Tom Stafford

In Part 2 of Justice, Anger, Laughter and Racism: A conversation with John Booth, WYSO reporter Tom Stafford continues his conversation with John Booth about how he has worked to continue a generations-long family fight against racism.

In 1960, John Booth faced racism with anger and fists but later learned to control his anger, continuing his family's fight against racism. Part 1 of "Justice, Anger, Laughter and Racism – A Conversation with John Booth."

Mad River Theater Works’ new creation, Freedom Flight, portrays a fictional great-great-granddaughter’s present-day battle with slavery’s entrenched legacy: racism.

A decade ago, artists broke into Springfield’s crumbling industrial buildings to create images that might appear in a Rust Belt autopsy. They’re now creating vibrant murals adding splashes of color to a reviving downtown and elsewhere. WYSO Clark County reporter Tom Stafford tells us the transformation began on a chance bike ride through a town on Hudson River.

Those who gathered October 11 to celebrate a 40-foot mural of Springfield Civil Rights activist Hattie Moseley were like the mural itself: fresh, vibrant, of many colors and bathed in sunlight. WYSO Clark County Reporter Tom Stafford was there.

Blontas was her given first name. But Springfielders of every strata knew her as Winkie Mitchell. She was 70 when she died September 1, two days after a brain aneurism. In interviews with WYSO Clark County reporter Tom Stafford, Mitchell’s friends described a life lived in love, advocacy, sacrifice — and the belief that all of us can learn to be a little more human.

They’re called Shovel Bums -- the oddballs and vibrant souls who do under-the-radar archaeology at construction projects all over the world.

A Springfield business is sold to it's employees.

Lauren Kelley stepped onto the Springfield political scene after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. At a time when tensions were soaring nationally, her goal was to help establish a working relationship between the police and the Black community.

Springfield of the 1960s and 70s was’ an industrial town full of hot, gritty foundries. Jack Palmer, the son of a foundry foreman, knew those dim lit places as well as any foundry rat. In them, he learned the fundamental lessons that now have products with his name – and his father’s – in 27 countries.