noun: Oral history is a field of study and a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is both the oldest type of historical inquiry, predating the written word, and one of the most modern, initiated with tape recorders in the 1940s and now using 21st-century digital technologies. (source: Oral History Association)
History Makers is the largest online database of African American oral histories. This collection includes interviews from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.