What is History? Today, It’s Important To Know.
I can still remember walking into my first college class in my major, entitled, “The Study of History.” Standing at the front of the class, statesmanlike, with white hair and beard, was Dr. Robert Beckwith, Professor of History, a man that looked so perfectly appropriate, I instantly believed that my course of study for the next four years was going to be taught by one of the actual founding fathers. I was thrilled. Then, looking out into the faces of thirty or so future historians and possible teachers, he asked a simple question: “What is History?”
Eager hands shot up. One girl said, “It’s what happened in the past.” Another called out, “It’s a record of people, places and events that happened long ago.” More answers followed. Finally, as the excited utterances of first day students slowed, Dr. Beckwith asked the class, “Are you sure?” I had yet to speak, partially out of terror, but also because a memory from an experience in a high school history class tugged at my brain. I recalled our teacher said, “Write down anything you can about youth in Asia.” We were sixteen and all pretty clueless and confused, yet despite that, no one asked him to clarify the request. Instead, in stunned silence, we all put our heads down, and put pen to paper. I remember writing something like, “I’m sure kids in Asia are a lot like kids in the US.” When we had finished writing, and after a seemingly endless awkward silence, he went to the board and wrote in all caps: “EUTHANASIA.” Feeling like idiots, the realization dawned on us that he’d made quite a point. “Touche.” Everything is not always what it seems, or sounds like, and to take something at face value without asking questions or digging deeper to discover real meaning can be dangerous and downright humiliating. Sensing that Dr. Beckwith was on a similar course where he would soon be revealing our foolishness, I paid silent homage to that high school teacher and cautiously raised my hand. “I think history is what is written and said about the past, and may not be accurate or the whole story.” Dr. Beckwith smiled and from that day on, I learned to dig a lot deeper by studying the study of history.
One of Dr. Beckwith’s favorite assignments was making us go to the library to fact check footnotes in historical writings. Imagine reading an account of a battle where various sources are cited. Our homework was to check each of those sources to make sure that the author cited correctly and accurately and that his use of the source was appropriate. On really fun days, he’d have us fact check the National Enquirer. Talk about a wild goose chase. One day, during a lecture, someone barged into the room, ran to the board, threw down an eraser, grabbed something off of the adjacent bookshelf and raced out the door. Shocked, we all looked up at Dr. Beckwith as he smiled calmly and asked us to take out our notebooks and write down “the history” about what we had just witnessed in as much detail as we could. Out of thirty students, less than half could agree on what color shirt the intruder wore. No one saw what he took from the bookshelf although there were some who were pretty sure they knew what it was. Height, hair color, and even order of events were inconsistent. There were even some people who swore he spoke before leaving the room. Once we had gone over our varying histories of the incident, the “intruder,” (one of Dr. Beckwith’s assistants) came back into the room so we could see what he looked like, what he was wearing and whether or not he taken anything or said anything while in the room. The exercise was enlightening in more ways than I could’ve imagined. I was positive about what I’d seen and would’ve bet my life on it. I was wrong thus, my “history” of the event was wrong too.
What I learned in that course has never been more relevant than it is today. What will our grandchildren, great grandchildren and the children two hundred years from now learn about the Coronavirus, Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, climate change, school shootings, Anthony Fauci, epidemiology, virology, flattening the curve, Schitt’s Creek, LGBTQ and Tiger King? We have plenty of photographic and video evidence and thousands of eyewitness accounts. We have scientific studies, graphs, charts, interviews and hospital records. We can check archives for television interviews, newspaper articles and I’m sure we will be able to find every tweet, and post of everything from Reddit to Facebook. But how and by whom the narrative is constructed will tell the tale, so how do we ensure an accurate, objective record of this time?
If I choose Chris Cuomo on CNN, the picture painted is purple and pink. If I watch Tucker Carlson on Fox News, the same picture is now yellow and orange, and if I go to NPR it’s red and green. Big media dollars, ratings, personal biases, backgrounds, ideologies and experiences all influence the way information is presented even though the data and sources are the same. But how reliable are those sources? Pictures and videos can be altered by editing, filters and photoshop. What we don’t see might be as important as what we do. What was happening off camera or before the camera was turned on or after it was turned off? What do the eyewitnesses say? My first hand experience in Dr. Beckwith’s class forever changed the way I interpret eyewitness accounts, and, according to the Innocence Project, “Mistaken eyewitness identifications contributed to approximately 71% of the more than 360 wrongful convictions in the United States overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence. Inaccurate eyewitness identifications can confound investigations from the earliest stages.” Incredible.
We can not believe all that we read, see or hear, at least not before we fact check and subject information to reasoned, critical thinking. We are a nation that thrives on speed and immediate gratification, and as such are a nation of bandwagon jumpers who can’t get there fast enough, making quick fire judgments often based on misinformation and fear. We want to be right so quickly and so badly that we have given up our responsibility to demand better from those whose job it is to seek and present the truth, or at least the best attempt at the truth as they can. In that vacuum, it’s up to us to slow down and evaluate information before we respond. We must become better critical thinkers.
If history is what happened in the past and is based on eyewitness accounts, photo evidence, primary source materials, and other records, we have to remember that the accumulated evidence comes from human beings with biases, distorted and uniformed and often misinformed thinking, personal agendas and various motivations. It is our responsibility to make sure that the past is being accurately documented and to do that we need to become better critical thinkers. We need to search for accurate data, analyze our information, evaluate sources, and based on that, make reasonable judgments.
The bandwagons are all pretty full. As usual, I’m late to that party. It’s ok as I prefer less crowded conditions and the more scenic, meandering route. I plan to take in the sights, hoping for as many different views as I can take in, observing and documenting all of it. Hopefully, I’ll meet others eager to share their own stories and observations so that we can compare our experiences. I’ll keep a journal so that someday, maybe someone could read it and use it to better understand this time and place. Care to join me?