Humankind on Public Radio

Barbara Cervone, a lifelong educator who started a network of small schools and later became a grantmaker involved in investing hundreds of millions of dollars in public schools, undertook a new venture in 2001. She founded What Kids Can Do as a national effort to amplify the voices of young people. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln historian Eric Foner chronicles the Dred Scott decision (often derided as the Supreme Court’s worst ruling), which held that black people have “no rights” and aggravated tensions between north and south, setting the stage for the bloody Civil War. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

In this segment, we hear the stories of two contemporary hospital social workers who describe encounters with patients looking for a way to explore important life questions that can arise in times of challenge. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

William Powers, author of “Hamlet’s Blackberry,” describes the dilemma of being addicted to information technology, and how he and his family committed to regular time free of technological intrusions. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Exploring a fascinating philosophy of community and spiritual service, this documentary visits a hospice where all staff are volunteers and all patients receive care free of charge. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

A mother in Boston, who faced the horrific news that her 19-year-old son was murdered in a home invasion, preaches forgiveness with accountability, as a way to heal her own pain as well as society’s dysfunction. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

When we’re in a disagreement, it’s sometimes hard simply to listen to the other person. The emotional temperature may be high and we can shut down in a defensive posture. But skillful listening is a core practice of conflict resolution and, potentially, a doorway to improved relations, greater self-understanding, and personal growth. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

We hear from a variety of nurses about the stresses they face in today’s fast-paced medical setting—and how they struggle to find the time needed to treat the whole person. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Haley House was established in 1966 to shelter and serve unhoused people in Boston. Co-founder Kathy McKenna reflects on the line between helping people in need and becoming an “enabler” of people who don’t want to improve. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and […]

Helen Keller—subject of this audio biography—surmounted both deafness and blindness by learning to communicate with great eloquence, and became an unlikely world superstar. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

Aiming to “transform the pain of grief into the elixir of hope,” a group called The Compassionate Friends, with more than 600 U.S. chapters, brings together parents who’ve suffered the loss of a child, to help them sort through complicated emotions among kindred spirits. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind […]

In this episode we visit William J Ostiguy High School. It is a learning facility designed to help kids with a history of substance abuse—who support each other in their quest to remain clean and sober. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, […]

Harvard Medical School Professor Herbert Benson, MD pioneering work on the Relaxation Response has helped millions of people learn a simple meditative technique to reduce the harmful effects of stress. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

We profile Raphael Warnock, US senator from Georgia and also the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta — the congregation once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. What sustains your faith in “shaky times”? To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, […]

Progressive voices of conscience have long arisen in faith communities. This Humankind documentary explores the spiritual impulse for social change. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

George Mumford teaches top athletes the “superpowers” of mindfulness, concentration, insight, right effort and trust as techniques to strengthen performance and avoid the trap of spiritual demise. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

For the first time in our history, there will be more older adults than children. This huge societal change will affect how families provide eldercare, how older Americans access transportation, and whether people can age in their own homes among neighbors they know — and avoid nursing facilities, where about 30% of Covid-19 deaths occurred. […]

70 million Baby Boomers are now entering their retirement years. For the first time in history, there will be more older adults than children. On this special project from Humankind public radio, you’ll hear stories of transition and dignity — and meet people who are showing the way. To see additional resources and out other […]

A look at the problem of gun violence as a public health crisis, impacting not just emergency rooms but also long-term needs for healing from exposure to trauma. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind specials are heard on NPR and PRX member-stations, in association with GBH Boston.

When a gifted artist and media producer near Los Angeles is stricken with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), a community of friends comes together to support him as he develops ingenious ways to continue creating his art work, even without the use of his limbs. To see additional resources and our other programs, please visit humanmedia.org . Humankind […]