During the visit to the MOBOT archives, my group and I thoroughly examined an archival document of the Business Papers/ a letter to John Berry Meachum written by Henry Shaw. The document consisted of significant dates, prices, and information about the loan. Also, in the document my group and I noticed that in the document there were dashes used instead in parenthesis. In the document, Henry Shaw was extending the loan for two years because the Meachum’s were doing very well on their payments. Soon, they were unable to pay the actual house payments, so they paid the interest accrued. In result of the Meachum’s defaulting on their loan, Henry Shaw takes the house as equity. This leads to Meachum’s filing for bankruptcy. Shaw’s voice is the loudest being that he is taking from the disadvantaged. The Meachum’s are not the only individuals who have suffered from the exploitation of Henry Shaw. Not only is Meachum’s voice being silenced, but also others in the community that have encountered this issue with Shaw. Something we can learn from the voices that are being silenced is that there are gaps that we must fill. Keeping an open mind and knowing that not all voices are present is something to keep present. One way we can fill the gaps of silence is when telling this story, we can keep an open mind and acknowledge the Meachum’s voice/story was not told. Telling the story of humanity and handling it with compassion is essential. It is critical we tell the story with intent. Also, not to mention during this period, setting the house payments was very irrational. I feel as if Henry Shaw almost knew what he was doing and had a premeditated intent of exploitation. These are black individuals and obtaining money is not easy being that they are minorities.