RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Time now for StoryCorps. This recording project is traveling the country, collecting stories from everyday people talking about their lives. Today, we hear from Brad Guidi and his wife Willa Woodson Guidi. They met in 1970 at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He's from an Italian-American family; she's African-American. And they talked with their daughter Tasha about how their courtship was complicated.
Ms. TASHA GUTH: How did you guys meet?
Mr. BRAD GUIDI: We were introduced by a mutual friend, Jackie McLean(ph).
Ms. WILLA WOODSON GUIDI: She was saying, oh, there's this really fine white boy I want you to meet.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: I thought, oh, please, Jackie, stop.
Mr. GUIDI: You know, when I went to Bradley, I knew two African-Americans in my life, and that was Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. So, it was different.
Ms. GUTH: When did you think it was time to tell your parents?
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: Well, I had - my mom and I were very close. So, I called her right away when I met him. But I didn't mention anything about race. I just said I had met somebody. So, I just left it at that.
Mr. GUIDI: As far as my family's reaction, I guess, probably, at the best it was considered a death in the family.
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: They wanted me to stop seeing Daddy, and I think at that point they had - had they disowned you?
Mr. GUIDI: Pretty much.
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: My mother's reaction was like, well, do you think we're excited about it?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: And then my dad was like, well, they're going to do what they want to do, and I've got to go to work.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. GUIDI: The coolest people in our whole family were Nona(ph) and Aunt Ziya(ph), because they had experienced racial discrimination as Italians, and they could only live on the west end of town. To them, it really wasn't as big a deal as it was to the next generation that was born in the United States and had grown up and not experienced that discrimination that they had.
Ms. WOODSON GUIDI: Yeah. But I must say, once I became pregnant, Brad's mom just stepped up to the plate. You were the first grandchild, and once you were born, that's when everything turned around.
Mr. GUIDI: You know, seeing a child or seeing a grandchild, they see themselves. This is just not Willa and I having a relationship; they're part of you, and you're part of them. So, now, they understand, this is blood; you know, this is family.
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MONTAGNE: Brad and Willa Woodson Guidi with their daughter Tasha Guth at StoryCorps in Peoria, Illinois. Their story and all the others are archived at the Library of Congress. Hear some of them at npr.org.
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MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.