The historical figure interview project, step by step
9 min read
A historical figure interview project asks you to write (and often perform) an interview with someone from the past, where every answer is built from evidence. The work runs in six steps: choose a figure with enough surviving writing, research for about a week, write 10 to 15 open questions, draft answers from primary sources, choose a format, then present and cite. Most of the grade goes to accuracy and sources, not acting.
What the project is, and what teachers actually grade
In an interview project you play two roles. As the interviewer you write the questions. As the figure you answer them, in the first person, using only what the historical record supports. The finished piece might be a written transcript, a live performance with a partner, a short video or a podcast episode.
Teachers set it because it forces three skills at once: finding primary sources, understanding a person in their own time, and turning evidence into clear writing. When you read a rubric for this project, the biggest rows are almost always historical accuracy, use of sources and quality of questions. Costume and acting usually count for little or nothing. Plan your time the same way.
Step 1: Choose a figure you can research properly
The best figure is not always the most famous one. It is the one who left enough of their own words for you to build answers from. A person who wrote letters, an autobiography or speeches gives you material; a person known only from other people's stories leaves you guessing.
- Did they write things that survive and that you can read in your language? Letters, diaries, speeches, books.
- Is there a clear turning point in their life you can ask about?
- Did they face a hard decision, a conflict or a failure? Those make the best answers.
- Can you find one solid biography in your school or public library?
- Is your teacher happy with the choice? Some projects require a figure from a set period.
| Figure | Life | Their own words you can read |
|---|---|---|
| Frederick Douglass | 1818 to 1895 | Three autobiographies (1845, 1855, 1881), speeches, letters |
| Marie Curie | 1867 to 1934 | Autobiographical notes (1923), lectures, scientific papers |
| Abraham Lincoln | 1809 to 1865 | Speeches, letters, the Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress |
| Ada Lovelace | 1815 to 1852 | Her 1843 Notes on the Analytical Engine, letters |
| Florence Nightingale | 1820 to 1910 | Notes on Nursing (1859), reports, thousands of letters |
Step 2: Research for a week, from the right places
Start with an encyclopedia article to get the dates straight, then read one full biography or a long chapter, then go to the primary sources. Keep a note for every fact: what it is, where you found it, and the page or date. You will need those notes when you cite. Our guide on how to research a historical figure lists where to look, in order, and free primary source archives shows where the letters and speeches are online.
By the end of this step you should have a timeline of 10 to 15 dates, three or four short passages in the figure's own words, and a list of the people who mattered to them.
Step 3: Write 10 to 15 questions that need real answers
Good interview questions are open: they ask how, why, or what it was like. Closed questions (When were you born?) get one-word answers and waste your word count. Order the questions roughly by time, from early life to the end, and save one question about the figure's own judgement of their life for last. The full method, with weak and strong examples, is in how to write interview questions.
One rule matters more than the rest: your figure knows nothing after the day they died. Lincoln cannot comment on the telephone, which was patented in 1876, eleven years after his death.
A sample question set: Frederick Douglass
Here is a set a student could use, with the source each answer should come from. A good answer paraphrases or briefly quotes that source and adds one concrete detail.
- How did you learn to read when it was forbidden? (Narrative, 1845, chapters 6 and 7: Sophia Auld began teaching him; Hugh Auld stopped her.)
- Why did learning to read make you want freedom? (Narrative, chapter 7.)
- What happened in your fight with Edward Covey, and why did it matter to you? (Narrative, chapter 10.)
- How did you escape in September 1838? (Life and Times, 1881: he did not describe the method in 1845, to protect those who helped.)
- Why did you publish your life story in 1845, when it put you in danger? (Narrative and preface; he left for Britain and Ireland soon after.)
- Why did you start your own newspaper, The North Star, in 1847? (My Bondage and My Freedom, 1855.)
- What did you tell the people of Rochester about the Fourth of July in 1852? (Speech of 5 July 1852.)
- Why did you break with William Lloyd Garrison about the Constitution? (Speeches and editorials of the early 1850s.)
- What happened when you met President Lincoln in August 1863? (Life and Times, 1881.)
- Why did you urge Black men to join the Union Army? (Men of Color, To Arms, March 1863.)
- Why did you argue in 1869 that the vote for Black men could not wait? (Equal Rights Association debates, 1869.)
- Looking back, what are you proudest of? (Life and Times, final chapters.)
There is a full list with sourced answers in questions to ask Frederick Douglass.
Step 4: Draft the answers from evidence
Write each answer in the first person, 60 to 120 words long. Build it from your notes, not from memory. A strong answer has three parts: the fact (what happened, with a date or place), the reason or feeling the sources show, and one specific detail that proves you read the source.
If you quote the figure, copy the words exactly and mark them with quotation marks, then cite the document. If the record is silent on something, do not invent it. Have the figure say they will not speak of it, or answer with what they did instead. Teachers notice invented feelings and anachronisms quickly.
Douglass himself gives a model for an honest answer about the Fourth of July. His own words, from the speech in Rochester, New York:
“This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
Step 5: Choose a format and rehearse
| Format | Length | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Written transcript | 800 to 1,500 words | Students who write better than they perform |
| Live interview with a partner | 4 to 6 minutes | Classes with presentation days |
| Video | 3 to 5 minutes | Showing setting, props and documents on screen |
| Podcast episode | 5 to 10 minutes | Pairs and small groups; see our podcast project guide |
| Wax museum station | 60 to 90 seconds | Whole-school events; see the wax museum guide |
Rehearse aloud at least three times. You can practise with a partner reading the questions, or try the interview by voice with an AI recreation of your figure on Yuga, then compare what it says with your sources. A recreation is not the real person and can get things wrong, so treat it as a sparring partner, never as a source to cite.
A three week timeline
| Days | Task | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Choose the figure, get teacher approval | You have three primary sources you can read |
| 3 to 7 | Research and take notes | Timeline of 10 to 15 dates, notes with page numbers |
| 8 to 9 | Write questions | 10 to 15 open questions, checked for anachronisms |
| 10 to 13 | Draft answers | Each answer has a fact, a reason and a sourced detail |
| 14 to 15 | Bibliography and teacher check | Every quotation has a citation |
| 16 to 19 | Rehearse or record | Three full run-throughs |
| 20 to 21 | Present | Handed in with sources |
A rubric you can check your work against
| Criterion | Excellent (4) | Developing (2) |
|---|---|---|
| Historical accuracy | Every fact checks out; no anachronisms | Several errors or modern ideas |
| Use of sources | At least two primary and two secondary sources, used in the answers | Only websites or one source |
| Questions | Open, ordered, reach the big decisions | Mostly yes or no questions |
| Voice and perspective | Speaks as the figure would in their time | Sounds like a modern student |
| Citations | Quotations exact and cited; full bibliography | Quotations unsourced or altered |
| Presentation | Clear, rehearsed, on time | Read from paper, over or under time |
How to cite your sources
Cite the documents you used, not a website that quoted them. Follow the style your teacher asks for. Two examples in MLA style:
- Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23.
- Blight, David W. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. Simon and Schuster, 2018.
If you used an AI tool while preparing, say so in a short note if your teacher allows AI at all. Do not cite the AI for facts or quotations: find them in the source. The guide using AI to study history shows how to word that note.
Questions people ask
- How many questions should a historical figure interview have?
- Ten to fifteen is the usual range for a written interview, and six to eight for a live one of four to six minutes. Fewer, longer answers beat many short ones. Each answer should carry a fact, a reason and one sourced detail, so fifteen questions at around 80 words each gives a transcript of about 1,200 words.
- Can I make up answers if I cannot find what the person said?
- You can write answers in your own words, but they must rest on evidence. Paraphrase what the sources show the person did or believed. Never invent a quotation or a feeling the record does not support. If the record is silent, have the figure decline to answer or say what they did instead.
- Who is a good figure for an interview project?
- Pick someone who left writing you can read: letters, speeches or an autobiography. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace and Florence Nightingale all work well because their own words survive in print and online. Someone known only from legends makes the answers guesswork.
- Can I use an AI chatbot for my interview project?
- Check your teacher's policy first. Where it is allowed, an AI recreation is useful for rehearsing and for finding topics to research, but it can be wrong. Every fact and quotation in your final project must come from a source you checked yourself, and that source is what you cite.
- How long should the presentation be?
- Live interviews usually run four to six minutes, videos three to five and podcasts five to ten. A spoken pace of about 130 words a minute means a five minute interview needs roughly 650 words of script, so cut questions rather than talk faster.
Sources
- Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), Project Gutenberg
- Frederick Douglass Papers, Library of Congress
- David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (2018)
- Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised 1892)