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Who Gets Remembered?

The 50 people with the most public monuments in the United States. How many do you think are women?

The poster’s claim

Historically, women’s roles have often been overshadowed by those of men.
the evidencethe claim on its own

Evidence 1 of 7

These are the 50 people with the most recorded public monuments in the United States. Joan of Arc, Harriet Tubman and Sacagawea are the only women among them: 6% of the Top 50.

Source: Monument Lab, National Monument Audit (2021)

Is this evidence for the claim?

Interview a woman in your family

Choose a woman in your family to interview: a mother, grandmother, aunt, stepmother, or another woman who is family to you. (If that isn’t possible, a woman in your community who has known you a long time is a good choice too.) Ask a parent or guardian first.

The Smithsonian’s guide to collecting oral history puts it simply: “everybody has a story to tell.” Source: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide

Before you start

  • Ask permission. Tell her what the interview is for (a school project? a family keepsake?) and ask if you may record it. Ask a parent or guardian before you set it up. Source: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
  • Pick a calm, comfortable place, such as her home or the kitchen table. Turn off the TV. Source: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
  • Test your recorder, then say who, where and when at the start of the recording. Source: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
  • Ask her to bring an old photo, letter or keepsake. Objects bring back memories. Sources: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide; Smithsonian Education, Family Folklore: The Interview

Sources: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide; Smithsonian Education, Family Folklore: The Interview; Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, Folklife and Fieldwork (2016); Library of Congress, Veterans History Project

My women’s history interview

I am interviewing: ______________________   She is my: ______________   Date: __________

Choose a woman in your family to interview: a mother, grandmother, aunt, stepmother, or another woman who is family to you. (If that isn’t possible, a woman in your community who has known you a long time is a good choice too.) Ask a parent or guardian first.

Before you start

  • Ask permission. Tell her what the interview is for (a school project? a family keepsake?) and ask if you may record it. Ask a parent or guardian before you set it up.
  • Pick a calm, comfortable place, such as her home or the kitchen table. Turn off the TV.
  • Test your recorder, then say who, where and when at the start of the recording.
  • Ask her to bring an old photo, letter or keepsake. Objects bring back memories.

While you listen

  • Ask questions that begin with “How,” “What” or “Why”; they get better answers than “Did you…?”
  • Ask one thing at a time, and keep questions short.
  • Don’t be afraid of quiet moments. She may be remembering.
  • Ask a follow-up: “Can you give me an example?” or “How did that happen?”
  • If she wants to skip a question, or gets tired, stop. You can finish another day.

The questions

Getting started

  1. What is your full name, and do you know why you were given it? Did you ever have a nickname?
  2. Where were you born, and where did you grow up?
  3. What was your home like when you were my age? What could you see from the window?

Growing up

  1. Who were the most important people in your life when you were a child, and what were they like?
  2. What did you do for fun? What games, songs or books did you love?
  3. What was school like for you? What is one thing a teacher said that you still remember?

Work and everyday life

  1. What jobs have you done, inside or outside the home? How did you learn to do them?
  2. What is something you know how to make, mend, grow or cook? Who taught you?
  3. What did a normal day look like for you when you were a young woman?

Family stories and keepsakes

  1. What stories did the older women in our family tell you? Which one do you remember best?
  2. (Show the photo or keepsake.) Can you tell me the story of this?
  3. What family traditions do we have, and how have they changed over the years?

Looking back

  1. What has changed most for girls and women since you were my age? What has stayed the same?
  2. What would you most like people in our family to remember about you, and what advice would you give me?

Afterwards

  • Say thank you, and send a thank-you note.
  • Ask before you share. If you want to show the class, put it online or add it to a family book, ask her first.
  • Label your recording with her name, the date and the place, and write down your thoughts while they are fresh.

To reflect on

  • How does your tradition-bearer’s story relate to your community in both the present and the past? How does it relate to you?
  • If the roles were reversed and you became the tradition-bearer, what stories would you like to tell?

Sources: Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide; Smithsonian Education, Family Folklore: The Interview; Library of Congress, American Folklife Center, Folklife and Fieldwork (2016); Library of Congress, Veterans History Project. From the Mini Museum: Women’s History Month, Who Gets Remembered?

What I learned: a women’s history interview

I interviewed ______________________, my ______________, on __________ at ______________.

A story she told me that I want to remember

Something I learned about the past

Something that surprised me

How does your tradition-bearer’s story relate to your community in both the present and the past? How does it relate to you?

If the roles were reversed and you became the tradition-bearer, what stories would you like to tell?

The last two questions are from the Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide.