Preserving the Past with Oral History

What is an oral history interview? What goes into the planning and what should be said? Why is it important that we know and learn from oral history? This is an excellent learning exercise to support your young historians as they conduct...

Begin this powerful study on the Guatemalan genocide with a nine-minute video clip, which can be easily found online. The excerpt introduces the class to this tragedy through a personal account, which is what they will be collecting....

Bring U.S. history to your language arts class with this lesson. Middle schoolers complete an interview for an oral history project, and discuss the importance of oral histories - and how they embellish written accounts. They write...

Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a lesson that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate where they...

What is oral tradition, and what unique tool did the Native Americans of the Northern Great Plains use to help them remember their complex histories? Through pictograph analysis, discussion, research, and an engaging hands-on activity,...

Scholars learn about September 11th, the day the World Trade Center was attacked, with the help of primary sources. As pupils listen to a first-hand account from survivor, Tom Canavan, they pinpoint character traits that make him a hero...

Using individual computers, class members read a story and listen to oral histories of Madison County. They then conduct a scavenger hunt to locate items on the list. Although designed for Madison County, North Carolina, the approaches...

Explore the difficulties in compiling an oral history with this activity. Young researchers conduct interviews and consider how point of view changes various accounts of a single incidence, resulting in conflicting information. They view...

Students consider the insight to the past that oral histories can provide. They, in groups, analyze oral histories, prepare to interview a family member on their recollections of a historical event and then write a historical narrative.

Students identify the stereotypes they are faced with on a daily basis. In groups, they use this information to identify the ways stereotypes are portrayed in movies and television. They use a video camera to record oral histories of...