Gen Zs recall first learning of ‘deeply harrowing, terrifying’ 9/11

'Hard to explain what a terrorist is to a child' Avery Black, 20, a journalism student at the University of South Carolina, remembers hearing about 9/11 for the first time in elementary school, then going home and asking her mother about it, she told the BBC.

Tashjian, Erickson, Black and several other Gen Zs all told the BBC that they remember hearing a few details about the attacks in school and from their families, but only through their own research did they learn in depth what actually happened that day.

For Annie Erickson, 26, who grew up in North Carolina, personal anecdotes, more than school or reports, created her first memories of 9/11.