Question

Discuss the problem of discovering the histories of silent peoples, such as the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, or societies that have relied primarily on oral tradition,

Answer 1

When there are silent people, like slaves who didn't write their stories down, learning the history of these people is relied on oral histories. These come in the form of stories and tales, some passed down for generations. The problem with this is that an oral story is always open to embellishment and modification, it is nearly impossible to fact check it. It has to be very cautiously used, and often times other sources must be used to fact check its accuracy when possible.