African Americans’ struggles for equality

Imagine you represent your company at a service organization dealing with one of these two issues: Facing Economic Change or Engaging Civil Rights. Your supervisor has asked you to research information related to the history of one of these issues for your organization to help new employees and volunteers understand it better. Eventually you will make an oral presentation with slides that include your findings and recommendations. Your predecessor already started a list of sample primary and secondary sources and collections of sources.

YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION:

What lessons from African Americans’ struggles for equality in the past can help inform current and future civil rights issues?

What key words and phrases will you be looking for in your sources?

SELECT YOUR SECONDARY SOURCES

Choose two secondary sources that will help you investigate your research question.

To begin developing an answer for your research question, you need to read about the historical events you are considering. Remember, in the assignment scenario, your predecessor has already collected information related to the issue you are investigating. The secondary sources from that collection are listed on this page. As you’ll see, the sources are grouped by research question.

RESEARCH QUESTION AND KEY WORDS

Remember to choose from the group of sources provided for your research question. Your key words will help you as you read through the available sources and find which ones are most relevant to your research.

SECONDARY SOURCE LIST FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS

If your research question addresses African American rights, pick a source from each category below: ONE source that provides an overview, and ONE source that addresses a specific time.

Using your key words to guide you, review the sources in this section to decide which ones are most relevant to your research. Remember, you must choose two sources: one that provides an overview, and one focused on a specific event or time period.

OVERVIEWS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

G. Graff. Spring 2016. Post Civil War African American History: Brief Periods of Triumph, and Then Despair. http://libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=113759423&site=eds-live&scope=site

John Kirk. February 2009. The Long Road to Equality for African-Americans. http://libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=36590274&site=eds-live&scope=site

ABOLITION, THE JIM CROW ERA, AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Abolitionist Movement. No date. https://www.historynet.com/abolitionist-movement
Femi Lewis. No date. The Jim Crow Era. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-jim-crow-45387
Jon Meacham. August 26, 2013. One Man. One March. One Speech. One Dream. http://libdatab.strayer.edu/login?url=https://sear…
PBS. No date. 1776–1865: From Bondage to Holy War. https://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/timeline/p_2.ht…
EVALUATE YOUR SOURCES

Once you have selected the two sources that you want to use to investigate your research question, you are ready to begin drafting Assignment 1. The assignment templates below will guide you through each of the elements that are required to evaluate your secondary sources.

SECONDARY SOURCE 1

Choose your first secondary source, then answer the questions below. Make sure you explain your answers in your own words rather than quoting directly from your source.

ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE

Your research question: What lessons from African Americans’ struggles for equality in the past can help inform current and future civil rights issues?

Copy the source listing for your first secondary source from the list above and paste it here. Make sure you include the author, date, title, and web address (URL). You can refer to this source listing as you fill in the title, author, and date information below.

What is the title of your first secondary source?

Who wrote this source?
When was it written?
Why was it written?
What is the main idea of this source?
What makes this a secondary source?
Is the writer neutral, or does the writer advance a particular point of view or perspective?
What are some of the facts presented that will help you address your research question?
Why is this source credible?