Get ready to dive into a new animation season that pays tribute to the defining moments that have shaped our history as we know it today. We’re bringing history to life like never before, showcasing the defining moments that have shaped our world today through the eyes of the people who lived them.
The Echoes of War
In early 1943, U.S. Army Sergeant Harrison Wright was drafted into World War II. When the war ended, he was stationed in a small village in Belgium near the border with Germany. At StoryCorps, he talks to his grandson, Sean Guess, about the honorable way he paid tribute to his fallen comrades on such a momentous occasion.
The Busboy
On June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy won California’s Democratic primary in his bid to become President of the United States. That night, Senator Kennedy delivered his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where 17-year-old Juan Romero was working as a hotel busboy. Juan came to StoryCorps to remember the tragic historical event that followed and how it impacted his life.
The Room
Debra Fisher’s father, Oscar — a Holocaust survivor — was imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp when he was a teenager. Growing up, Debra longed to learn her father’s story, but he protected her from his painful memories and only shared the sanitized version of his reality. At StoryCorps, Debra reflects on the moment her father finally opened up about the truth of his experience.
Role Models
Now a Reverend, Farrell Duncombe was once a mischievous young boy. Growing up in 1950s Montgomery, Alabama, he had role models who kept him in line, including his father, the pastor of their church, and his Sunday school teacher, Rosa Parks. Farrell went on to become a public school band teacher, then principal, and later, pastor of his childhood church. At StoryCorps, Reverend Farrell reflected on the people who nurtured him and the humility he felt standing at his father’s pulpit.