Search Interviews

Friends Carolyn Michael-Banks (66) and Menelik Fombi (68) speak about Fombi’s experiences as a member of the “Memphis Thirteen,” a group of Black students that integrated Memphis’s segregated school system at the elementary level.

Cousins Bobby Dennison (71) and Patricia Frazier (72) speak about their family history as Clotilda descendants. The Clotilda was the last slave ship to arrive in the US. The two discuss the lives of their ancestors Lottie and James, highlighting...

Wayne Curtis (67) speaks with his wife, Joycelyn Curtis (66), about his business Mobile Alabama Africatown Drummers. They discuss how drumming can positively impact mental health, the importance of teaching music to young people, and the historical significance of African...

Williams Craft [no age given] interviews his spouse Kathy Burnell (54) about her life, her relationship with her parents, childhood memories, and her education and career trajectory.

Kiplyn Primus (61) talks with her conversation partner Ralph Baker (71) about his ancestor Jesse Maxwell Barber and the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

One Small Step partners John Agnew (59) and Steven Bates (53) have a conversation about growing up in different ways, race and how they developed their political beliefs.

Dwania Kyles (67) speaks with conversation partner Diane Bezucha (39) about her experience as a member of the the Memphis 13-- the inaugural class of first graders to desegregate schools in Memphis, TN. Dwania reflects on the work of her...

Charles Kuner (84) talks to friend Crispien Van Aelst (51) about his decades-long career as a history teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. Charles reflects on growing up in the Lawndale neighborhood, his philosophy of teaching, and the state of...

Sauleiha manages the Just Birth program for Swedish in Tacoma. She spoke with her sister, Safia about the importance for this work and how it benefits the Black, Indigenous and Asian Pacific populations of her community. She also talked about...

One Small Step partners Katina Moss (49) and Qian Cheng (31) share a conversation about their identities and their experiences in the United States. Qian talks about her experience as an immigrant from China and Katina speaks about her experience...

Colleagues Dr. Tonya Maria Matthews (48) and John Rees (65) talk about Black soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, education, and art.

Coworkers, Christine Peoples [no age given] and Matt Coats (45), sit down for a conversation about the relocation and restoration of Timmons Hall and how teamwork is vital to their work at the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.

Erica Brown is a renown blues musician and a social activist. In this interview, we explore the history, power, and identity of the blues.

One Small Step partners Lisa Lester (48) and Michelle Smith (57) discuss their backgrounds and differences religious and political views, but also find commonality on education, empowering women, and always wanting to respect others and embrace them as they present...

Lusharon Wiley (70) and her fiancé Ernest Dawson (70) discuss Ernest's family, his time attending Pensacola High School during integration, being the first black football player on the team, his time at Tuskegee University and those who encouraged him along...

Sartura Smith (62) talks with her friend LaTamarah "Tammi" Stackhouse (48) about growing up in Tampa, Florida during segregation. She describes Central Avenue, a historic district for black owned businesses, her parents being restaurant owners there, family dinner traditions and...

Paulette Isaac Napper [no age given] talks with her daughter Tomeka Napper (45) about leaving a record for her grandson so he knows about her life growing up in the south during the 1960s, family traditions, Jim Crow, and black...

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...

Friends Norman Hatter (79) and Steven McCutchan (80) discuss meeting civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., and Stokely Carmichael. They talk about guiding their churches through racism and racial equity as they both have served different types of Christian...

In this interview, conducted in November 2021 in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, Channon Wilson(16) interviews her mother(46) about her life and the lessons she learned in the city she grew up in. Ms. Taylor shares stories about her happiest...

Friends, colleagues, and partners in "good trouble," Delaitre Jordan Hollinger [no age given] and Jacqueline Yvonne Perkins (64), sit down for a conversation about their family history, their current projects, and the importance of preserving African American history.

Summer Cody (23) interviews County Commissioner William “Bill” Proctor (62) about his childhood, his family, and his career as a pastor, an adjunct professor of political science at Florida A&M University, and County Commissioner of Leon County.

Friends and former colleagues Carlton Brantley (60), Larry Dowdell (70), and Reginal Richardson (64), talk about working for the Muscogee County School District and their fight to receive their retirement fund. They discuss their legal battle and the verdict and...

Deborah Clark (60) interviews her friend and colleague, Dr. Kimberly Scott [no age given], about her career, the different museums she has visited, and the people she considers her heroes.

Monica Whatley (32) interviews her friend, Bandele [no name given] (73), about his incarceration in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bandele reflects on what he learned during the 33 years during which he was detained, his relationship...