Listen
Featured story: Meet Miss Subways
Beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, the Miss Subways contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl.
Listen
Featured story: The Gospel Ranger
Outside the Appalachian mountains, his name was barely known. But Claude Ely influenced some of the pioneers of rock & roll.
Listen
Featured story: Mandela’s Election: 30 Years Later
Mandela was a lawyer, freedom fighter, leader of the African National Congress, and finally, president.
History
History
History
Diaries We give people tape recorders and help them document their own lives in their own words
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.
Listen
Frankie: 16 Years Later
As a teenager, Frankie recorded his life as a high school football star. 16 years later and with a baby on the way, he shares his struggle with drug addiction.
ListenPortraits Extraordinary stories from ordinary places
Home is Where You Park Your Mini Van
As the pandemic hit, Naida Lavon found herself without a home and without a job. Part of our Hunker Down Diaries series.
Listen
The Final Frontline
Fourth generation funeral directors reflect on their experience of the coronavirus pandemic and prepare for a second wave.
ListenHistories Exploring the past to tell the History of Now.
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.
Listen
A Museum of Sound
Thanks to the Music Modernization Act, tens of thousands of recordings made before 1923 will enter the public domain for the very first time on January 1, 2022.
Listen
