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How do we make sense of the past?
When Homer Plessy boarded the East Louisiana no. 8 train on June 7th, 1982, at the Press Street Station to go to Covington, How do we know exactly what happened? Why did he decide to refuse to sit in the colored section at this specific time? Was he the only colored or black person to challenge the Louisiana Separate Car Act?
To understand the past, we need relics and records from the past. Things that are left behind that tell the story of the past events, peoples, cultures, politics, societies, lifestyle and conversations.
From Sources to Evidence
Historical thinking is how we understand, interpret and make sense of the past. It involves the close reading, scrutiny and contextualizing of primary sources that provide the evidence we need to interpret the past. Historical thinking begins with ‘Historical Inquiry’ – asking questions. Questioning things that are clear and obvious, and also things that are obscure or missing. We ask questions to identify obvious relationships between sources, and we ask questions in order to uncover hidden relationships. It’s after this analysis, that sources become the evidence we need to interpret the past and develop the historical narrative.
| PRIMARY SOURCES | These are sources, documents and artifacts that were produced, written or used at the time of the event. Relics from the period and traces from the past. They come in all formats e.g. books, articles, images, newspapers, records, paintings, cartoons, manuscripts, diaries, film etc. |
| Combined with QUESTIONS & ANALYSIS | Asking questions is important to history. This ‘historical Inquiry’ is inquisitive, constantly asking as to why and how the event happened, who, and why were certain people involved, what was their perception of life, what/who were the influencers. Historians are always looking for problems, issues that no one has identified or examined, then they wonder about the missing pieces -who is excluded and who is important and why.? Developing complex, relevant questions is the heart of historical thinking. |
| Become HISTORICAL EVIDENCE | After the information in the primary sources is analyzed is then used as evidence to support historical argument |
| That is used to create HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS | This is an explanation of the past. The historical record. Historians now have the evidence to interpret what happened in the past. The interpretation might explore causality (what made something happen), processes (revolutions, economic depressions), conflicts (social class, race, gender), historical outcomes (effects of past events), or any other topic. |
Remember:
- Some records and relics are hard to find. So always be aware that you do not have all the accounts of the past. Make every effort to find sources from different perspectives and of different formats.
- Every record or source is from a very different time and context from today, so as you analyze the sources you need to try to understand the people, places, politics and culture that produced and interacted with the sources.
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