History 7B Oral History Assignment
Fall 2024
For this assignment, you will conduct an interview of a resident of the United States about their historical experiences. This person could be a relative, friend, instructor, or colleague. The interviewee should have lived in the United States for several years. They do not need to be a U.S. citizen.
What Is The Purpose of This Assignment?
Historians use many different types of primary sources to understand the past. Oral histories are an important way to capture the experiences of individuals and the cultures in which they are embedded. In this assignment, you will interview someone who lives in the US in order to understand what life has been like for them. You will then write up the interview, and try to place the interviewee’s experiences in the larger context of U.S. history. This will help you to deepen your understanding of both the individual and of U.S. history.
Finding a Person to Interview
You will want to choose a subject who will have interesting things to say, and to develop questions that will bring out those points in which you are interested.
If appropriate, I highly recommend interviewing a member of your family. An interview such as this can be a great opportunity to learn more about your own history, as well as U.S. history.
After you have chosen your interviewee, you will need to ask permission to conduct the interview. Let the interviewee know that this is for a class assignment, and that you will be writing an essay to turn in to your professor. The interview will not be published or shared elsewhere; only your professor will read it. If you want to record your interview, please be sure to ask permission of your interviewee in advance (if they don’t give permission, don’t record). Set up an appointment for the interview, and be sure to show up on time. Your interview will probably take at least an hour of your subject’s time, depending on your questions.
If you have difficulty finding someone to interview, please let me know.
Developing Questions
Your goal in the interview is to deepen your understanding of U.S. history by getting a personal perspective on historical events. Your interview questions should therefore focus on both the personal and the historical. Generally, you want to keep your questions fairly broad, so that your subject will be able to answer fully. Avoid yes/no questions.
Your questions should be focused primarily on understanding how your interviewee has experienced historical events over the course of their lifetime.
Your first questions should establish basic personal information about your subject. You should ask about demographic background, level of education, where the subject was born and raised, family background (economic class, number of siblings, parents’ profession and level of education) etc.
Then, ask questions about their experiences with historical events and trends.
Below are some suggestions for question topics. Please note that some of these questions are personal or sensitive; they may not be appropriate for a person you do not know well. In addition, if your subject does not want to answer a particular question, respect that.
• Heritage from ancestors, and how that has shaped their lives
• Raising a family, if relevant
• Military service
• Experiences around race and ethnicity.
• Impact of religion on the subject’s life
• If relevant, impact of immigration
• Questions particular to the specific
community to which your subject belongs
• Impact of global events: World War II,
Vietnam, the Cold War, the Gulf War, etc.
• Participation in political events or parties
• Participation in or perspectives on social movements, such as the Civil Rights
Movement, women’s rights movement, queer rights movement, etc.
• Changes in technology over the course of the subject’s life.
• Changes in women’s roles observed in the subject’s lifetime
• Changes in social values or norms over the course of the subject’s life.
• Subject’s opinion of various presidents, governors, political parties, etc.
• Changes in pop culture (radio, TV, music) over the course of the subject’s life
• Differences between how young people
live today and how they lived “back in the day”
Conducting the Interview
Before the interview begins, be sure to have your subject sign the release form attached. Also take time to set up your recording equipment, if you are using it (be sure your batteries are charged in advance). Even if you do record, you should take handwritten notes, in case your tech crashes.
Please aware that you may be asking some personal, controversial and difficult questions. Please be sensitive to your subject, and be aware that things you think are straightforward may not be. Avoid loaded questions (“feminism is stupid, isn’t it?”) and save your most controversial questions for the end of the interview, so that the subject has had time to become comfortable with you. Also, monitor your own responses to questions, and be careful of your body language and facial expression to be sure you remain neutral. Your purpose here is to collect information and to learn from another person’s perspective, not to judge your subject.
Remember at all times to be respectful, polite and objective. This interview is about your subject, not you. Remember that your subject has the right to not answer any questions they are not comfortable with.
After the interview, you should send a thank you note to your subject, thanking them for their time and assistance. You might also share your write up of the interview with them.
Researching Context
After you have conducted the interview, spend some time researching the historical context of the events they described. For example, if your interviewee participated in the protests in Berkeley in the 1960s, do a bit of research on the history of that movement to understand what was happening in that community at that time. Or, if your subject was a member of a labor union, research the history of that union.
Research skills will be taught during the course of the semester.
Writing Up the Interview
After you have conducted the interview and completed your contextual research, write up a five to six page essay in which you present the results of the interview. In your essay, please address the following three areas:
Your Interviewee’s Story
• Summarize the main points of the interview.
• What about the interview surprised or intrigued you? What did you learn that you didn’t know before?
The Historical Context of Your Interviewee’s Story
• Place the events of your subject’s life in historical context. For example, if your subject lived in Berkeley in the 60s, give some background on what was happening in Berkeley during that period.
• Consider how your subject’s life fits in to the larger context of women’s history. In what way are the events of your interviewee’s life similar to or different from other events of the period in which they lived? How did the “big” trends of women’s history impact your interviewee’s life? How did your interviewee help to shape history? Or were these “big” trends not relevant for your subject?
• What historical factors shaped the choices and decisions that your interviewee made in their life?
• Were the experiences of your subject typical of their times? How do you know this?
• How do the experiences of an individual differ from the experiences of a generation or culture?
Pros and Cons of Oral History
• What are the benefits and pitfalls of oral history as a method of historical research?
Outside sources used to explain context must be either primary or scholarly secondary sources. Be sure to document your sources using Chicago-style. footnotes. Be sure to include a bibliography at the end of the paper.
Requirements (these count towards your grade):
Oral History Check In ( 10 points) DUE: September 23
For this assignment, turn in a 1-2 page progress report on your interview. Include the following information in your progress report:
• Who you intend to interview.
• When and where you intend to conduct the interview.
• A list of the questions you intend to ask. You should include around 15 –20 questions. Be sure your questions are focused on understanding your subject’s life experiences.
Final Oral History Essay ( 50 points)
DUE: December 2
For this assignment, turn in:
• A copy of the signed release form (scan or take a photo and upload it).
• Your 5-6 page essay. with content as described above.
• Your essay should cover the content discussed in the “Writing Up the Interview” section of the Oral History Assignment. Be sure to read the full assignment.
• Be sure your essay is properly formatted according to the requirements described in the class syllabus.
• Outside sources used to explain context must be either primary or scholarly secondary sources.
• Be sure to document your sources using Chicago-style footnotes, and include a bibliography.
• You do not need to cite your actual interview.
• For the final project, you do not need to turn in your questions and answers – just the essay.
• NOTE: Late passes cannot be used on this assignment.