The Moth Radio Hour: A Brave Front

The Moth

Arts, Performing Arts

4.6 • 25.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this hour, stories of finding inner strength in the face of unimaginable odds. The courage to make life or death choices, stick to one's guns, and not only survive, but thrive. This hour is hosted by Moth Radio Hour Producer, Jay Allison. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Storytellers: Les Strayhorn heeds his father's advice. District Fire Chief Michael McNamee confronts his worst fear. Robin Utz comes to face the hardships of pregnancy and love. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From PRX, this is the Moth Radio Hour.
0:15.8	I'm Jay Allison, producer of this radio show, and this time, bravery, stories of the moments you've trained for
0:24.0	and moments that catch you off guard. We'll hear people rise to the occasion or make great
0:30.4	sacrifices or just manage to keep on going. Our first story is from Les Strayhorn who told this in Austin, Texas at the
0:41.2	Paramount Theater. Here's Les live at the Moth. So I grew up in a segregated town, in a segregated county, in a segregated state in the south and
1:00.4	eastern North Carolina.
1:05.2	I wondered to myself if I've able to get off the farm because my dad was a farmer and my grandfather was a farmer.
1:15.6	And so I thought I'll be a farmer too.
1:20.6	In 1965, I graduated from the last segregated eighth grade class in my county.
1:30.3	About a few days later on Sunday,
1:36.3	we went to church as a family, like we always did.
1:42.3	About halfway through the service, my father got up
1:47.0	and told everyone that he was nominating me
1:52.0	and my two cousins to be one of the first people,
1:56.0	black people, to go to the all-white high school.
1:59.0	Well, this was a surprise to me.
2:02.3	He hadn't talked to me about it.
2:04.7	But I did remember that we had a conversation.
2:07.8	It was about desegregation and integration.
2:11.4	Desegregation, he said, was a legal term.
2:15.6	Integration, however, requires some personal sacrifice. To be one of the first,
2:22.3	we needed live bodies. And apparently, I was going to be one of those live bodies.
	...

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