In this TedTalk, the presenter is discussing the importance of representation of the masses in history and why much of history is lost because the lives of ordinary people are not recorded. She makes a good point, much of history, for example history of a war, is written by the victors and the bureaucracy which does not give information for how most of the world was effected by a historical event. The direct effect of this is seen when you go into a museum. You see all these great people who accomplished amazing things, many "first person to..." or "first black woman to..." or "first time the...", but there are not many parts representing the daily lives of the public.
She argues that in order to truly understand the time period, you must understand the average daily life of an individual. I agree with this because the time we are living in now will one day be in the history books, but the history may give a misunderstanding of how it truly was during this time. It might come off as a time of madness and total chaos which, in some places, it was. But for most of Americans their daily lives were not totally changed, minus a few small regulations they had to follow. Also, the feelings that normal American families were having during this confusing time could be left out if the historian does not describe them in detail. It is much easier now to record things, so it will be interesting to see how history is taught in the future with so much data.
The main takeaway i had from this mentor text is that the way people are taught history can really influence the world. Teachers, historians and museums should provide enough information about the average person so that we can truly grasp what was going on in a certain time period.
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