[Thermosetty]

"Expecting someone else to document one's own history isn't going to work that well."

Never indicted that. Dorsey collection and 19th century travels aside, how would you say a Black person in early 17th century America should've preserved their history/life experiences in recordable format and passed it to offspring they may or may not have been separated (i.e., sold) from?

[WalterBright]

Not all were slaves, and writing letters.

[Thermosetty]

"Not all were slaves, and writing letters"

Your point? "Free" Blacks were exceptions (about 9% by 1850) not the rule. Preservation of their history too was an exception, not the rule. Controlling for literacy rates and economic deprivation suppresses the preservation percentage more.

[WalterBright]

The last Civil War soldier died in the 1950s. There were 4 million slaves freed in 1865. Plenty of time for people taking oral histories of primary sources.

Besides, 9% of 4 million is 360,000. Quite a lot of people.

On February 25, 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania became the nation's first Historically Black College and University (HBCU). -- Google

[cafard]

It took quite a while for the US government to get around take oral histories from persons born into slavery, but it did so: https://www.loc.gov/collections/voices-remembering-slavery/a...

[Thermosetty]

The last American slave died 70 years ago. Ignoring the millions that lived and died between the early 17th and mid 19th centuries is disingenuous.

The nature of slavery and the operational structure of this nation ensured that significant quantities of Black history was lost (original premise).