StoryCorps - The Symbol of Integration

So there's this really wonderful oral history program called StoryCorps.  StoryCorps' "mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives".  Conversations between people all around the United States are recorded, and broadcast on the radio and the internet.  "Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 40,000 interviews from nearly 80,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress".  (quotes come from their website.)

I was listening to some of the stories on the StoryCorps website and was reminded of a line in a play I recently watched (more on that in a later post).  One of the characters in the play, a Captain in the military, defends his actions by saying, "I represent many men".

In 1953 A.P. Tureaud Jr. entered  Louisianan State University as the first black undergraduate.  Listen to his story and the way he felt the weight of representing many men -- even representing a movement that would in many ways define the decade to follow.




Listen to A.P. Turneaud Jr.'s story: http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/a-p-tureaud-jr-and-steven-walkley/ Check out StoryCorps: http://storycorps.org/