Turns out disco music has a surprising heritage, starting all the way back in... France? Take a few minutes to learn What the History behind that toe-tapping sound.
Dr. Gina Tillis grew up in a multiracial, bilingual household in California. In high school, she moved to Texas where, generations earlier, her family helped start an all-Black school. Gina came to StoryCorps with Sheri Neely — her friend and fellow board member of the Memphis 13 Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for educational equity to honor the thirteen African American students who were the first to integrate the public schools in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1961. Together, they reflect on Gina’s educational experience and the legacy of desegregation.
Elisabeth "Biz" Lindsay-Ryan and Suni Kartha were strangers in Evanston, Illinois who believed that there were serious inequities in the way that the parent-teacher associations (PTA) were able to raise and spend money for schools in their district. They remember how they eventually galvanized the rest of their community to rethink that approach.
Diane Hayes Powers tells her daughter Destiny McLurkin about growing up in segregated Seattle and how her experiences during school desegregation inspired her to advocate for young people in her community.
LueRachelle Brim-Atkins grew up in Naples, Texas, where strict segregation was a part of everyday life. Years later she moved to Seattle, Washington. There, she spoke with her friend, Jacquelyn Howard, about her early life, and how her family’s legacy led her to becoming an educator.
Chris Horan tells his daughter Katie Wetsell about his recollections of school desegregation as a white student in McGehee, Arkansas in the 1960s. The two reflect on what they have learned through his experiences and stories, and how that informs how they move through the world today.=
When the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 50 elementary schools, the majority of students affected were Black, who were being bused to new schools in sometimes rival gang territories. Community organizer Jeanette Taylor and teacher Angela Ross talked about the impact of the school closures on their community.
Director and co-producer of the ground breaking Netflix Documentary DISCLOSURE Sam Feder and director of the Transgender Media Lab and Transgender Media Portal Laura Horak speak with activist, author and media strategist Raquel Willis about the history and effects of transgender representation in media.
