In researching the past, historians use a wide range of primary source materials. Many of these, such as newspapers, diaries, letters, books, and reports, are textual, while others, including photographs, drawings, video recordings, clothing, coins, and architecture, are not. Oral history is a method of historical research that draws upon the memories of living individuals whose experiences can tell us more about the past. Researchers conduct interviews with these individuals in an effort to discover information that might not be found through more conventional sources.
Take the opportunity to reflect on yourself when capturing others stories. Use the same interview questions on yourself to gage if the questions are appropriate or too personal. Create a research diary to keep track of your thoughts or use your phone to do an audio journal of your reflections.
In this deeply insightful and thought-provoking TED Talk, novelist Chimamanda Adichie explores the idea of "single stories" and how they can rob people of their dignity, limiting them to the confines of stereotype and caricature, and obscuring our common humanity. The antidote? A multitude of stories, of course.
Grace Lin, author and illustrator of the Newbery Honor book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, explains why what children read sets the path for their own self-worth and how they see others.
Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop explains why all children—of all backgrounds and levels of privilege—need mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors to access the full range of human experiences and understand their worlds, as well as the worlds of others.
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