Stories from Below

What are "Stories from Below"?

“Stories from below” are accounts of history, society, or current events told from the perspective of ordinary people—especially those whose experiences are often excluded from official narratives.

Here are links to sources of good stories from below by category.

Labor and economic life

First Person Narratives: Factory workers and industrialization

First Person Narratives: Farmworkers and migrant labor

First Person Narratives: Domestic workers and caregivers

First Person Narratives: Labor unions and grassroots organizing

First Person Narratives: Child labor

First Person Narratives: Informal and gig-economy workers

First Person Narratives: Unemployment during economic crises

First Person Narratives: Workplace disasters told by survivors

Race, migration, and identity

Enslaved people’s personal narratives

Everyday Life Under Segregation

Indigenous oral histories

Immigrant and refugee experiences

Border communities

Japanese American Incarceration

Disability history

LGBTQ+ community histories

War, conflict, and displacement

Soldiers’ letters and diaries

Civilian life during wartime

Conscientious objectors

War widows and military families

Refugees and displaced communities

Resistance movements

Survivors of political repression

Rebuilding communities after conflict

Community and everyday life

Neighborhood oral histories

Family traditions and memories

Public housing communities

Rural and small-town life

Homelessness and housing insecurity

Community responses to disasters

Local mutual-aid networks

Changes caused by gentrification

Environment and environmental justice

Communities Affected by Pollution

First Person Narratives:People displaced by dams or conservation projects

Indigenous resistance to resource extraction

Farmworker exposure to pesticides

Neighborhood campaigns for clean air and water

Fishing communities facing ecological decline

Climate migration

Community-led conservation

Politics and social movements

First Person Narratives:Resistance movements

Rank-and-file civil-rights activists

Women in grassroots political movements

Tenant organizing

Student protest movements

Antiwar activism

Prisoner organizing and testimony

Community journalism

Mutual aid as political action

Institutions seen from below

Students’ experiences in public schools

Patients’ experiences of healthcare

Children in orphanages and institutions

Incarcerated people’s narratives

Residents of nursing homes

Low-ranking military personnel

Welfare recipients and public assistance

Citizens navigating courts and bureaucracy

Methods and source materials

Oral history

Diaries and personal letters

Family photographs

Folk songs and storytelling

Community newspapers

Testimony and eyewitness accounts

Material culture and everyday objects

Recovering overlooked lives from public records