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Reflecting on Democracy and Segregation

The StoryCorps mobile recording booths are in Washington, D.C., where 12-year-old Ezra Awumey interviewed his grandfather Sam Harmon. Among the questions Awumey asked was for Harmon, 75, to tell him what has made him saddest in his life.

Harmon recalls a day during his service in the U.S. Navy, when a tour of the nation's capital from his home port of Norfolk, Va., ended with a belittling reminder of segregation.

After his time in the Navy, Harmon went on to work as an engineer and scientist.

The Washington sessions are the beginning of StoryCorps' first national tour.

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