The Role of the Second Draft Project in Historical Documentation

The Second Draft Project does more than correct inaccurate historical records. It also brings non-historians, regular citizens, closer to the truth by giving them first-hand experience with important stories. In this sense, the Second Draft project puts a fresh spin on reparative journalism. It gives audiences an intimate view of otherwise elusive truths. Here’s the role the Second Draft project plays in historical documentation and the accurate preservation of crucial legacies.

The Importance of Capturing Narratives in Participants’ Own Words

Through its Interactive Interviews, the Second Draft Project gives you the ability to talk with interviewees directly, asking them questions about their experiences and events they’ve witnessed. Instead of having to read a summary of an event or a biography made and edited by someone else, visitors and users can get the truth straight from the source. This is crucial because it gives you an unfiltered account of each participant’s thoughts, feelings, and unique perspective.

Why is this so important? Media outlets often misrepresent reality, either accidentally or as part of an agenda. The result is fractured, inaccurate stories that deviate far from the truth. Unfortunately, many people trust the news media, publishers, and artists who portray history in their work. At times, misinformation, while disappointing, has the most innocuous impact.

When fed inaccurate or malicious information, people often make dangerous decisions spurned by anger. In some instances, inaccurate stories end up in textbooks, websites, and school curricula. They then get passed to the next generation, which continues the chain of lies, often inadvertently.

But the Second Draft Project seeks to stop the cycle. By giving the public access to stories told in participants’ own words, the Project drastically reduces the risk of inaccuracies getting cemented in the anals of history. 

A Commitment to Ethical Storytelling

The Second Draft Project focuses on telling real stories without embellishment or editorial influence. 

Participants Answer in Their Own Words

Each interviewee provides answers live, on video, in their own words. The answers aren’t a combination of several excerpts from multiple speeches. Instead, each reply consists of a single reply, complete with “umms,” pauses, and a range of word whiskers as participants think about what to say.

Raw, Authentic Answers

A written record, or a concisely edited video of an individual’s story, often goes through a series of editors before it gets approved for publication. While editors may have good intentions, the end product inevitably falls short of the indelible truth. The Second Draft Project eliminates editorial factors that can distort reality.

This not only preserves the facts but also allows audiences to engage with the emotions behind a story. Whether through body language, the pause someone takes before making a statement, or vocal changes as emotion usurps composure, the Project’s Interactive Interviews give viewers an experience of unparalleled rawness. 

Documenting Legacies for Future Generations

The Second Draft Project is also committed to preserving legacies in a way that other publication methods can’t. This gives future generations the freedom to indulge in the authentic legacies of interviewees instead of one twisted by editorial perspectives. 

The Project benefits both the legacies of interviewees and those they talk about. Consider an example.

What comes to mind when you think of the legacy of Rodney King? “Can’t we all just get along?” may be some of the five most famous words in American history, but they paint only a tiny spec of the man’s biographical portrait.

What was his legacy as a father? What kind of man was he, sitting at home with his family? Was he a fun person? Spontaneous? Calculating? 

A person’s legacy only exists after it’s told. In the Interactive Interview with Lora King, Rodney King’s daughter, we get answers to all of the above questions. This adds to his legacy. It augments and even supplants what many may think of when they reflect on Mr. King. 

A father, for instance, can ask Lora King about what Rodney was like as a father. He can then draw inspiration from his story, perhaps devoting more time to just having fun with his kids like Rodney did. 

Many may see Rodney King as the spark for a moment of activism. But through the Second Draft Project, the world learns that his activism started at home as he built a strong family, including a resilient daughter. 

Using Technology to Make Important Stories Accessible

The Second Draft Project leverages AI to give audiences access to some of history’s most important stories. In a rare twist in the AI melodrama, the Project uses AI to enhance, instead of reduce, humanness. Here’s how:

• The AI system only works on one side of the interaction, taking viewers’ questions and assigning them pre-recorded answers. In this way, it’s a link to what interviewees actually said and felt. 
• The technology doesn’t create answers to match questions. Unlike many generative AI systems, the Interactive Interviews don’t use AI to write questions and then render them using a voice engine. You only hear the interviewee’s actual speech.
• The public can access the Interactive Interviews online. Instead of having to go to the Bass Lab in person, you can converse with each participant via the Project’s website, anywhere in the world.
• The Project gives visitors a comprehensive learning hub. Visitors inspired by an Interactive Interview or an article can quickly navigate to more content that explores tangential issues. This makes the site a centralized resource of rich, dependable information on the Black media and the Black experience.

Engage with Black Social Justice Leaders with the Second Draft Project

The Second Draft Project breaks down several walls that stand between accurate legacies and modern audiences. It gives unfiltered, authentic answers to some of the most important questions, directly from those most qualified to answer them. The Project preserves legacies so future generations can benefit from a deeper experience spawned by a social justice leader’s actual experience. In addition, the Project also corrects inaccurate narratives that would otherwise soil – or simply truncate – the legacies of important social justice figures. 

To support the preservation and rendition of crucial legacies, you can view the project, volunteer, or donate here.