlight of their lives.

Marta Pearson (72) talks with her friend DeAnna Hadley (52) about sympathy, empathy, racism, the pain it causes and the need for African-American stories to be shared. She describes seeing a raw cotton field for the first time, being denied...

I (Amelia) interview my Babci (Grandmother) about her life and what she knows and remembers about her parents and grandparents to learn more about my ancestors and where they came from

Beata Turnquist (16) discusses the history of her own family and the events in history that they participated in with her grandmother Helen Turnquist (72).

Friends Diana "Dee Dee" Romo (46) and Bryan Massengale (47) talk about the way community looks during these times of the COVID pandemic, the Destiny Arts Center Black (W)hole and Elders project, and their connection to spirit, ancestors, and healing.

Donovan Ethan John Beveridge (23) and his father, Nels Beveridge (61), share a conversation about their family history and Nels' military career.

Abbie Porto interviews her grandmother, Sharon Stickle, about stories of ancestors and the importance of family.

Stacia Morfin (34) and her uncle, Maurice Wilson (65), share their knowledge, wisdom, and medicine, as well as the five pillars of cultural preservation for indigenous traditions.

Barbara Hester Kurtz (87) talks with her granddaughter Susan Scott Peterson (38) about her parents, relatives and early childhood in Mississippi.

Bernard Scott Rush, 68, by his daughter, Nicole Rush (Maat Free), 35, about growing up in Mississippi then moving to New York City.

Family, immigration, ancestors, family stories

Barbara Hester Kurtz (87) talks with her granddaughter Susan Scott Peterson (38) about her childhood in Mississippi in the 1930s and 1940s.

Friends and colleagues Ayanna Watkins (45) and Amber Sherman (29) share how they met through organizing in Memphis, the role of religion in their lives and work, and the importance of community care.

Becky Kosley (65) interviews her sister Cindy Henry (66) about their family’s migration to the United States from Slovakia, the closeness of their family, and their family’s military service.

One Small Step conversation partners Bucky Neal (65) and Brenda Brown-Grooms (65) have the hard but important conversation about their ancestry - slaveowners and slaves - and also discuss the Black Lives Matter Movement and the perceived inequality they've inherited.

One Small Step partners Gregory "Greg" Greenway (71) and Randall "Randy" Cirksena (63) exchange lived experiences and discuss their civil war ancestors, first jobs as bank tellers, and not choosing a race on the StoryCorps paperwork.

Cousins Carolyn Bornfleth (68) and Adele Johnson (72) remember their ancestor Maria Rosa Villalpando, who was captured by the Comanche tribe in 1760. They discuss how Villalpando ultimately came to lead an independent life in St. Louis, MO and bond...

Kenneth Marez Jr. (36) talks with his partner Taranita Costales (34) about his journey into researching his mixed Hispanic and Native heritage, uncovering Native ancestors forced into slavery and servitude in the process. The two also reflect on the importance...