Our work as legal historians is to explore those sites where history’s unspeakable, inexpressible past still lives. This essay follows the suggestion of Joseph Roach to go beyond the archives to “spend more time in the streets.” This essay asks how to explain the fact of homeless people living in the shadows of New York City’s Housing Court. We might cringe, furrow our brows, and avert our gazes from the homeless encampment. Or, we might pause to ask a question about how the sight of human beings huddled in cardboard boxes is a sign of the past. Then we can return to the courthouse archives where we learn how the dynamics of race, power, and inequality have always lived there.

中文翻译：

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先是街道，然后是档案馆

作为法律历史学家，我们的工作是探索那些历史无法言说、无法表达的过去仍然存在的地点。本文遵循约瑟夫·罗奇 (Joseph Roach) 的建议，即超越档案，“花更多时间在街头”。这篇文章询问如何解释无家可归者生活在纽约市住房法庭阴影下的事实。我们可能会畏缩，皱起眉头，将目光从无家可归的营地移开。或者，我们可能会停下来问一个问题，关于人类蜷缩在纸板箱里的景象是如何成为过去的标志。然后我们可以回到法院档案馆，在那里我们了解种族、权力和不平等的动态是如何一直存在的。