TED Salon The Macallan
Amy Padnani: How we're honoring people overlooked by history
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Since its founding in 1851, the "New York Times" has published thousands of obituaries -- for heads of state, famous celebrities, even the inventor of the sock puppet. But only a small percentage of them chronicle the lives of women and people of color. In this insightful talk, "Times" editor Amy Padnani shares the story behind "Overlooked," the project she's leading to recognize people from history whose deaths were ignored -- and refocus society's lens on who is considered important.
Amy Padnani - Obituaries editor
Amy Padnani shines a light on the stories of remarkable people once overlooked by history. Full bio
Amy Padnani shines a light on the stories of remarkable people once overlooked by history. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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My name is Amy Padnani,
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and I'm an editor on the obituaries desk
at the "New York Times."
at the "New York Times."
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Or, as some friends call me,
the angel of death.
the angel of death.
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(Laughter)
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In fact, people will ask me,
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"Isn't it depressing,
working on obituaries
working on obituaries
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and thinking about death all the time?"
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But you know what I tell them?
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Obits aren't about death,
they're about life,
they're about life,
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they're interesting, they're relatable.
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Often about something you never knew.
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Recently, for example,
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we had the obit for the inventor
of the sock puppet.
of the sock puppet.
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(Laughter)
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Everyone knows what a sock puppet is,
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but have you ever thought
about who created it,
about who created it,
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or what their life was like?
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Obits are a signature form of journalism.
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An art form, if you will.
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It's an opportunity for a writer
to weave the tale of a person's life
to weave the tale of a person's life
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into a beautiful narrative.
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Since 1851,
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the "New York Times"
has published thousands of obituaries.
has published thousands of obituaries.
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For heads of state, famous celebrities,
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even the person who came up
with the name on the Slinky.
with the name on the Slinky.
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There's just one problem.
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Only a small percentage of them
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chronicle the lives of women
and people of color.
and people of color.
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That's the impetus
behind a project I created
behind a project I created
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called "Overlooked,"
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which tells the stories
of marginalized groups of people
of marginalized groups of people
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who never got an obit.
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It's a chance for the newspaper to revisit
its 168-year existence
its 168-year existence
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and fill in the gaps
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for people who were,
for whatever reason, left out.
for whatever reason, left out.
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It's a chance to right
the wrongs of the past,
the wrongs of the past,
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and to refocus society's lens
on who is considered important.
on who is considered important.
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I came up with the idea
when I first joined Obituaries in 2017.
when I first joined Obituaries in 2017.
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The Black Lives Matter movement
was at a rolling boil,
was at a rolling boil,
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and the conversation on gender inequality
had just started bubbling up again.
had just started bubbling up again.
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And at the same time, I wondered,
as a journalist and as a woman of color,
as a journalist and as a woman of color,
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what could I do to help
advance this conversation.
advance this conversation.
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People were coming out of the shadows
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to tell stories of injustices
that they had faced,
that they had faced,
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and I could feel their pain.
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So I noticed we would get
these emails, sometimes, from readers,
these emails, sometimes, from readers,
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saying, "Hey, why don't you have
more women and people of color
more women and people of color
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in your obituaries?"
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And I thought, "Yeah, why don't we?"
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Since I was new to the team,
I asked my colleagues,
I asked my colleagues,
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and they said, "Well, the people
who are dying today
who are dying today
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are from a generation
when women and people of color
when women and people of color
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weren't invited to the table
to make a difference.
to make a difference.
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Perhaps in a generation or two,
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we'll start to see more women
and people of color in our obituaries."
and people of color in our obituaries."
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That answer just wasn't satisfying at all.
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(Laughter)
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I wanted to know:
Where are all the dead women?
Where are all the dead women?
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(Laughter)
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So I started thinking about how we hear
about people who have died, right?
about people who have died, right?
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Number one way
is through reader submissions.
is through reader submissions.
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And so I thought,
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"Well, what if we were to look
at international newspapers
at international newspapers
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or scour social media?"
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It was around this time when ...
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Everything was swirling in my mind,
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and I came across a website
about Mary Outerbridge.
about Mary Outerbridge.
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She was credited with introducing
tennis to America in 1874.
tennis to America in 1874.
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And I thought, wow,
one of the biggest sports in America
one of the biggest sports in America
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was introduced by a woman?
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Does anyone even know that?
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And did she get a New York Times obituary?
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Spoiler alert -- she did not.
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(Laughter)
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So then I wondered who else we missed.
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And it sent me on this deep dive
through the archives.
through the archives.
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There were some surprises.
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The pioneering journalist Ida B. Wells,
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who started the campaign against lynching.
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The brilliant poet Sylvia Plath.
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Ada Lovelace, a mathematician
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now recognized as the first
computer programmer.
computer programmer.
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So I went back to my team and I said,
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"What if we were to tell
their stories now?"
their stories now?"
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It took a while to get buy-in.
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There was this concern that, you know,
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the newspaper might look bad
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because it didn't get it right
the first time.
the first time.
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It was also a little weird
to sort of look back at the past,
to sort of look back at the past,
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rather than cover news stories of our day.
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But I said, "Guys, I really think
this is worthwhile."
this is worthwhile."
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And once my team saw the value in it,
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they were all in.
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And so, with the help
of a dozen writers and editors,
of a dozen writers and editors,
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we launched on March 8, 2018,
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with the stories of 15 remarkable women.
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And while I knew that the work
my team was doing was powerful,
my team was doing was powerful,
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I didn't expect the response
to be equally powerful.
to be equally powerful.
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I had hundreds of emails.
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They were from people who said,
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"Thank you for finally giving
these women a voice."
these women a voice."
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They were from readers who said,
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"I cried on my way to work,
reading these stories,
reading these stories,
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because I felt seen for the first time."
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And they were from colleagues
of mine, who said,
of mine, who said,
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"I never thought a woman of color
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would be allowed to achieve
something like this
something like this
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at the 'New York Times.'"
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I also got about 4,000 reader submissions
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suggesting who else
we might have overlooked.
we might have overlooked.
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And some of those are my favorite
stories in the project.
stories in the project.
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My all-time favorite is Grandma Gatewood.
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(Laughter)
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She survived 30 years of domestic violence
at the hands of her husband.
at the hands of her husband.
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One day, he beat her so badly,
beyond recognition,
beyond recognition,
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he even broke a broomstick over her head,
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and she threw flour
in his face in response.
in his face in response.
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But when the police arrived,
they arrested her, not him.
they arrested her, not him.
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The mayor saw her in jail
and took her into his own home
and took her into his own home
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until she could get back on her feet.
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Then, one day, she read this article
in "National Geographic"
in "National Geographic"
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about how no woman had ever hiked
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the Appalachian Trail
in its entirety alone.
in its entirety alone.
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And she said, "You know what?
I'm going to do it."
I'm going to do it."
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Reporters caught wind of the old grandma
who is hiking through the woods.
who is hiking through the woods.
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And at the finish, they asked her,
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"How did you survive so rough a place?"
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But they had no idea
what she had survived before that.
what she had survived before that.
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So, "Overlooked" has become
wildly successful.
wildly successful.
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It's becoming a TV show now, on Netflix.
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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I cannot wait to see
this thing come to life.
this thing come to life.
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Something like 25 different publishers
have reached out to me
have reached out to me
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with interest in turning
"Overlooked" into a book.
"Overlooked" into a book.
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All of this clearly shows
how timely and necessary this project is.
how timely and necessary this project is.
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It's also a reminder of how newspapers
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document what's happening
in our world every single day,
in our world every single day,
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and we have to make sure
not to leave out key people.
not to leave out key people.
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That's why, even though it's been
so meaningful to look back in the past,
so meaningful to look back in the past,
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I'm plagued with the lingering question:
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"What about the future of obituaries --
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how do I diversify those?"
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That was my original problem, right?
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So to start answering this question,
I wanted to gather some information.
I wanted to gather some information.
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I went down to the sub-sub-basement level
of the New York Times Building,
of the New York Times Building,
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to the archives.
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We call it the morgue.
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(Laughter)
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And I asked for some guidance
from our archivist there.
from our archivist there.
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He pointed me to a book called
"New York Times Obituaries Index."
"New York Times Obituaries Index."
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So we handed it to the New York
Genealogical Society,
Genealogical Society,
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and they digitized it for us.
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And then a programmer wrote up a program
that scanned all those headlines
that scanned all those headlines
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for "Mr.," Mrs.," "Lady," "Sir,"
all the sort of gender-defining terms.
all the sort of gender-defining terms.
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And what we found
was that from 1851 to 2017,
was that from 1851 to 2017,
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only about 15 to 20 percent
of our obits were on women.
of our obits were on women.
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So next, I worked with a programmer
to build this tool,
to build this tool,
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called the diversity analysis tool.
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It's a very dry name,
but bear with me, it's super helpful.
but bear with me, it's super helpful.
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It breaks down the percentage of our obits
month to month, women to men.
month to month, women to men.
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OK, if that doesn't sound
like much to you,
like much to you,
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this is how I used to calculate it before.
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(Laughter)
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So I asked this programmer
to program in a goal,
to program in a goal,
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and that goal was 30 percent.
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From the year of "Overlooked's"
launch, March of 2018,
launch, March of 2018,
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to March of 2019,
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I was hoping we could get
to 30 percent of our obits on women.
to 30 percent of our obits on women.
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It was a number we hadn't
achieved in a 168 years,
achieved in a 168 years,
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and I'm happy to say we did it --
we got to 31 percent.
we got to 31 percent.
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(Applause)
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It's awesome, but it's not enough.
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Next we're hoping to get to 35 percent,
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and then 40 percent,
until we achieve parity.
until we achieve parity.
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And then I'm hoping to partner
with this programmer again,
with this programmer again,
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to build a similar tool to measure
people of color in our obits.
people of color in our obits.
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That was something I wanted to do
with "Overlooked" too,
with "Overlooked" too,
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to include men of color,
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and I finally got to do it
with a special section
with a special section
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for Black History Month,
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where we told the stories
of about a dozen black men and women.
of about a dozen black men and women.
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Again, it was a really
powerful experience.
powerful experience.
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Many of these people had been slaves
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or were a generation removed from slavery.
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A lot of them had to make up
stories about their past
stories about their past
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just to get ahead in life.
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And there were these patterns
of their struggles
of their struggles
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that came up again and again.
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Elizabeth Jennings, for instance,
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had to fight for her right to ride
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on segregated street cars
in New York City --
in New York City --
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a hundred years before Rosa Parks
did the exact same thing with buses.
did the exact same thing with buses.
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It was just a reminder
of how far we've come,
of how far we've come,
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and how much more
we still have left to do.
we still have left to do.
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"Overlooked" is including
other marginalized people as well.
other marginalized people as well.
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Recently, we had the obit
for the computer programmer Alan Turing.
for the computer programmer Alan Turing.
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Believe it or not, this brilliant man
never got an obituary,
never got an obituary,
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even though his work
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decoding German messages
during World War II
during World War II
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helps end the war.
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Instead, he died a criminal
for his sexual orientation,
for his sexual orientation,
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and he was forced to endure
chemical castration.
chemical castration.
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Great things, like this obits project,
do not come easily.
do not come easily.
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There were a lot of fits and starts
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as I worked hard to convince people
it was worth getting it off the ground.
it was worth getting it off the ground.
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There were moments
when I faced great self-doubt.
when I faced great self-doubt.
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I wondered if I was crazy
or if I was all alone,
or if I was all alone,
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and if I should just give up.
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When I've seen the reaction
to this project,
to this project,
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I know I'm not at all alone.
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There's so many people
who feel the way I do.
who feel the way I do.
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And so yeah, not many people
think about obituaries.
think about obituaries.
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But when you do, you realize
they're a testament to a human life.
they're a testament to a human life.
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They're the last chance to talk about
somebody's contribution on the world.
somebody's contribution on the world.
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They were also an example
of who society deemed important.
of who society deemed important.
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A hundred years from now,
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somebody could be looking into the past
to see what our time was like.
to see what our time was like.
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I'm lucky, as a journalist,
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to have been able to have used
this form of storytelling
this form of storytelling
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to help shift a narrative.
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I was also able to get
an established institution
an established institution
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to question its own status quo.
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Little by little, I'm hoping
I can keep doing this work,
I can keep doing this work,
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and continue refocusing society's lens
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so that nobody else gets overlooked.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amy Padnani - Obituaries editorAmy Padnani shines a light on the stories of remarkable people once overlooked by history.
Why you should listen
Amy Padnani has been an editor at the New York Times since 2011. While on the obituaries desk she launched "Overlooked," an award- winning series telling the stories of remarkable people who never received a New York Times obit. Before joining the Times, Padnani worked as a reporter at The Star-Ledger, The Journal News, Newsday, The Staten Island Advance and The Herald News. She is also a marathon runner and cocaptain of the Times Run Club.
More profile about the speakerAmy Padnani | Speaker | TED.com