NPR: Radio Diaries Podcast

Retired miner Jimmy Weekley has lived in Pigeonroost Holler, West Virginia for 70 years. Like most West Virginians, Weekley saw coal as the economic lifeblood of his community. But in the 1990s, Arch Coal moved into his area and began work on one of the largest mountaintop removal mining sites ever proposed: virtually in Weekley's backyard. Weekley sued to stop the mine and won a temporary restraining order. Over the last decade, Weekley has watched his family and neighbors take buyouts from Arch Coal and leave the area. But Weekley refuses to sell.

Today is Nelson Mandela's birthday. In 1964, facing a possible death sentence for treason, Nelson Mandela stood up in front of a packed courtroom in South Africa and delivered what would later be called his "I am prepared to die" speech. In many ways, that speech turned Mandela into the leader he was to become. These were the last words the world would hear from Mandela for 27 years: "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison before being released in 1990. Four years later he was President of a new South Africa. Happy birthday, Nelson Mandela.

Last month, renowned cellist Bernard Greenhouse died at the age of 95. Greenhouse spent almost his entire life playing and teaching the cello.  Radio Diaries profiled him in 2008. Today, we remember Greenhouse's life, and his music.