Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Life
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Featured story: Mandela’s Election: 30 Years Later

Mandela was a lawyer, freedom fighter, leader of the African National Congress, and finally, president.

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Featured story: Working, Then and Now

We present a special, one hour episode of our series The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel.

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Featured story: My Iron Lung (Revisited)

Paul Alexander, one of two people in the United States relying on an iron lung, died recently at 78 years …

History
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History
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History
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Diaries We give people tape recorders and help them document their own lives in their own words

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Melissa’s Diaries: Teen Mom

Melissa never meant to get pregnant. But now, after 12 years of living in the foster care system, she’s trying to build the family she never had.

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Sofia’s Choice: A Ukrainian Diary

Sofia’s mother Vita was living in Kharkiv, Ukraine when Russian forces invaded. The family is now faced with an difficult choice.

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Portraits Extraordinary stories from ordinary places

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The Final Frontline

Fourth generation funeral directors reflect on their experience of the coronavirus pandemic and prepare for a second wave.

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Walter Backerman, Seltzer Man

Once there were thousands of seltzer men in New York City. Today, Walter Backerman is one of the last.

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Histories Exploring the past to tell the History of Now.

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The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island

A weekly series untangling the mysteries of Hart Island, America’s largest public cemetery.

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The Girls of the Leesburg Stockade

In July 1963, a group of young Black girls were arrested while protesting in Americus, Georgia. They were jailed at a stockade for more than 45 days, their families had no idea where they were. This is that story.

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