A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

AVAILABLE NOW

Becoming Katharine Graham: Education Cut (48 minutes)



Katharine Graham was often the only woman in the room at The Washington Post during her tenure as publisher from 1963-1991. The education cut of the feature length documentary Becoming Katharine Graham (92 minutes) explores her journey of transforming this publication into a journalistic powerhouse. The film reveals the ongoing sexism she faced as one of the first female leaders in corporate America, while maintaining her principled leadership during pivotal events of the 1970s – the Pentagon Paper, the Watergate investigation, and the Pressman’s Strike. Discussion Guide and lessons will be coming this Fall. *Look for a special screening of the educational cut followed by a panel at NCSS in Washington D.C. in December!

John Glenn, The Cold War, and America’s Race to Space 



• Do you teach about the Cold War?
• Are your students interested in SpaceX or how individuals are traveling to space today?
• What about the current tension between the United States and Russia? What are its origins?

The Cold War era produced a series of complex and impactful dynamics that continue to offer many valuable insights into our current global landscape. In this Life Stories Special, Jeff Shesol, speechwriter, historian and author of the acclaimed Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War discusses the remarkable story of John Glenn and the era of Mercury Rising— highlighting how Glenn, and President John Kennedy shaped a new battleground of the Cold War. 

This interview and Learning Resources is a new format for Life Stories that includes curated interview clips, clearly defined themes, and discussion prompts offering schools, universities, and communities a flexible and engaging way to facilitate in-depth discussions and learning experiences based on Jeff Shesol’s insights and scholarship. Interview and Learning Resource available here.

Write With...Life Stories

Premiering August 21st! We partnered with 826 Digital to launch a collection of creative writing lessons for our flagship interview series, The Thread. The 826 Network provides K–12 students in under-resourced communities with high-quality writing and publishing programs through its local chapters and their online platform 826 Digital, reaching hundreds of thousands of students from all fifty states and sixty countries. 

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural season of Watch and Write…With Life Stories, Season 3 will include:

• Story Gathering with Joy Harjo
• Your Future, Your Vision with Wyatt Cenac
• Breaking the Rules with Viet Thanh Nguyen 



And look forward to Suleika Jaouad and Fab 5 Freddy - in development!

COMING THIS FALL

Seeds of Change (11 minutes) alongside a high school companion lesson.

This short documentary is a portrait of Dolores Huerta–grassroots community organizer, feminist, Chicano, civil rights, and labor leader–who continues to fight for justice alongside farm workers, women, and other marginalized communities. The film weaves together six themes that offer an accessible framework to teach about the life and work of Dolores in Civics, U.S. History, and ELA classrooms.

*Premieres September 15th. 

Tova Friedman

Behind Her Eyes (38 minutes) with an Educator and Discussion Guide.

Behind Her Eyes tells the powerful journey of Tova Friedman, one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust who uses TikTok to educate and connect to global audiences. Born in Poland in 1938, Tova was one of the few Jewish children to survive the horrors of the Holocaust along with her mother and father. Today, her channel, produced by her grandson, has garnered 75 million views and is growing. Tova shares her stories and answers audience questions about the Holocaust, thoughtfully connecting her personal story to present-day issues of prejudice. Her wisdom, generous spirit, and lived experience underscore the importance of confronting hatred to build empathy. Behind Her Eyes shows how storytelling and social media can preserve Tova’s legacy to carry her message forward.

*Premieres this Fall.

NEW PARTNERSHIP

Edovo is a non-profit organization that provides corrections-ready digital curricular content on tablets in 1,100+ correctional facilities, reaching 930k incarcerated learners daily – 50 percent of incarcerated individuals. Life Stories has made 32 episodes of The Thread available with more content to come. We are looking forward to learning and providing valuable storytelling content to incarcerated learners across the nation.

LOOKING AHEAD

Season Three of The Thread Premieres this October

This fall look forward to the next installment of our flagship documentary interviews series with nine new episodes beginning with Billy Porter and Yo Yo Ma!

Democracy Stories

In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, Life Stories will be presenting a six-part storytelling unit exploring the leaders and decisions that have shaped American democracy. Through a curated selection of documentaries and interviews, high school students will examine the norms, responsibilities, and choices related to constitutional and civil rights, a free press, the rule of law, and civic engagement today. This unit will culminate with students creating and submitting their own original one-minute “Democracy Story” to be showcased on the Life Stories website and shared with our national audience over our social channels (Instagram and YouTube) throughout 2026. Stay tuned as this exciting program develops!

UNSUNG continues this Fall! 

The Sing Sing Prison Museum, in collaboration with Life Stories, Musicambia, and the Ossining Public Library will continue to host UNSUNG, a multimedia storytelling and music series that brings together formerly incarcerated individuals, advocacy and carceral professionals, artists, and community members to explore the prison system through the lens of humanity, healing, and transformation. 

Fall Conferences

Join us at NCTE in Denver! We will be presenting two workshops this year at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference: “The Rhetoric of Image: Documentary Film in the Secondary English Classroom” and “Dreaming Out Loud: Building Students’ Critical Media Literacy, Visual Storytelling, and Creative Writing Skills to Imagine and Realize New Futures” in partnership with 826 Digital. We hope to see you there!

And at NCSS in Washington D.C. with a special screening of the educational cut of Becoming Katharine Graham. The screening will be followed by a panel and Q&A session with filmmakers and journalists discussing the central topics of this documentary including the role of a free press in a democracy, gender and principled leadership, and the state of the First Amendment today.

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We'd love to hear from you! Respond to this email or email Fran Sterling fran@lifestories.org with feedback and/or questions.