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Last Halloween, the United States lost a great American. Studs Terkel, the oral historian, favorite son of Chicago, and champion of the underdog, died at the age of 96. Just a few days later, Americans flooded to the polls to overwhelmingly elect Barack Obama as President. It was a watershed moment in U.S. history that Studs would have loved to witness.
Still, the legendary Studs Terkel saw a great deal in his lifetime, which spanned most of the twentieth century. For forty-five years, from 1952 to 1997, “The Studs Terkel Show” could be heard daily on Chicago’s WFMT radio station. Studs interviewed literally thousands of figures who shaped history, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Ellison, Maya Angelou, Bob Dylan, Margaret Mead and Daniel Ellsberg.
But it was the voices of everyday Americans that Studs really brought to the fore: rank-and-file union members; immigrant families; unsung civil rights heroes. He captured their voices in countless interviews and dozens of books and articles, and spun a story of history from the bottom-up, rather than the top-down.
In this Link TV special, hosted by John Hamilton, we present Studs Terkel in his own words, in a 2002 interview for the Chicago Historical Society. The special also features the 2008 Studs Terkel memorial at Cooper Union in New York City, hosted by Laura Flanders. Luminaries paying tribute to the great Studs Terkel include Howard Zinn, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Steve Earle, and more.
LEARN MORE:
Studs Terkel official site
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