The authors continue, "They [abolitionists] took down the stories of fugitive slaves who had safely made their way North, and published the accounts" (Davidson and Lytle 178). However, interest in these stories waned, and it wasn't until the twentieth century that interest revived, and by that time, many blacks had already died, taking their experiences and insight to the grave with them. Interest picked up in the 20's when many black writers were popular, and interest in southern culture continued during the WPA artists' projects during the Depression, when oral histories began to gain in popularity. These oral histories make up nineteen volumes, and really helped preserve the history of the slaves and freedmen. Even this bulk, however, only represents a fraction of the four million slaves, however, and that indicates the great amount of lost material that can never be recovered. Ultimately, this chapter shows just some of the...

Much of the texture of black life has been lost, and the narratives that do survive may be tainted by interviewers' questions, misconceptions, and ignorance about the people they interviewed. It shows that a historian cannot always take information at face value; they must look at the context of the information, how it was obtained, and what purpose the originator had for creating the information. It is an eye-opening look at history and how history is recorded, and it makes the reader think much more thoughtfully about history, narrative, and oral interviews as they relate to history.
References

Davidson, James West and Lytle, Mark Hamilton. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection. New York: Alfred a. Knopf,…