Chapter 6: Addressing Silence: Oral History as a Tool to Teach Difficult History

This conceptual chapter addresses how oral history can be used to address difficult history and historical silences in the classroom. Utilizing an auto-ethnographic approach, the author examines how oral history became a powerful tool to teach about Massive Resistance in his community. The chapter begins by contextualizing Massive Resistance through the oral history of a family affected by the infamous school closures. The chapter then examines the author’s lived experience both collecting the oral histories, and ingraining them into the classroom. Theories of historical silences and difficult history are examined with the goal of illuminating how oral history can counter the weaknesses of teaching decontextualized difficult history.