Podcast Summary: "Obituaries of Overlooked Changemakers"

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Amisha (Amy) Padnani, Editor at The New York Times Obituaries Desk & Creator of the Overlooked Project
Date: November 21, 2023

Episode Overview

This episode spotlights the New York Times’ "Overlooked" project, an ongoing effort to right historical omissions by publishing obituaries for remarkable women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and others whose accomplishments were previously ignored in the paper of record. Host Alison Stewart talks with Amy Padnani about the origins, challenges, and cultural impacts of the project, and explores stories from the new book, Overlooked: A Celebration of Remarkable, Underappreciated People Who Broke the Rules and Changed the World. Listener calls and texts add community perspective, sharing names of changemakers who deserve wider recognition.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Inspiration and History of "Overlooked"

[01:50–03:13] Stewart introduces the “Overlooked” project, noting that major figures like Sylvia Plath and Alan Turing did not receive contemporaneous Times obituaries.
- Quote:
  “Since it first began publishing in 1851, the paper has published thousands of obits. But like American culture as a whole, it tended to prioritize the accomplishments of men. Mostly white men.” (Alison Stewart, 01:56)
Amy describes her personal connection and motivation as a daughter of Indian immigrants, seeing too many lives and breakthroughs go unrecognized due to cultural norms of blending in and not bragging:
- Quote:
  “I really wanted to get at an answer of how we could balance our report... and so we came up with this great idea to revisit history and write the obituaries of people that this section had left out.” (Amy Padnani, 03:13)

Broadening the Scope: Who Gets Included

[04:55–05:46] Initially about women, the project expanded to Black men, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, and people with disabilities.
- Quote:
  “There’s so many important Black men, immigrants, men of color... and we also opened it up to include people from the LGBTQ community as well as people with disabilities.” (Amy Padnani, 05:41)

Researching and Fact-Checking Forgotten Lives

[05:46–07:01] Researching decades-old lives is described as daunting, requiring creative sourcing—family interviews, census records, and often “piecing everything together like a puzzle.”
- Quote:
  “It was one of the most difficult assignments they have ever had, in part because the research and the fact checking is so intensive.” (Amy Padnani, 05:59)
- Use of hedging and “widely considered the first” language to avoid overstating claims.

Common Threads and Human Complexity

[08:46–09:39] Amy observes that stories across the book commonly involve overcoming adversity, and often, complex decisions about identity (e.g., hiding heritage for social acceptance).
- Quote:
  “Pretty much everybody in this book has overcome something really major... what we have to do as human beings to feel like we need to be accepted and get by in life.” (Amy Padnani, 08:49 & 09:06)

Book Structure: Thematic Categories

[10:27–10:57] The book organizes stories into themes: “Capturing the Imagination,” “Paddling Their Own Canoes,” “Envisioning New Possibilities,” “Creating Art That Endures,” and “Facing the Fights.”
- Some stories are about trailblazers motivated by advocacy; others spotlight dreamers or people who made eccentric choices.

Memorable and Quirky Lives Highlighted

[10:57–13:23]
- Annie Edson Taylor: The first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel—on her 60th birthday—as a get-rich-quick scheme.
- Rattlesnake Kate (Catherine McHale Slaughterback): Killed 140 rattlesnakes to protect her son, made a dress from their skins, and inspired both cowboy poetry and a concept album.
  - Quote:
    “...proceeded to clobber 140 snakes to death to protect her son. After a couple days of bed rest, she went back, collected the skins, made a flapper style dress out of them...” (Amy Padnani, 12:06)

Listener Call-Ins: Community Voices

[07:01–08:25] Lucy from Hackensack recalls growing up next door to O’Nero Caton (“Mr. First”).
[09:39–10:25] Kate from Scranton highlights Mary Dodge, author and Ellis Island worker.
[14:09–15:14] Wendy from Springfield: Shares about her mother, Josephine E. Jones, Harlem activist and likely the first Black woman in management at a Fortune 500 company.
- Quote:
  “I call it Circles of Love. All right. And so that I think, is one of the most important things about her... the wonderful thing about her.” (Wendy, 14:47)
[19:36–20:01] Jim from Teaneck: Suggests Margaret E. Knight, inventor of the flat-bottom paper bag, whose patent fight highlighted the obstacles for women inventors.

Notable Overlooked Figures Discussed

Stella Young (Australian comedian and disability activist):
- Coined “inspiration porn”—the problematic portrayal of disabled people as objects of inspiration.
- Her words featured in the episode:
  - Quote (TED Talk, 16:31–17:30):
    “I am not here to inspire you. I am here to tell you that we have been lied to about disability.”
Terry Rogers (transgender ventriloquist):
- “She was really an expert at what she did... she was authentically herself, even as she wasn’t fully embraced for being transgender.” (Amy Padnani, 21:13)

Editorial Decisions: Centering People’s Own Achievements

[17:44–18:34] Amy on rebalancing the narrative—for example, delaying the mention of Sylvia Plath’s husband to focus on her own work:
- Quote:
  “The top of the obituary should be talking about her accomplishments, not necessarily being in a man’s world.” (Amy Padnani, 17:56)

The Power and Responsibility of Community Participation

[20:07–21:04] The project welcomes suggestions and reader activism—even social media pressure—because the obituary desk is a small team and might otherwise pass over deserving candidates.
- Quote:
  “We need to be made aware of these stories... that’s really where we need to make change.” (Amy Padnani, 20:42)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On uncovering lost stories:
“Sometimes we’re fortunate to have a living descendant... other times, there’s virtually nothing out there... we have to get really creative at times.” (Amy Padnani, 05:59)
On why these lives matter:
"It's the story not just of overcoming those struggles, but the sort of layers of human complexity that came with them..." (Amy Padnani, 08:49)
On changing obituary practices:
“Readers want to know—why do I care about this person? What did they do? How did they change the world?” (Amy Padnani, 18:14)
On the mission:
“We want to hear from people more day to day about people in their communities who die. That’s really where we need to make change.” (Amy Padnani, 20:48)

Key Timestamps

01:50 — Introduction to the Overlooked project and its purpose
03:13 — Amy Padnani on how and why the project started
05:57 — Fact-checking historical obituaries, the challenges involved
08:49 — Patterns noticed: struggle, complexity, and identity
10:27 — Book categories and thematic choices
11:55 — The story of Rattlesnake Kate
16:31 — Stella Young's TED Talk excerpt
17:44 — On changing the gendered narrative in obituaries
19:36 — Margaret E. Knight and women inventors’ overlooked stories
21:11 — Terry Rogers: embracing identity as a transgender ventriloquist

Conclusion

This episode offers an illuminating look at how the New York Times and Amy Padnani are working to rebalance the historical record, honoring change-making lives previously neglected by mainstream narratives. Listener calls and stories invite broader community engagement and highlight why remembering these “Overlooked” individuals matters—not just as a corrective, but as inspiration to better value the rich diversity of human impact.