4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2024
⏱️ 50 minutes
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Tonya Mosley's voice is familiar to millions of public radio listeners across the country. She co-hosted NPR's midday news show Here and Now for several years before becoming co-host of Fresh Air in 2022. Now, the award-winning audio journalist is taking listeners on a personal journey.
Around two decades ago, Mosley was just at the start of her career working in Louisville, Kentucky, when she got a call from a young man named Antonio Wiley, who said he was her nephew. Mosley hadn't grown up with her father, so the idea that she might have a nephew she had never met wasn't totally shocking. But then her nephew said something that would shock her and come to define so much of Mosley's adult life.
Wiley’s mom and Mosley’s eldest sister, Anita Wiley, had been missing since 1987, and Wiley has been searching to find out what happened to her since the age of 14.
After a major discovery led to Anita's body in 2020, Mosley and Wiley decided to retrace Anita's life, hoping to find out what happened to her, documenting their effort in a podcast.
It's called She Has a Name, and it's part memoir, part investigative journalism — a deep dive into the city and the history that shaped Anita's life and the lives of the people who loved her.
In this episode of Notes from America, Mosley walks us through how this investigation redefined her relationship with her hometown and her identity, how it impacted her nephew, and what it means for people to try and find closure when so many questions remain unanswered.
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| 0:00.0 | I just kind of remember you said hello. He said, my name is Antonio and I am your |
| 0:10.1 | nephew. Not only was his mother my sister, she was also missing. In 1987 Anita Wiley left her home to head to the store. She never returned. |
| 0:19.4 | She was outgoing and she was a dresser. I me stay sharp every day. |
| 0:24.7 | In other words, she was just a natural bone hustler. None of us kind of liked them, but she loved them. |
| 0:31.5 | You could literally see this man bootprint in her cell. |
| 0:36.1 | What were you searching for when you contacted me? |
| 0:38.9 | My aunt, you, you know? Like if we could get to that level of conversation that we probably would |
| 0:45.6 | both discover something new. |
| 0:49.0 | Exactly. It's Notes from America. I'm Kai Wright. Welcome to the show. |
| 1:10.0 | It's Notes from America. I'm Kay Wright. |
| 1:12.0 | Welcome to the show. |
| 1:14.0 | If you are a regular public radio listener, you are probably deeply familiar with the voice of Tanya Mosley. |
| 1:22.0 | She's been an award-winning audio journalist for years, |
| 1:25.4 | has been a host of NPR's midday show here and now, |
| 1:28.5 | and is today co-host of the iconic program Fresh Air. And amid all of her journalism about the |
| 1:36.2 | wide world we inhabit, Tanya has been on a more personal journey for several years. |
| 1:42.1 | About 20 years ago she got a phone call, met a nephew |
| 1:44.9 | she didn't know existed, and discovered a whole new dimension of her family's |
| 1:49.3 | story. That nephew told Tanya she had a sister, someone named Anita. |
| 1:54.0 | Tanya had always dreamed about having a sister ever since she was a little girl in Detroit |
| 1:58.0 | being raised by her single mom. |
| 2:00.0 | But there was a twist. |
... |
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