Legacy the Podcast
Legacy shares stories from older generations for insight into the world today. In each episode, we highlight one extraordinary person whose story can provide context and guidance for the next generation.
Fighting Injustice from the Inside
Walter was convicted to life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He spent years struggling with his reality until he realized no one was trying to get him out -- so he got to work. He was a high school dropout and barely literate so he begins with his GED, and then higher education, and then criminal law.
Creating a New Type of Rehab
Paul and his wife Jane have lived an unlikely life. After both making careers as high-powered lawyers in D.C., Paul began to descend into alcoholism. What seemed like a successful family life from the outside came crashing down.
Coming Out in Church
For Cecilia Hayden-Smith, her faith in God and coming out as a gay woman, are intimately tied together. She experienced many changes both socially and politically for the LGBTQ community -- and gone through many of her own. Cecilia found God in adulthood, and used her faith to fight addiction, overcome trauma, and come out.
Marching for The Dream
Theresa and Patricia grew up in Maryland, during segregation, and experienced the type of racism that wasn’t overt like in the south, but was quietly ingrained within society. Understanding everyday discrimination was part of their childhood.
A Diplomat’s Wife in Cuba
Jan Evans Houser is no stranger to international diplomacy. While growing up, her father was a general during the U.S. occupation of Japan following World War II. She moved to Kyoto with her family when she was…
Living in an American internment camp
Mary Tamaki Murakami was still swooning over pop stars and worrying about her homework when her life suddenly took a very real turn. Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, she experienced a crackdown in her own…
Policing the Nation’s Capital
In the first episode of Legacy, we explore a vital and often overlooked moment for policing and protests in the nation’s capital. The mid-1960s and early 1970s was a time of change, and protests had a lot to do with…
Your devoted host,
Michelle Harven
Michelle Harven is a journalist living in Washington, D.C., and an associate producer for the PBS NewsHour.