This worksheet will help you prepare for your final project by organizing the information that you’ll need for your final paper and walking you through the process of defining your topic, researching and analyzing primary and secondary sources, crafting a thesis, and creating an annotated bibliography. Once you have completed the worksheet submit it to the online classroom for grading.
After your instructor has graded the worksheet, please be sure to use it and the feedback provided to you by your instructor as you construct your final project.1. Statement of Topic:
African Americans This is the topic
Native Americans
Women
Immigrants
You must choose only ONE of the above groups. Which group have you chosen?
African Americans
2. Events
You will need to choose at least 4 specific events that you plan to discuss in your final project. You should choose events that show how life in the United States changed over time for the group that you chose. Two events must be from the period between 1877 and 1945 and two events must be from the period 1945 to the present. On this worksheet and in your final project, be sure to discuss the events you’ve chosen in the order that they happened. This will help you put together a project that makes historical sense.
Event 1: 1877 to 1945
Event: Urban race riots
When: When did the event happen? Did it happen on a specific date? During a specific decade?
During the 1920s
Where: Where did the event happen? In a specific city, state, or region of the country? Throughout the country?
Generally across the country
Who: Who were the main people involved in the event? What specific group of people was involved? Are there specific individuals associated with this event?
White people across the country who were scared of the growing influence of African-Americans were associated with race riots and racial hatred
Why: What events or issues contributed to this event happening?
African-Americans from the South were moving up North to seek better lives in terms of jobs, security, and acceptance. This was also a decade that saw economic troubles, which meant that many white Americans felt as though African-Americans were coming to steal their jobs and their own security, leaving to tensions between the groups
How: How is this event historically significant?
It highlights how African-Americans have dealt with a number of issues throughout their history. It is an example of how tensions arise from external issues and groups like African-Americans are often blamed for it, or have frustrations taken out on them, despite the issue not being their fault.
Event 2: 1877 to 1945
Event: Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the United States
When: when did the event happen? Did it happen on a specific date? During a specific decade?
The organization was founded in 1914 in Jamaica and then brought to the United States in 1916
Where: Where did the event happen? In a specific city, state, or region of the country? Throughout the country?
The organization was founded in Jamaica but brought to the entire country of the United States
Who: Who were the main people involved in the event? What specific group of people was involved? Are there specific individuals associated with this event?
Marcus Garvey founded the organization as a Black Nationalist leader. W.E.B. Du Bois of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People felt that the Back to Africa elements of the association were too strong
Why: What events or issues contributed to this event happening?
Garvey believed in moving back to Africa as it was futile for black people to try and make white people see them as strong and beautiful. He felt that racism and stereotyping was too strong a force in the rest of the world and that black Americans could only succeed by travelling back to Africa
How: How is this event historically significant?
The foundation of this movement was part of a number of efforts by African-Americans to create societies and groups that supported them and their aims to improve their situation in the United States. Garvey’s group is one of the more extreme forms of Black Nationalism but highlights how much African-Americans needed to have rights recognized by wider society.
Event 3: 1945 to the present
Event: Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African-American to play on a major league baseball team
When: When did the event happen? Did it happen on a specific date? During a specific decade?
The first game Jackie played was April 15, 1947
Where: Where did the event happen? In a specific city, state, or region of the country? Throughout the country?
In Brooklyn, New York
Who: Who were the main people involved in the event? What specific group of people was involved? Are there specific individuals associated with this event?
Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play major league baseball. Branch Rickley was the manager of the Dodgers at the time and had already been considering bringing an end to segregation in baseball
Why: What events or issues contributed to this event happening?
Over the past few decades, African-Americans were not allowed to play in white teams in professional baseball. Jackie Robinson had been playing for the Negro American League after discharge from the army after refusing to move to the end of a segregated bus.
How: How is this event historically significant?
The event signaled the beginning of the end for segregation in baseball and later in other sports. Due to his popularity and visibility, Robinson also became an important figure for African-Americans who looked to him as a source of inspiration and pride.
Event 4: 1945 to the present
Event: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
When: when did the event happen? Did it happen on a specific date? During a specific decade?
December 1st 1955
Where: Where did the event happen? In a specific city, state, or region of the country? Throughout the country?
Montgomery, Alabama
Who: Who were the main people involved in the event? What specific group of people was involved? Are there specific individuals associated with this event?
Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Improvement Association (including Martin Luther King Jr.) and all African-Americans in Montgomery
Why: What events or issues contributed to this event happening?
Rosa Parks was told that she had to give up her seat for a white man and thus violated the racial segregation ordinances that stated that black people had to sit at the back of the bus. She was arrested but the Montgomery Improvement Association suggested a boycott of the bus which eventually led to the de-segregation of buses in the city
How: How is this event historically significant?
It is one of the most famous events that highlighted how difficult life was for African-Americans under segregation and led to major changes in the way that African-Americans were treated by society
3. Sources
You will need to locate two primary sources and two secondary sources related to your topic. Use the primary source analysis tool for help with analyzing primary sources.
Primary Sources
APA Citation for Primary Source 1:
Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.
Hartt, R.L. (1921, Jan. 15). “The new Negro”: “When he’s hit, he hits back!” Independent, 76, 59-60. Retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5127
Annotation for Primary Source 1:
Provide an annotation explaining what the source is, where it came from, what this source can tell us about your topic, what questions it raises, and how this source will help you prove your thesis. Be sure to clearly identify which specific event this source relates to. Here are some examples of annotations.
This source is an example of how people reacted to the changes in African-Americans and how they were acting across the country. It highlights how people at the time viewed the changes in race relations and gives a little bit of insight into how racial tensions were viewed by contemporaries. It also raises the question of how the other side saw the changes, but will help to prove the thesis that African-Americans have faced challenges for several years.
APA Citation for Primary Source 2:
Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.
Black Saga: The African American Experience. 1995. African American Research Center 973.0496073.C462B. A survey of the people, events, and places of African American history from 1492 to the present. Brief entries are arranged in chronological order.
Annotation for Primary Source 2:
Provide an annotation explaining what the source is, where it came from, what this source can tell us about your topic, what questions it raises, and how this source will help you prove your thesis. Be sure to clearly identify which specific event this source relates to. Here are some examples of annotations.
This is a collection of primary sources which are written by African-Americans and detail their experienced in the United States. It tells readers a lot about how African-Americans saw themselves and the world around them. It is also useful as it goes back to 1492 and can therefore give more historical background to the topic.
Secondary Sources
APA Citation for Secondary Source 1:
Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.
Black American Culture and Society: An Annotated Bibliography. 1994. Main Stacks 305.896073.B56182. Gathers articles of crucial concern to Black Americans. These issues include education, research funding at historically black colleges and universities, voting rights, unemployment, income support policies, health care reform and racism.
Annotation for Secondary Source 1:
Provide an annotation explaining what the author's thesis is, how they prove their thesis, and how this source will help you prove your thesis. Be sure to clearly identify which specific event this source relates to. Here are some examples of annotations.
This author believes that there are a number of important issues that affect African-Americans to this day and these can all be traced back to historical issues. They prove their thesis by gathering articles together that highlight the challenges faced by this group. It relates mainly to the Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks events.
APA Citation for Secondary Source 2:
Provide the APA citation for your source. Here are some examples of APA citations.
African-American Social Leaders And Activists. 2003. African American Research Center 016.305896.H321A. Documents the lives and legacies of a representative selection of memorable individuals who have been active leaders in African-American society, from colonial times to the present day. Whether abolitionists or slave revolt leaders, civil rights activists or educators, newspaper publishers or club officers, African-American activists and social leaders have been at the forefront in the struggle for civil rights, racial equality, social justice, and community preservation.
Annotation for Secondary Source 2:
Provide an annotation explaining what the author's thesis is, how they prove their thesis, and how this source will help you prove your thesis. Be sure to clearly identify which specific event this source relates to. Here are some examples of annotations.
This author believes that African-American social leaders have had the most impact on social change in the United States. They prove their thesis by investigating the lives of several of these African-Americans. It mainly relates to Rosa Parks, but gives insight into a number of important events. It shows how African-Americans have played a major role in making changes to society and therefore directly relates to my thesis.
4. Thesis Statement
Once you have analyzed your sources, consult the AWC’s “Thesis Statement” and use the writing center's Thesis Generator to craft a thesis on your topic, based on your findings from your sources.
Please remember that there are primary listed in the Week3 Discussion Board 1. You are free to use one or more of those primary sources or you may find your own. You are also welcome to use the secondary sources throughout the course listed as “recommended sources.”
Thesis:
African-Americans have faced a number of challenges in the past two centuries, but often created events that helped them to overcome these boundaries.
