One of the essential skills for historians to investigate the past is the ability to question a primary source. Primary sources are the building blocks historians use to create history. A primary source is anything created by the historical person, made or existed during the historical period the historian is studying.

We will explore primary and secondary sources about African American foodways in connection with celebration, community, chefs, and tools of the kitchen.

Some of the answers of the past are locked in primary sources. Historians access these answers by asking various questions to get a variety of answers to help them gain a fuller understanding of the primary source.

This collection features two methods of questioning:

Analyzing primary sources – questions asking specific information about the primary source

Historical questioning skills – asking six questions that put a primary source in the larger context of a historical topic

This collection is made up of several smaller collections that contribute to the overall theme. These smaller collections include themed primary sources for you to examine.