Study of history Essay Example for Free

Study of history Essay In studying history, the different ways to promulgate data and research in order to define a certain part of helped us recognize facts and claims that are relevant to the issues that we need to clarify. Historians usually interview the witnesses, victims, and heroes of the past to clarify and justify their thoughts and reviews on the different parts of historical accounts in the world. One of the most significant parts of history is slavery. The different kinds of slavery that emerged and developed during the period of colonization made us realize the true essence of our being as we acknowledge the facts and data of the past. Many have suffered and died during this period of struggle. Slavers have gone through different kinds of slaving – in land and water. Land slavery is almost familiars to everybody because it was a phenomenon during colonization but it was an unbelievable revelation that even in the ships of the sea contains hundreds of slaves that could not eat, drink, speak, nor move. However, how do the historians perceive the slave ships? How do they research on this issue? Are they keen to the issue as they uncover the â€Å"whole truth† by using their researchable documents and witnesses? Every person needs to study the past in order to justify the present and future. Nevertheless, are the historical data relevant and complete to signify the important details that we need? We must read and analyze those data by finding flaws and arguments that are necessary to clarify distorted cases and parts of history. Some of the Notable Philosophical Problems in documenting the Event Based on the research on the issue of Slave Ship, many researchers and historians support their materials through interviews and special communication with different witnesses and â€Å"heroes† of the past. Most of the witnesses that they used are church leaders and doctors who went through the voyage along with the slaves. The objective of the research as what I have seen is to show its reader that the research is complete and accurate source of learning from the past because they contain justification from the witness of the slave ships. In the article of the EyeWitness entitled â€Å"Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829,† they used the accounts of Reverend Walsh to show the â€Å"true situation† in a slave ship. â€Å"We join Reverend Walshs account as he boards the slave ship,† (EyeWitness, 2000). Another article stated that the research is an â€Å"original account† of the past that can be use to show the situation of a slave ship. â€Å"Here, for your perusal and research, we present an original 1860 news account of a captured Slave Ship. The Slave Ship was owned by a New York Slave Trader, It was full of Native African Men, Women, and Children, and it was delivering the Cargo to be sold in the South,† (Son of the Ship, 2003). On the other way around, an article entitled â€Å"The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker† showed how Rediker, an author of a significant book that discusses the life in a slave ship justify all the historical accounts that he saw and heard from his interviews and materials. â€Å"Rediker is a distinguished maritime historian whose previous books have used long-neglected primary sources to shed important new light on life around the 18th century Atlantic,† (Rutten, 2008). All the examples above were seen that the objectivity and choice of sources or references should rely on the needs of the readers. They all used people who are familiar and witnesses of the scenario so they could thoroughly define and describe the situation of the slave ship. However, they did not state the issues of the slavers, which are needed to show the side of the slobbers and not the slaves alone. Though they have reached their resolution to uncover or reveal the situation in the ship, they ignored the stand of the slavers why they come up to that kind of situation. It became a bias account in the side of the slaves. Though a reader should have pity on the slaves during those times as they read the situation in a slave ship, the authors and researchers of the document should also speak about the stand of the slavers and on how they are able to do those things. These claims are factual accounts, which is important to justify both sides. Can such problems be avoided? How? These problems can be avoided if the authors and researchers also showed the other situation to compare and contrast the thoughts and ideology of both sides. We all know that the slaves during the period are abundant but we do not know the deeper meaning of slavery. According to Kaltenbacher, Mehta, and Nahas (2008), in their article entitled Antebellum Slavery: Interstate Slave Trade, â€Å"Slaves forcefully pushed together, back to face, lay cramped and helpless on the boat. Their sweating bodies were so close to each other that it was not unlikely to feel the hot breath of another slave stinging the back of one’s neck. † The authors of the article discussed the situation of the slaves. It shows that the different documents tell us about the meaning of slavery its background, and development as years went on. However, it must also be describe in those articles to show the two sides of the situation so that people could thoroughly understand the scenario in a large perspective and concept because the authors only described the sides of the slaves and did not involved the sides of the slavers. Conclusion The hardest part of research is to document the past. Most of us say the term â€Å"past is past. † This is true in most of the time because we could not return to the past especially during the times when paper and pen was still not invented to write all the important details of a certain situation that part of historical events. If we think logically, how can we believe the books, articles, and journals that we read about history if the writers did perceive the event that they wrote? It was the hardest part I guess to educators of history to justify the claim of the past. However, this is also a challenge to discuss the historical events of human life because different perspectives and ideologies emerged as the interaction of both students and teachers are created. References Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829, EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory. com (2000) Kaltenbacjer, E. et al. (2008). Ship Life. Retrieved on January 21, 2008 from http://cghs. dadeschools. net/slavery/antebellum_slavery/interstate_slave_trade/ship_life. htm Rutten, T. (2008). The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker. Los Angeles Times. http://www. latimes. com/features/books/la-et-rutten2jan02,0,4348521. Son of the South. (2003). Slave Ship. Retrieved on January 21, 2008 from http://www. sonofthesouth. net/slavery/slave-ship. htm.