Essential Oral Histories
Curated by Voice of Witness
About the Curator
Voice of Witness is an oral history nonprofit that advances human rights by amplifying the voices of people impacted by—and fighting against—injustice.
As a human rights oral history nonprofit, Voice of Witness is driven by the transformative power of the story. We believe that an understanding of systemic injustice is incomplete without deep listening and learning from people with firsthand experience. Oral history is a particularly powerful medium for amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, as it centers the experiences and agency of the narrators telling their stories—in their own words. There are countless unheard, urgent stories to learn from; this list shares four vital oral history books to start with.
