"If I See Some of This in Writing, I'm Going to Shoot You": Reluctant Narrators, Taboo Topics, and the Ethical Dilemmas of the Oral Historian

This essay argues that in the co-creation of the historical document that is the oral history narrative the oral historian must balance sensitivity to the interviewee with the professional responsibility to preserve history, without abdicating the role of trained interpreter of the past. During the course of a life history interview with a lightskinned African American woman, Marguerite Davis Stewart, the authors confronted a variety of ethical concerns over the shared authority of the interview when the narrator disagreed over the range of topics to be covered—specifically the issue of racial identity—and the final product. The authors conclude that scholars who employ oral history in their research must confront taboo but historically significant topics through an open dialogue with their narrators, but that they ultimately control the interpretation of the resulting information.