Originally published on December 21, 2020 10:34 am
Mourning and celebrating; coping and distancing: 2020 has been a year of collective emotional dissonance. Even as the worst public health crisis in memory changed our lives, it also made us cherish bright moments where we found them.
We watched a high-stakes election play out and sometimes we just wanted a distraction from it all.
Here are the NPR stories that hit home in 2020. They examine the complicated reality of life during a pandemic. They highlight moments of grace, surprise and persistence and sometimes, stark disagreement.
Most-Viewed Stories
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg here in her chambers during a 2019 interview with NPR s Nina Totenberg died Sept. 18, 2020, at the age of 87.
President Donald Trump was impeached, but acquitted at the beginning of 2020. As the year closed, he lost the presidential race to Joe Biden. The former vice president was last candidate standing in a record field that saw more than 25 Democrats run for the nomination including Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and surprise newcomer Pete Buttigieg.
These are just a few highlights of the events that took place throughout this year.
A photograph is known to be worth a thousand words, so here’s a look back at the photos that shaped 2020.
January 2020
Credit: AP
Debris is seen from a plane crash on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2019. A Ukrainian airplane carrying at least 170 people crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s main airport, killing all onboard, state TV reported. (AP Photos/Mohammad Nasiri)
NEW DELHI: Social media giant Facebook released its top moments and themes of this year on Monday and said American basketball player Kobe Bryant’s passing was this year s most discussed moment on Facebook with countries such as US, Mexico and Philippines sharing the most posts and photos celebrating his life.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was commemorated in more than 6 million posts in one day across Facebook and Instagram, with many using the hashtag #restinpower, while the passing of prominent personalities including Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Sushant Singh Rajput, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Pranab Mukherjee echoed deeply in conversations in India, the company said.
2020 s Year in Pictures nbcnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nbcnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“It was a beautiful speech. Both of them, they strengthen each other….They’re both steadier together. They’re both stronger together. That was such a beautiful thing to see. I think if you’re going to give a headline today it would be ‘Hope Reborn.’ That’s what I felt. Hope reborn. You just haven’t heard people talking that way about the country and cutting through and seeming authentic.They blew me away. Both of them were stronger today than I’ve seen them in a very long time, if ever.” Political commentator Van Jones on CNN’s