Stories - Life Stories
Stories 1596 Interviews 45
Our stories are about how people make sense of their own lives, how they can shed light on our lives, and how we are connected to one another, to history, and to the larger human story.
Contradictions in who is included in "We the people"
Black Americans pushing Lincoln to reckon with slavery's meaning during the Civil War
Lincoln's congressional bill and later emancipation in the District of Columbia
Progress for women in leadership, sports, and the ongoing wage gap
Police violence against young marchers during Double D-Day in Birmingham
Fractures within the feminist-abolitionist coalition over the 15th Amendment
Dehumanizing myths about enslaved people versus the documented reality of their lives
The "second middle passage" and the expansion of cotton production
Mother's advice to respect all people regardless of oppression or disagreement
Measurable gains for women and ongoing economic and social challenges
Pregnancy discrimination in teaching and the workplace in the 1960s
“I consider mentoring a process of showing your scars instead of your successes. I've always been awed by how many people resonate when I tell the story of my life. Often it's the first time they've ever told anyone their own story.”
Loretta Ross
Gordon Parks's segregation series in Alabama and its significance
Gordon Parks' work at the Farm Security Administration and its influences
Connection with congresswoman Martha Griffiths and the fight against airline discrimination
Jefferson's concept of the pursuit of happiness and its contradictions
Professional and personal tensions between Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava
Activists leading the way before political leadership in key reform movements
McCleskey v. Kemp and acceptable levels of racial bias in capital punishment
The founding and violent history of the Ku Klux Klan across two eras
Early experiences shaping identity and the pursuit of belonging and justice
