Pros and Cons of Opening History to Wider Audiences

MedievalPOC is a tumblrblog which focuses on People of Colour in European art throughout history. It is an example of how digital history can allow for more history on groups that have been traditionally ignored by academic or offical history. The site also includes a list of books and a list of resources.

There is a delicate balance when opening history up to wider public audiences. On the one hand, it does allow for the history of groups that have been ignored by other official or academic histories. This might be the history of entire wide groups of people. For example, the tumblrblog MedievalPoC highlights People of Colour being represented in Medieval Artworks, supporting the existence of People of Colour on the European continent throughout this time period. It can also be smaller things such as community and town histories which are typically less explored than national or international history. However, it can also open history up to more dangerous revisionist histories, such as alternative histories to the Southern United States slavery. Oral historians might often by at the centre of this as well when they capture the voices and memories of those who perpetrated genocides or participated in other discriminatory actions. For example, interviews in the 1980s of surviving Germans who were involved with Nazi organizations who justify and excuse their roles in the Holocaust and the oppression of occupied Polish and Soviet Union citizens.