"I just tried to stay in the background…"

Joe Buford tells his literacy tutor, Michelle Miller, about what it was like not knowing how to read.

Recorded in Nashville, TN

"We wanted to be treated as men."

Elmore Nickelberry and Taylor Rogers remember why they went on strike as Memphis sanitation workers in 1968.

Recorded in Memphis, TN.  Click here for more stories from the strike.

"He really talked that night."

Retired Memphis sanitation worker Taylor Rogers and his wife, Bessie, remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech.

Recorded in Memphis, TN

"I couldn’t understand why all the black men had signs that said ‘I AM A MAN.’"

Reverend George Turks, Jr. remembers witnessing the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike as a teenager. Click here to see a photo from the strike.

Recorded in Memphis, TN

"A policeman was coming down the street…"

Ella Owens (L) tells her daughter, Lynn Reed, about participating in a march during the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike.

Recorded in Memphis, TN

"When Dr. King was assassinated, I was on the air."

Herb Kneeland (L) tells his son Martavius Jones about being a disc jockey at WDIA in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

Recorded in Memphis, TN

"The bulletin came across the TV…"

Kathy Dean Evans remembers the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Recorded in Memphis, TN

"She said, ‘You know, there was a time we couldn’t wear no fingernail polish…’"

Mary Ellen Noone remembers a story from her great-grandmother.

Recorded in Montgomery, AL

"We got a postcard that my father was alive…"

Eric Lamet remembers reuniting with his father in Italy, where Eric and his mother lived as Jewish refugees during WWII.

Recorded in Miami, FL

"He said to me, ‘I will make sure every day is a living hell for you.’"

Tia Smallwood tells her daughter, Christine, about becoming a business woman in the 1970s.

Recorded in New York, NY