You will write a five page research paper (excluding title page and bibliography). Submit your research paper topic in this drop box. In 3-4 sentences, explain what you want to do with your research project and what you think the main point of your research paper will be. Consider the following in choosing your research paper topic:
1) Relate an issue facing African-Americans in the past and the present condition of that issue. For example, The Voting Rights Act, Equal Employment/Affirmative Action, public education, economic justice, representations in the media, etc. You might compare the deaths of Emmet Till and Trayvon Martin to see what lessons can be/have been learned about the law’s treatment of young African American men. All papers should describe the reasons why situations improved for African Americans and the forces that kept or eroded those improvements over time.
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2) Take an icon of Black History and find out more about the person (or people) from primary documents or sources not usually used in standard histories. Part of your task will be to find out about their less well-known contributions to Civil Rights or African American history. For example, Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Marian Anderson, Lorraine Hansberry, Angela Davis, Ralph Bunche, Shirley Chisholm, The Little Rock Nine, Bobby Seale, Louis Armstrong, Paul Robeson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Daisy Bates, Carl Stokes, Carl Rowan, and John Lewis. You may suggest someone else, but you must get written approval from me for the person you choose. Your paper will also offer an explanation on why the “official” version of this person differs from what you have uncovered.
