Based on the counter-colonial thought formulated by the Brazilian quilombola activist Nêgo Bispo (1959–2023), this article offers reflections on participatory research, social memory, and corporeality through discussions carried out by the Brazilian Public History Network (Rede Brasileira de História Pública) – specifically covering the projects produced by the Laboratory of Oral History and the Image at Fluminense Federal University – LABHOI/UFF (Rio de Janeiro/Brazil, created in 1982). The author explores and recognizes the colonial nature of public history practices and identifies a counter-colonial public history that is capable of going beyond text-only source-based public history or which is written only out of official colonial records. Public history, it is suggested, can do this by developing participatory practices with the creation of oral history collections and incorporating embodied ways of storytelling.