Movies: Storycorps

Jackie Miller adopted her son, Scott, in the early 1970s. In 2008, Scott brought his mom to StoryCorps to ask her about that decision....

It was just two days before Christmas in 1958 when John Cruitt's mother died after being seriously ill with multiple sclerosis. At the time, he was a student in Cecile Doyle's third grade class. And an act of kindness she showed him became stamped in...

In 1955, John L. Black, Sr. started his job as a janitor for the Cincinnati public school system. He regularly put in 16-hour days to provide for his wife and eleven children. At StoryCorps, his son Samuel talks with his wife, Edda Fields-Black, abou...

Brooklynites Danny, an OTB clerk, and Annie, a nurse, remember their life together -- from their first date to Danny's final days with terminal cancer. This remarkable couple personifies the eloquence, grace, and poetry that can be found in the voice...

Patrick Haggerty grew up the son of a dairy farmer in rural Dry Creek, Washington, during the 1950s. As a teenager, Pat began to understand he was gay—something he thought he was hiding well. But one day, after performing at a school assembly, Pat le...

On the morning of September 11th, Michael Trinidad called his ex-wife, Monique Ferrer, from the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower to say goodbye. In the wake of his death, Monique tells the story of Michael's lasting legacy—the fami...

When Sharon Adams moved back to her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the late 1990s, she needed help with fixing her house. Initially there to do electrical work, Larry Adams found himself enamored by Sharon. The two fell in love and embarked on a...

Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden was born into enslavement in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She was 7 years old when she was freed. She stayed in Black Mountain and became a midwife, delivering several hundred babies including her own grandchildren. Her ...

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. At StoryCorps, Debra re...

The first-ever animated feature from StoryCorps, Listening Is an Act of Love, presents six stories from 10 years of StoryCorps, where everyday people sit down together to ask life’s important questions and share stories from their lives. Framing thes...

Bryan Wilmoth is the oldest of eight children who grew up in a very strict household. Eventually, all the siblings became estranged from their parents. At StoryCorps, Bryan told his brother mike about the day their father discovered that Bryan was ga...

John Vigiano Sr. is a retired New York City firefighter whose two sons followed him into service—John Jr. was a firefighter, too, and Joe was a police detective. On September 11, 2001, both Vigiano brothers responded to the call from the World Trade...

When Joseph Patton joined the Navy in 1955, he recalls serving in silence, as the LGBTQIA+ community could not be open while in the military. Despite being the “perfect sailor,” Joseph was kicked out of the Navy for being friends with gay service mem...

When Jeffrey Perri was nine years old, his grandfather, Tony Perri, came out to him as gay. At StoryCorps, grandfather and grandson share memories of their respective coming out journeys and reflect on how much they mean to each other....

Barnie Botone was 22 years old when he got his very first job on the railroad. Nearly a hundred years prior, his great-great grandfather Guipago, a chief of the Kiowa Tribe of the Great Plains, was imprisoned by the U.S. Army and taken away by train ...

John Washington was born blind and with a severe loss of hearing that has become more extreme over time. He raised three children with his wife Fannie Ruth, who was also blind and deaf....

Growing up in Wyoming in the 1950s, Sissy Goodwin started wearing his sister’s dresses. As an adult, he still felt happiest in dresses and skirts. At StoryCorps, Sissy talks with his wife Vickie about how they forged a new path that allowed Sissy to ...

The great oral historian Studs Terkel was an inspiration to StoryCorps, and he was also an early participant in the project. In this animated short, he speaks out on what has been lost in modern life and where he sees hope for our future....

Sue McConnell and Kristyn Weed are best friends and Vietnam-era veterans. Although they didn’t serve in the war together, they share a story of courage — on and off the battlefield. They met at a transgender veterans’ support group and became insepar...

In 2018, at the age of 63, Dee Westenhauser came out as a transgender woman. But growing up in El Paso, Texas in the 1950s she remembers having a hard time fitting in. One weekend, her parents decided to take her to her aunt Yaya’s house. Aunt Yaya s...