Playlist: Celebrating Mothers
Compiled By: StoryCorps
Whether Mother’s Day is a happy or difficult day for you and yours, we’ve pulled together stories of motherhood in many different forms to offer you joy, peace, understanding, and a chance to think about the mother figures in your life and what they mean to you.
StoryCorps Griot: Mary Mills and Joyce Carter Mills
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:55
Mary Mills talks with her mother, Joyce Carter Mills, about growing up in the 1960s and why all the neighborhood kids wanted to be at their house.
Mary Mills talks with her mother, Joyce Carter Mills, about growing up in the 1960s and why all the neighborhood kids wanted to be at their house.
StoryCorps OutLoud: Corey Harvard and Lisa Harvard
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 03:02
Corey Harvard talks with his mother, Lisa Harvard, about how coming out led him to his work with LGBTQ+ youth.
Corey Harvard talks with his mother, Lisa Harvard, about how coming out led him to his work with LGBTQ+ youth.
StoryCorps Griot: Nidera Brown and Conchetta Brown
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:44
Conchetta Brown and her daughter, Nidera Brown, discuss their close relationship in life and in death.
Conchetta Brown and her daughter, Nidera Brown, discuss their close relationship in life and in death.
StoryCorps: Laura and Rebecca Greenberg
From StoryCorps | 02:52
Laura Greenberg tells her daughter, Rebecca, about growing up in Queens during the 1950s.
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Laura Greenberg came to StoryCorps with her daughter Rebecca. Laura grew up in Queens, New York during the 1950s.
Here, Laura tells her daughter about some of her family's eccentricities.
StoryCorps 10th Anniversary: Carl, Laura, and Rebecca Greenberg
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 04:16
For StoryCorps' 10th anniversary, we're revisiting some favorite stories. Rebecca Greenberg came to StoryCorps with her mother, Laura, to hear about the characters Laura grew up with in Queens during the 1950s.
She also heard Laura's version of her parents' courtship. It seemed fair to invite the family back so Rebecca's father, Carl, could tell his side of the story.
For StoryCorps' 10th anniversary, we're revisiting some favorite stories.
Rebecca Greenberg came to StoryCorps with her mother, Laura, to hear about the characters Laura grew up with in Queens during the 1950s. She also heard Laura's version of her parents' courtship. It seemed fair to invite the family back so Rebecca's father, Carl, could tell his side of the story.
StoryCorps: Susan Kaphammer and Joshua Myers
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:58
Joshua Myers and his mother, Susan Kaphammer, discuss his life living with Down syndrome, and how he has overcome some early difficulties.
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- StoryCorps: Susan Kaphammer and Joshua Myers
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StoryCorps Griot: Alice Mitchell and Ibukun Owolabi
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:45
Alice Mitchell and her 10-year-old brother, Ibukun, came to StoryCorps to talk for the first time about their mother who died just weeks after his birth.
Growing up, Alice Mitchell was always very close with her mother Rosemary Owolabi. A Nigerian immigrant as proud of her heritage as she was of her children, Rosemary would pick Alice up from school dressed in vibrantly colored garments and head-wraps.
When Alice was 14, her mother died unexpectedly from cardiac arrest just two weeks after giving birth to her youngest child, a boy she named Ibukunoluwa, which translates to “Blessing from God.”
Alice was immediately forced to become both sister and mother to her new brother, who they call Ibukun, and took the lead in raising him the way she believed her mother would have wanted him brought up.
Now 10 years old, Ibukun lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his father and stepmother. Over the years he has seen pictures and heard stories about his mother, but came to StoryCorps with Alice to talk for the first time about losing their mother.
Originally aired July 1, 2016 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
StoryCorps: Zoe Courville and Lora Koenig
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:39
When Dr. Lora Koenig and Dr. Zoe Courville met in the middle of the Greenland ice sheet while doing climate research, their friendship helped them navigate the challenges of their work and life.
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- StoryCorps: Zoe Courville and Lora Koenig
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When Dr. Lora Koenig and Dr. Zoe Courville met in the middle of the Greenland ice sheet while doing climate research, their friendship helped them navigate the challenges of their work and life.
StoryCorps: Monica Harwell and Andrea Cleveland
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 01:59
Monica Harwell, talks to her daughter, Andrea Cleveland, about being the first woman to climb electric utility poles for ConEd in New York.
In 1991, Monica Harwell became the first woman to climb electric utility poles for ConEdison in New York.
As a line constructor, her job was to install power lines dozens of feet in the air.
She worked alongside men whose families had been working on the lines for generations.
At StoryCorps, she tells her daughter, Andrea Cleveland -- who now also works for ConEdison -- that many of them never thought she’d make it.
StoryCorps Historias: Noramay Cadena and Chassitty Saldana
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:44
Noramay Cadena, a mechanical engineer with several degrees from MIT, tells her teenage daughter, Chassitty Saldana, about the summer her parents took her to work with them at a factory in Los Angeles.
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Noramay Cadena is a mechanical engineer with several degrees from MIT. Her family came to the U.S. from Mexico. They settled in Los Angeles where her parents worked in factories.
StoryCorps: Bonnie and Myra Brown
From StoryCorps | Part of the StoryCorps series | 02:29
Myra Brown speaks with her mother, Bonnie Mae Brown, who has an intellectual disability.
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Bonnie Brown came to StoryCorps with her teenage daughter, Myra.
Bonnie is intellectually disabled with a low IQ. For the past 18 years she’s worked at the same Wendy’s.
Here, her daughter asks her about being a mom.
Myra is enrolled in gifted and talented classes at her high school. She hopes to attend Cambridge University when she graduates.