Oral history is as old as any African and diasporic tradition, and a journalist or historian cannot accurately cover our communities without honoring and practicing it. At times, critics worry that the memory is unreliable, that spoken accounts are vulnerable to prejudice and influence. What source isn’t? Having spent countless hours reading the meeting minutes, letters, and musings of the state officials who controlled Crownsville Hospital’s operations, I can assure you the official, paper record is just as vulnerable to these forces.
