You're listening to a special archive presentation of TED Talks Audio.

This talk features story collector Dave Isay recorded live at TED-2015.

We're featuring this talk today as part of a special selection themed around journeys.

Tonight, I'm going to try to make the case that inviting a loved one, a friend, or even a stranger to record a meaningful interview with you

just might turn out to be one of the most important moments in that person's life and in yours.

When I was 22 years old, I was lucky enough to find my calling when I fell into making radio stories.

At almost the exact same time, I found out that my dad, who I was very, very close to, was gay.

I was taken completely by surprise.

We were a very tight-knit family, and I was crushed.

At some point in one of our strained conversations, my dad mentioned the Stonewall riots.

He told me that one night, in 1969, a group of young black and Latino drag queens fought back

against the police at a gay bar in Manhattan called the Stonewall Inn, and how this sparked

the modern gay rights movement. It was an amazing story, and it piqued my interest. So I decided

to pick up my tape recorder and find out more. With the help of a

young archivist named Michael Shurker, we tracked down all of the people we could find who had been at

the Stonewall Inn that night. Recording these interviews, I saw how the microphone gave me the

license to go places I otherwise never

would have gone and talked to people I might not otherwise ever have spoken to.

I had the privilege of getting to know some of the most amazing, fierce, and courageous

human beings I had ever met. It was the first time the story of Stonewall had been told

to a national audience. I dedicated the program to my dad. It was the first time the story of Stonewall had been told to a national audience.

I dedicated the program to my dad.

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