On May 3, 2021, NPR turns 50 years old. To mark this milestone, we're reflecting on and renewing our commitment to Hear Every Voice.
Spencer Gabor
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Robert Lee Johnson in his old neighborhood in Compton. Johnson remembers moving in one day in 1961. "I see moving vans, trucks and everything all down the street," he says. Johnson was 5 years old at the time, so he says he thought "it was moving day for everybody." And he noticed that all the other families moving in were were Black, too.
Nevil Jackson for NPR
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Susan Stamberg co-hosted All Things Considered from 1972 until 1986 — she's the first woman to anchor a daily national news program in America. She is now an NPR special correspondent.
NPR
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Marvin Gaye's hit record "What's Going On" encapsulates the political turmoil of 1971 while also inspiring hope for change.
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For years, All in the Family was the most popular show on television. It debuted in 1971. Carroll O'Connor, left, played Archie Bunker. Jean Stapleton played his wife, Edith Bunker.
Bettmann Archive
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American jazz pianist and composer Billy Taylor (1921 - 2010) at his home in New York City, 18th April 1991. (Photo by Barbara Alper/Getty Images)
Barbara Alper/Getty Images
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Screen capture of the Listening Party for John Prine's debut album, featuring (top left, clockwise), Ann Powers, Bonnie Raitt, Jody Whelan, Fiona Prine and Jim Rooney.
NPR
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The members of The Doors, from left to right: Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek (seated).
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, What's Going On is regarded for its depiction of the social unrest of the time, as well as its musical beauty.
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Funkadelic is the result of George Clinton flirting with psychedelic music, a style he describes as "loud R&B."
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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Joni Mitchell's Blue, which turns 50 years old on Tuesday, is an inquiry into personal storytelling, a document of the process of sharing heartache that changes every time someone hears it.
Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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The funk of "Shaft" came less from the plot, than from cool and commanding presence of its star, Richard Roundtree, who started his career as a model.
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