Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Life
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Featured story: American Migrant

During the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, millions of desperate Americans abandoned their homes, farms and businesses. It was one …

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Featured story: The Almost Astronaut (Revisited)

In an attempt to beat the Soviet Union in the space race, the Kennedy administration enlisted Air Force captain Ed Dwight to enter the astronaut training program as its first Black trainee.

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Featured story: The End of Smallpox

Rahima Banu holds a remarkable place in history, as the last known person in the world to be infected with smallpox. This week on the RadioDiaries podcast, the story behind a global effort to eradicate the deadly virus.

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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Majd’s Diary: Two Years in the Life of a Saudi Girl

Majd wants to be a scientist. Her family wants to arrange her marriage.

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Melissa: 16 Years Later

As an 18 year old raised in the foster care system, Melissa took NPR listeners along when she gave birth to her son Issaiah. Sixteen years later she chronicles her life as a working single mother.

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Portraits Extraordinary stories from ordinary places

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Lockdown in Lockup

Moe Monsuri shares his experience of the pandemic from behind bars at Sing Sing prison. Part of our new series Hunker Down Diaries.

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Centenarians in Lockdown

Winner of the 2020 Third Coast Festival Award! Joe Newman is 107 years old. He recorded himself and his fiancé, Anita Sampson on her 100th birthday.

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Histories Exploring the past to tell the History of Now.

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My Iron Lung (Revisited)

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

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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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