Sometimes we choose to whisper. Sometimes we decide to shout. In either case, we are communicating in the hopes that we are heard and understood amidst all the other whispers and shouts.
Most of the time, we’re also listening. It’s easy to hear the shouting. We have to remind ourselves, and listen more intentionally, to hear the whispers.
At the recent Telling Untold Histories “unconference”, I was reminded of how both whispers and shouts are vital components of our understanding of history — and also tools that enable people to gain agency over of a more inclusive future.
In her opening remarks, Mary Rizzo said she and the organizers structured the conference around these central questions:
· How do we tell a story? Who do we tell it to? When do we tell it?
· When do we whisper? When do we shout?
· When do we shout with joy? When do we shout with righteous anger?
· When might a whisper be louder than a shout?
Both attendees and speakers expressed a shared commitment to reexamining the past and the present — and re-imagining the future — in ways that allow for all voices to be heard. In her keynote address, the artist Marisa Williamson described her Sally Hemmings re-enactment on the grounds of Monticello as “a suturing together…
