Search Interviews

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Family, immigration, ancestors, family stories

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.

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.

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.

The evening of November 21st, 2017, Eli Frank (15) sat down with their Grandmother DD (age and last name not provided due to partner request) for an interview. DD told many stories about her life as a child on a...

Ramon Rodriguez [no age given] interviews his relative Oscar Salazar Rodriguez [no age given] about their family history and ancestry. Oscar tells stories of El Mulato y Ojinaga, México, reflects on the cultural traits passed down through the family from...

Mari Teresa Fernandez (67) and her husband, Albert R. Fernandez (71), discuss memories of growing up. Albert Fernandez describes growing up in the immigrant neighborhood of Ybor City in Tampa, Florida. Mari Fernandez describes migrating from Cuba at seven years...

Rebecca Nyman Ellis (47) interviews her mother, Ruth Lawson (68), about the life of Ruth's great-great-grandmother, Matilda Poole.

Kiplyn Primus (61) and Bilal K. Shareef (42) are fellow pilgrims who traveled to Ghana in 2019 for the inaugural Year of Return. They talk about how that journey continues to resonate with them.

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

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.

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.

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).

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

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...

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

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