True stories of everyday people

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Ellen Marcy Rosenthal

Ellen Rosenthal tells of researching the history of her great-grandfather, Maurice Rosenthal, a Jewish peddler during the 1880’s; a challenging time for families living in the tenement apartments of New York City.

Sally Jane Perkins

Reflecting on her path to professional storytelling, Sally Perkins tells of preparing to tell a flannel graph story at church, before she knew how to read, at the age of five! She has been telling stories in public ever since.

Michele M Goodrich

The career test back in 1976 said she would either be a good priest or a YM/YWCA director. Which path did she take and what did Jane Pauley have to do with it? Michelle Goodrich tells the story.

Jackie Nytes

From Jackie Nytes account of learning about the issues facing inner city families though her neighbor Dorothy’s family in a newly integrated Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood South of 38th Street.

Ansuyah Naiken

Ansuyah voted for the first time in her life in 1994. She describes the excitement and euphoria of the first democratic election held in South Africa and the rise to power of the African National Congress.

Don Steffy

May 4, 1970, Kent State University in Ohio: Having passed up a chance to attend The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Don Steffy switched to Bowling Green State University for a draft exempt status. In this excerpt of Don’s life story he tells about...

Robert Harold Jackson

Robert Harold Jackson talks about how his work with the Police Athletic League started a series of events that lead to meeting the woman who would become his wife and mother to his young daughters.

Sherril Lyn Adkins

In the Summer of 1966 Sherril Adkins got a job as a waitress at Catfish King in Birmingham, Alabama. Having grown up on integrated military bases she had not yet experienced the racism of ordinary white folks of the South. When the restaurant would not serve an...