LITR 5731:
Seminar in American Minority Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake, fall 2001
Student Research Proposal
Michelle Stephenson
Dr. White,
After reading Becky's email regarding the
subject of names/name-calling, I am very interested in doing my research journal
on the topic of names, codes, nicknames, dual-meanings, play on words, etc. I
did not realize that Andrea Dunn was already doing her paper on this subject.
Would it be possible for me to explore this topic as well? My resources and
personal experiences will differ from Andrea's and therefore should have a
different twist to it. I have also read other books by Morrison such as Sula,
Beloved, Tar Baby, and The Bluest Eye and could possibly tie those in as well.
My second topic of interest is the rise of
African-American popular literature in the 1990s. I could use books from writers
such as Toni Morrison, Bebe Campbell Moore, Gloria Naylor, Maya Angelou, Ntozake
Shange, etc. and compare how these authors portray women in society.
I could go either way so your feedback would
be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Michelle Stephenson
Dear Michelle,
You sound sharper on the first
topic about names, so I'd recommend going with that. No problem with you and
Andrea doing the same general topic. Judging from your details, you could
concentrate on Morrison's own development of naming in several novels. This
could be relevant, of course, to African American culture generally, but since
you've read so much Morrison, you could concentrate on how naming fits in with
her own style and concerns.
The other topic is also possible,
however, so if you want to offer any further details on either of these, or just
to chekc in later, please do so.
Dr. White,
I have
changed my mind about doing the topic of "names" and would like to do
my research project (journal) on the role of African-American women in the Civil
Rights Movement. This is a topic that I have always been very interested in, but
do not know a lot about. I do know, however, that the strength of this movement
is mainly associated with men such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. I
also know that African-American women have received minimal national recognition
for their actions and are rarely recognized in historical documentaries,
articles, etc. Women's experiences in the Civil Rights Movement can tell us a
lot about the lives of ordinary women and how they played a significant role in
a movement based on the idea of equality. My journal will focus on the
"double jeopardy" of being Black and being a woman and will include
women such as Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Coretta Scott King, women of the Black
Panther Party and the Black Feminist Activists, etc. Let us remember that it was
not a Black man, but a Black woman, who refused to give up her seat on a bus in
Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.
My journal
will consist of several short 2-3 pages papers, which will include information
from biographies, autobiographies, stories, articles, websites, documentaries
and maybe even personal interviews (if I am lucky).
Note: I have
just started to do my research, therefore, the following outline and sources may
or may not be used for my journal. This is just to give you an idea of what I
have been browsing through.
The Role Of
African-American Women in the Civil Rights Movement
I.
Montgomery Bus Boycott-Rosa Parks
II.
Desegregation-Central High, Little Rock, AR- Minniejean Brown, Melba Patillo
III.
Sit-ins/Freedom Rides/Riots
IV. The
Wives of King and Malcolm X- Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz
V.Women of
the Black Panther Party-Angela Davis
VI.Black
Feminist Activists/Black Women Organizations
Works Cited
(Unofficial)
Davis,
Marianna W., ed. (1981) Contributions of Black Women to America. Vol. II.
Estell,
Kenneth (1994) The African-American Almanac. Sixth Edition.
Giddings,
Paula. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in
America.
Hardy, Gayle
J. (1993) American Women Civil Rights Activists: Bibliographies of 68 Leaders,
1825-1992.
Salem,
Dorothy C., ed. (1993) African-American Women: A Biographical Dictionary.
Journal
Articles
Gender &
Society, 1993 7(2): pages 162-182. B. Barnett. Invisible Southern
Black Women
Leaders in the Civil Rights Movement: The Triple Constraints of Gender, Race,
and Class.
Sage:
A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, 1988 5(2): pages 60-64 D. Bryan.
Her-Story
Unsilenced: Black Female Activists in the Civil Rights Movement
Dissertations
Crawford,
Vicki Lynn (1987) Emory University. We Shall Not Be Moved: Black Female
Activists in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1965.
Gyant,
Laverne (1990) Pennsylvania State University. Contributions of African-American
Women to Nonformal Education During the Civil Rights Movement, 1955-1965"
Dear Michelle,
This is a good topic too, and
probably more practical for the journal. My only suggestion would be to make the
journal at least somewhat more literary, if only by reviewing the literature
available on the subject and particularly the writings of the women themselves.
Some of the writings may take the form of oral histories and memoirs. Others
will be important biographies by the next generation of African American women.
One name to add may be Fannie Lou Hamer (I think all this is spelled right), who
died only a few years ago, and I think some book by or about her came out around
the time of her death.
A video biography of Dr. King I
saw once mentioned that much of the Civil Rights movement grew out of the black
church and shared its structure, so that you had a male leader or figurehead,
but the next rank of powers might be female instead of male, as with the
"mothers of the church."
Here are some sources I found in
the Oxford Companion to African American Literature:
Jackquelyn Grant, "Black
Women and the Church," in But Some of Us Are Brave, eds. Gloria T. Hull, P.
B. Scott, and B. Smith, 1982, pp. 141-152.
Armistead Robinson and Patricia
Sullivan, eds., New Directions in Civil Rights Studies, 1991.
A number of other sources were
listed under "Civil Rights" in the Oxford Companion.
Oops, I didn't scroll down far
enough--you've done a lot of research already, which looks good. Thanks.
>
Dr. White,
I will stick with my last
proposal. Is this outline ok?
The Civil Rights Movement: A
Woman's Perspective
I. History of the Civil Rights
Movement/Role of African-American Women in the movement
II. Literature by African-American
Women during the Civil Rights
Movement
III. Oral Histories/Memoirs
IV. Articles/Books on the Civil
Rights Movement by African-American
Women of the next generation
Dear Michelle,
Yes, this looks
like progression from the historical background to the literature rising from
it. Proceed!