Archival silence

Definition

The absence from historical records of certain people's voices and experiences. For the slave trade, many enslaved people left few or no written records, and records often refer to them by a price, a number or a changed name. Historians address the silences by reading documents against the grain, working with descendant communities, using archaeology and oral history, and staying within what the evidence supports. See also: primary source, and the guide Evaluating Primary Sources on Slavery.