The Value of Diversity in Historical Fiction
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I read this article on the website Mythcreants about why historical accuracy isn’t a reason to exclude diversity in our writing. Yet we hear that excuse all the time from novelists, screenwriters, and others. My favorite show Downton Abbey received some grief for not including people of color, and the show’s executives gave that exact excuse—historical accuracy. Lord Grantham and his ilk wouldn’t have known black people. Really? Ever? But when writer Julian Fellowes thought about it, he did find a way to include a black American jazz singer, for a few episodes anyway.
Is it possible for us to push past our comfort zones and make an effort to include diverse characters in our fiction? Can we be sensitive to different cultures, beliefs, and ways of being? Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know about different people, and that’s okay, as long as we keep learning and growing.
Maya Angelou used to say that we are more alike than we are different. Beneath language, beneath culture, or anything else we use to define others as different, there is an inherent sense of humanness that all people share. Oprah Winfrey said that everyone wants the same thing: they want to know they matter. Maybe if we use that as our springboard, the idea that our characters, no matter who they are, no matter what time they live in, no matter the color of their skin or their sexual preference, have an inherent sense of humanness, then the idea of writing or reading about diverse characters won’t be so scary. If we approach historical fiction from the point of view that people are more alike than they are different, then maybe we can make the push to include diverse characters—that are not stereotypical—in our stories.
Writing about diverse people doesn’t mean that our characters should hold hands and sing folk songs. If we’re honest about history, we need to acknowledge that there have always been the oppressors and the oppressed. Equally, there have always been those who could sympathize with those who are different than themselves. Storytelling is the best way to learn about those who seem, at least on the surface, to be different than us. As writers and readers, we believe in the power of storytelling. We must, or why else would we spend so many hours with stories? Let’s use our love for story to tell all stories because all stories should be valued.
What can we do to promote diversity in historical fiction? If we’re writers, we can consider how we might include diverse people in our stories. If we’re readers, we can make an effort to read historical novels that are written by or about diverse people. The answer, really, is that we all need to push ourselves past our comfort zones. The more we can learn about each other, the truth about each other and not the stereotypes, the more we will understand about each other. The more we understand each other, the more we can help to build bridges toward each other.
