LITR 4332: American Minority Literature

Student Research Proposals 2007

Gregory Banks

I would like to do some research on the writers of the Harlem Renaissance.  I lived in Manhattan for almost twenty-three years, and right around the corner from the Apollo Theater for the last seven of those.  So it really is a natural choice.

Susanne Brooks

For my research, I choose the minority group Native Americans.  What is their “DREAM”?  How is their “dream” different from “The American Dream”?

 I wish to learn about the Native Americans' views and attitudes towards the dominant culture.  I read the poem “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government” by Chrystos and I could hear profound anger and resistance toward U.S. government.   I want to focus in on objective 4 of the dilemma of assimilation or resistance to the dominant culture among Native Americans.  Who are the voices for this group?  Are they voices of resistance? Do they resist because they are pursuing their “dream”. 

In what ways have they remained distinct as a minority group and what ways have they assimilated?  Does each generation assimilate more than the previous? 

Amber Buitron

I want to research a topic on Mexican American Literature. For being a Mexican American, I hardly know anything about my culture. I know more African American poets and authors than I do my own race. It will give me a better understanding of my heritage and ethnicity. I will focus on literature pieces that describe the Mexican American culture. Objective 5a, to discover the power of poetry and fiction to help “others” hear the minority voice and vicariously share the minority experience, is something I hope to be able to give insight to whoever reads my paper. I think it is important to be able to connect with all races and especially your own. 

Rhonda Fisher

As a topic for my research project, I would like to further develop the personal essay above (midterm topic 2) regarding the plight of the African American woman. I would further discuss the struggle of the African American woman from slavery to modern times and the ways in which their struggle is different from African American males or how their struggle is additionally compounded. I have discussed thus far in the above essay the issues of women being separated from their children at birth, slaveholders fathering slaves, and the rape of the African American, perhaps due to social circumstance. I would like to proceed by providing statistics on the numbers of slave children separated from their mothers at birth, researching statistics on the numbers of slaveholders who fathered slave children and maybe focus on some of the historically famous slaveholders who fathered slaves. I would also like to research further the prevalence of the rape of women slaves and African American women in general. I could also possibly parallel the white woman’s movement toward equal rights with that of the African American woman.

Bundy Fowler

      Although we have not had the opportunity to read Native American Literature at this juncture, I would like to compare the plight of the Native American to the African American through literature.

      It is interesting that while the African Americans were forced to come here as slaves, the Native Americans were forced out of their homeland, slaughtered and treated like second class citizens.

    I hope to find both similarities and differences in the literature assigned and perhaps some outside reading to further develop the topic.

Misti Franklin

I think I would like to examine some of the issues that cause discord within the African American population. We heard over and over again about the dominant cultures influence in the Dream and I would like to inspect the fellow African American influence on the Dream. I’m thinking of focusing on violence (ie.gangs and crime) in the African American population as a means to the Dream. I could possibly present the information in an advantage vs. disadvantage format. Then after collecting the information I could possibly try to conclude which path actually gets them closer to the dream.

Tami Gilley

I would like to do my research on segregation as it is today.  Most of the material that we cover in class discusses slavery and segregation over throughout history.  I would like to see where we are with segregation today and how it influences our society. 

Cana Hauerland

The Indian minority group seems to be placed on the back burner or unconsciously forgotten about. I would like to research the involuntary removal  of the Cherokee Indians by researching its how it happened, its procedure, who was involved, and how the Indians lived before, during, and after, defining "the Dream" of the Cherokees and their denial to "the American Dream".

Misty Hummel

I would like to do my research paper for this class over racism in America today. I do realize that it is still a problem. However, I do not understand and want to find out why. My goal is to at the very least try to find out what I can do to change it. It goes along with my essay on topic two of the midterm

Veronica Kreuder

At the end of the semester, armed with information from various ethnic backgrounds, I feel I would like to explore the theory of the “melting pot” and whether it is indeed a fondue, a soup or more like a tv dinner. What I have found so far in the African American literature that we have read is that tolerance has become more of a staple in the white diet than acceptance. After reading the Hispanic and Indian narratives, together with reviewing some updated literature and finally sprinkled with current events, I hope to determine a trend indicating whether if society has indeed reached the true critical melting point, proving if a melting pot exists today.

Kristin Long

DeConnia (Dee) Lott

After a class discussion about Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream speech, I have decided to do my research on racism. I know that racism still exists, but some seem to think it will cease. However, I have a strong belief that racism will never be terminated. Therefore, I attend to look up some academic research articles on the topic and find out what the experts have to say about the subject.

Jacqueline Lowman

I am interested in learning more about how slaves learned to read and write.  Since I truly did not know the risk slaves were taking by simply learning I would like to explore that fact even more.  We haven’t covered Native American or Mexican American Literature as of yet but maybe I would rather like to see how they learned to read and write. Perhaps learn the education system of the Native and Mexican Americans since it is all different from one group to another.  I do I would like to explore the education side of it, even though it is broad now, I will narrow it down further as we read more.     

Lara Magee

In many of the books we have read this semester, I have noticed there is a high correlation between literacy and freedom.  In my paper, I would like to explore the relationship between knowledge and freedom by researching how slaves learned to read, who helped them, why slave owners did not want them to learn to read, and how literacy and knowledge set them free.

Jennifer Mason

Black Girl Lost moved and touched me deeply.  Throughout the book, people witnessed her suffering and did nothing.  I understand that black people feared for their lives but there is no excuse for a white person to sit idly by and watch this young girl in such deplorable conditions.  I am interested in finding out what type of things people could have done for a young black girl in the 70s and explore how her life might have been different.

Jaime McBride

Talli Ortiz

I would like to continue with my essay topic #2.   I'd like to look at women in Native American and Mexican American literature and determine if they all have the same outlook on how to fight a challenge they are facing.  Finding some other information of other women in today's society that face some of the same challenges today would be interesting also.

Lauralie Pope

I would like to research minority literature and focus on the importance (impact) that slave narratives have had in minority literature. I knew very little about them before this class and would like to learn more.

Kyle Rahe

I'm interested in the gay community being a minority within a minority. For example, how heterosexual blacks or hispanics view homosexual members of their same race. Do they see them as fellow minorities or exclude them?

Also interesting to note will be that gay lit has no course or place. Of course there are gay writers in the canon, Whitman, Ginsberg, Baldwin, Henry James, etc. But their texts studied in colleges and schools don't overtly deal with homosexuality the way contemporary gay/lesbian authors do.

Katie Raney

Over the course of this semester, I have been struck with the concept of “The Dream.”  It is a very interesting and relevant topic that I had never really thought about coming from the dominant culture or America.  For my research report I would like to discover whether or not the Native American and Mexican American culture’s have something similar.  I know that they do not have “The Dream,” but I think that they have similar expectations that oppose the dominant culture. Objective 3b which states “Yet Native Americans defy the myth of ‘the vanishing Indian,’ choosing to ‘survive,’ sometimes in faith that the dominant culture will eventually destroy itself, and the forests and buffalo will return.”  It seems that this is part of their dream, unique to their culture.  After I have discovered how the Native Americans and Mexican Americans compare to the dominant culture and the different expectations they have, in my research report, I would like to compare their “dreams” to “The Dream.”  Hopefully, this will make me more aware of the existing minorities in our culture.

Casey Reed

My planned topic for the research report is finding the answer to why people still feel as if they have no choice. I feel that if people do not have the resources to create a “good life,” then they are still able to have a good life if they make the right choices. No matter who you are, black or white, you can still strive to fulfill your own dreams.

Pam Richey

Music and poetry are essential literary devices in minority communities, particularly in the African American community.  Because the privilege to learn to read and write was denied so many early African Americans the oral tradition prevalent in music and poetry was the only way they could express themselves.  I would like to research slave songs and poetry as a device to pass along history.

A’Tousha Ricks

I am interested in researching the Harlem Renaissance period.  More specifically, I would like to delve into the black women literary artists of this time.  The artists I would like to research are: Nella Larson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Gwendolyn B. Bennett. 

                        Nella Larson came into her literary work in this period.  I have read Passing.  As a black woman writing amidst this period of change, I would like to bring more attention to her voice through my research. 

            Likewise, I have read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.  I would like to devote a portion of my research to her life.  I am curious to learn more about her existence.  Also, I would like to explore how she created her space within The Harlem Renaissance. 

            One woman author I am unfamiliar with is Gwendolyn B. Bennett.  Her name is unfamiliar to me, yet she actively contributed to this scrutinized era.  In my effort to stretch my knowledge about black women writing in Harlem Renaissance, I would like to include her story in my report. 

Mallory Rogers

I would like to do my research report on how American casinos have impacted Native American reservations.  I want to touch on the “new” updated color code of the reservations, traditional versus modern gender roles, how the American Dream works for them on the reservation, and finally the minority dilemma of assimilation or resistance.  I feel as if I am aware of the dominant white culture, African-American, and Hispanic cultures and would like to learn more about something new and different.  I chose to focus on the casino-economy because of the ever growing gambling population in the US.   Changes are occurring for those both inside and out of the reservations and their casino market is at an all-time high.

Dana Stephens

There were two groups of slaves, those in the field and those in the main house.  Did this create a hierarchy?  Who worked the most hours the Field slaves or the House slaves.  What were their responsibility and job duties?  Did this create a comfortable or uncomfortable situation between the two types of slaves?  Did any one slave have more authority than the next? If so (if not), Explain. Was control maintained by making a division line between them?  

Melissa Tippit

My topic for the research paper will expand on some of the thoughts from objectives 1d on the color code and on objective 4, the minority dilemma. I propose that the reason’s why these problems exist still today is not because of resistance by the minority to join the majority but because of the Power Elites ability to keep them from joining. I will introduce the power elite, WEB DuBois’ “color line” problem and relate it to Martin Luther King’s “Dream” speech. 

Jessica Zuniga

I would like to do research on how to incorporate minority literature in to a fifth grade Language Arts classroom. I am very interested in how to teach this material to elementary age students in a way that they can understand and discuss this literature. I would also like to research the effects of teaching minority literature in school and different lesson plans for doing so.