Examining Historical Objectivity

Recounting various theories on documenting history, senior Rushil Komeravelli examined the quest for historical objectivity. Speaking of the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, he described the tale of the Reconstruction-era South that glorifies the KKK and its mission to protect white citizens.
“Because of the perceived need to reconcile the wound that had broken the country, many historians began to downplay the issue of slavery, instead elevating the issue of state’s rights and economic differences,” Komeravelli said.

Columbia professor William Archibald Dunning promoted a narrative that Reconstruction was a failure, and Jim Crow laws were needed to protect the South from Northern corruption and to reclaim its political power, he continued. The concept of Social Darwinism pointed to natural selection as the reason for social inequity.
“There is a long history of historians sacrificing the truth in favor of a better narrative,” he said.

He recounted the works of writers and philosophers through the ages and their approaches to recording history – Herodotus in 400 B.C., Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Leopold von Ranke in the 1700s and 1800s, Howard Zinn in the 1980s, and Nikole Hannah-Jones in the 2010’s.

“No matter what direction one looks throughout history, any perspective will be a mere snapshot of the myriad stories left behind,” Komeravelli concluded. “Narratives are everywhere, and we must beware and ensure that we are gaining a full picture of the past.”
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