Historians have an ethical responsibility to document, preserve, and educate the public on the voices and people who have been excluded from the historical record. The concept of big man history continues to be challenged by a form of history from the bottom up. The battle for personal identity and representation continues. Whether it be in the form of gender expression and identity, to race and ethnicity. The way that history is preserved and presented continues to be challenged, but the white supremacist narrative through our education systems and narratives prevails.
‘’How to Become a Women’’ is an article from 2020 that starts by discussing the government response to the question of defining what a women is. The explores identity and sexuality as well as sex work. Carolyn’s, Greta’s, and the authors stories that she tells throughout the article is a wonderful representation of meaningful history. These stories document an experience that is often over looked, and is a fundamental read.
‘’When community comes home to roost’’ highlights some themes we discussed while visiting Eastern State Penitentiary. These being displaced people by historical projects and race represenation in the historical record. Cooleemee’s memorialization of its communal mill town attempts to discuss the subject of race and inclusion, but it still falls short. A letter also revealed an uglier side of Cooleemee. They complained about the establishment of section 8 housing and would bring about crack houses and disturb the heavily white racial balance. (Fink 126). We disccused how the question of race was addressed by Eastern State Penitentiary, and the demographic change of the Fairmount area through the historic preservation project.
The Injustive Never Leaves You is a difficult read due to it’s subject matter, but incredibly gripping. The racial voilence experienced by hispanic people in Texas by the Rangers was something that was so well known that people even knew where to go to find where bodies where most likely dumped. The Texas Rangers were formed as a reactionary militarized force to protect Anglo expansion and supremacy in the region. The Texas Rangers became the state police. This voilence was also protected as the Rangers where able to act unimpeded. The death of Florencio, even though witnesses had saw him with Texas Rangers and even integrated with the Rangers as they asked for rope. They also denied that his father, Garcia has positively identified his bones. They were able to refute witnesses as well. The cause of death was also excluded from his death certificate.
These two articles and the book we read leave the reader with questions in mind, who are we? Who’s stories deserve to be told? How do with the past and present systems of oppression? How do we define our communities?