As Black History Month is coming to a close and Women’s History Month begins, we challenge you to remember that uncovering historical silences and amplifying hidden narratives are practices we can implement year-round to reframe our perspectives and raise awareness.
Here are a few questions you can use to guide future learning, and return to again and again as needed. Begin by choosing a historical event to explore, or examine one that’s mentioned in a TV show, movie, or conversation with friends or coworkers. Then, move through the prompts that follow.
1. Examine the mainstream narrative.
What is the usual story about that event and the people, places, and circumstances involved?
How might that story weave into how we understand the world today?
Do you think this is the full story?
2. Identify and research alternate perspectives.
How can you read the story from a different perspective?
What perspectives of individuals or groups mentioned in the story might be further detailed or clarified?
Of these individuals and groups, what primary sources or records exist - including both texts and cultural objects - that might fill in these gaps?
3. Compare and contrast.
Once unearthed, in what ways do the silenced stories or alternative perspectives you've researched differ from or parallel the mainstream account?
Why might this be?
4. Consider implications.
For what reasons do you think this information has been left out of mainstream narratives?
What individuals or groups did this story’s absence advantage or disadvantage?
What do these silences expand or elucidate about the past and the present?
5. Repeat!
Whether it's to dig deeper into the stories of individuals, places, and events mentioned in the hidden narratives you unearth about this event, or to explore another topic, you can move through the steps in this prompt anytime. Happy reframing!
SOURCES
Bell, L.A. (2019). Storytelling for Social Justice: Connecting Narrative and the Arts in Antiracist Teaching (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315101040
https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/becoming-a-historian-reading-the-historical-silences/isYzEpyTJX5GSlmu
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