Why are some MildredTrotter.org data, images, or language redacted, blurred, or flagged for readers/viewers and researchers of all types.

There are and will be images of death in life, history, and scholarship. Death,a fundamental and irreparable part of life, can be studied and cared for, acknowledging the challenges of living. This blog includes, as part of the educational project, images and representations of human remains, descriptions and facts of disaster, conflict, and criminality. Intentionally, I have chosen to share here only, previously published (preferred) and images available in public unrestricted archives, or historical common heritage. There are scientific descriptors and terms/language that have  need for trigger warnings, sensitive re-description, or guided description.  There are important contexts and perspectives for any such images, descriptions, discussion, and teaching. This project seeks to remain conscious and open in dialogue about these sensitive subjects and especially affected persons ~living and dead.  These materials are presented educationally for a broader public audience.  Some images may be described and withheld from sharing due to these human concerns.  I do not think that maturity is achieved by the measure of an 18th birthday, and I do not agree that once achieved it is always held.  Where possible I will explicate ‘gallows humor’ or educational ‘rationale’ when writing to contextualize the times, spaces, and humanity.  Wherever I can, I will signal for and welcome more-to-the-story voices, and solicit and share communities or families to speak for themselves. There are  social movements and scientific changes that flow along with the field as it develops and adapts.  There are also the race/ancestry connection to 20th Century biological anthropology and the legal procedures and structures of that work bear immensely on these moments stories, healing, growth, and decay.  These issues extend to many aspects of identification work, forensic work, and collections based science.

The concept is that this is a space where the dead teach the living.  The material presented here will be from published sources – including ones from the past and recent past(s), publicly available data from accessible archives, documented interviews and media. This site will follow all responsible sharing guidelines, and incorporate voices, histories, cultural contexts, and trouble the ideas of who teaches and who learns, who speaks for the dead, and how we listen, learn and share dignity with the dead.

Mortui Vivos Docent