In Troillots Silencing the Past, he expresses how the production of a historical narrative cannot be studied through a mere chronology because of its silences. Freedom Papers is used to fill these silences. The book gives an alternate perspective to that silencing effect that Trouillot talks about. The book gives you a more personal perspective of history during the Haitian, French, and American revolution. I really enjoyed how the book brings together 5 generations and stories. It really shows you the agency of the families and the ways they acted. The book makes history become a little more personal and relatable.
   In Freedom papers we can see the filling of the silences thru the focus of gender and lineage. The book gives you a real perspective on just how dangerous living was for slaves. Mobility is intrenched   starting in the colonial era because people were constantly moving from the old world to the new world. The problem with mobility during this time was the lack of documentation.
   Throughout the book we see the importance of documents and or the lack there of. Even if slaves had been freed previously, they were not always gaurenteed freedom wherever they traveled. For example upon arriving in New Orleans if they did not have proper documentation to prove that they had been freed, they would once again be put back in slavery. During this time everything dealing with gender, race, and "name" mattered when arriving in America and claiming to be "free." She gives us an example of this when Rosalie manages to achieve the freedom with the freedom paper that was valid but it lacked one signature from the governor of Saint-Domingue. The books really give us a realistic perspective of the fragility of freedom.
  Freedom Papers use of archives makes the silencing of history harder to imagine since its told from real documents. Since you know the contexts from which the time Rosali was in, you can relate her papers and presume her positions on the history and make them seem like a full story instead of a partial story.