Oral History Research Project

Oral History Research Project

Please conduct an Oral History interview of a person who immigrated to the United States. Your interviewee must have been old enough at the time to remember details about his or her country of birth.

Develop a series of specific questions prior to your interview. What do you want to know? What can you find out through research before you meet for the interview? What can you find out only by experiencing the person’s face-to-face presence? During the interview, attempt to find answers to the questions you have developed. After the interview, attempt to fill any gaps that remain.

Be sure to record your interview in some manner. This recording or transcript of your interview is a primary source document and should not be discarded. Recording equipment is available for you to borrow... you will find this equipment on 48-hour reserve in the Library.

Write a paper that attempts to answer one or more of your questions using the recording or transcript of your interview as a primary source. Note that your interview recording or transcript is only one of the sources you will use for this research project. 4-8 pages.

In addition to writing your paper, you will also present your findings to the class. If you wish, you may pre-record your presentation and post it to your blog (or post it to youtube and post the link on your blog). In this case, your recording must be between 3 and 4 minutes in length. 

Cajun French...

... spoken by a Cajun.

Also an example of how you might present an Oral History.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvPqifZqjM4

Updated Schedule - through Midterm Break

FYE / Andrews – Fall 2012           UPDATED!!! Schedule of Activities & Assignments

Please note that this schedule is tentative and may change as our semester evolves.

September 17

What is an American?

DUE… READING: Daniels, chapter 4

September 19

Daniels, Chapter 4, continued

September 21

First Research Project assigned

DUE… PAPER: First Document Analysis

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September 24

The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano

DUE… READING: Equiano – choose one section to read and annotate (a link to the text is posted on the class website)

September 26

Ethnicity and race in American life

DUE… READING: Daniels, chapter 5

September 28

Are ethnicity and immigration issues reflected in the 2012 presidential campaigns? What are the candidates’ positions? How might each candidate shape the ethnic future of America?

DUE: CURRENT EVENT: Spend at least one hour reading and/or listening to the candidates’ statements about immigration. Refer to a variety of media sources, including news sources such as CNN, BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, NY times, Aljazeera, Politico and others. Search for video clips of statements the candidates may have made at campaign stops, on their websites, or at their recent national conventions. Summarize your findings in a 1-2 page list of talking points. Be sure to keep track of the sources you refer to. You will turn in both the list of talking points and your list of references.

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October 1, 3, 5, 8

The Century of Immigration

DUE… READING: Daniels, chapter 6, 7, 8 OR 9.  In groups, choose one chapter to read, summarize and present to the class for a 50-minute discussion period. Your preparation must include organized notes, key passages highlighted for emphasis, and 3-5 proposed exam questions which students should be able to answer based on the discussion you lead.

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October 8

Century of Immigration, completed

October 10

Review session for Midterm Exam.

October 12

Research presentations (first half)

DUE… PAPER: First Mini Research Paper

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October 15

Research presentations (second half)

October 17

Midterm Exam.

October 19 – Midterm Break

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The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano...

http://history.hanover.edu/texts/equiano/equiano_contents.html

1st Analytical Paper - full assignment

Benjamin Franklin is widely considered to be an American hero, a Founding Father whose place in American history can hardly be questioned. Or can it? 

Your first analytical paper should be written in the form of a proposal that you might send, as a Historian, to a publisher. Your proposal should argue that a new interpretation of Franklin is due in light of the evolving 21^st century realities of American values and demographics.

To begin, read Franklin’s “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind.” The link to that document is:

http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=4&page=225a

Then read through the wikipedia entry on Franklin, which does a fair job of reflecting common thinking about Franklin today. Pay special attention to the section titled “Population studies.” The link to the wikipedia site is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

You may use other sources for your paper as you see fit.

Your paper should be in the form of a three-page proposal. Include citations in your proposal as needed.

Due Friday, September 21.

Link to Chapter 3 Questions

http://aehfall2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/african-immigrants.html

Pastor uses lynching photo to help get out the vote

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/13/13846484-black-pastor-uses-lynching-photo-to-help-get-out-the-vote?lite

Gullah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvuWSJI87r8

Document used for first Document Analysis Paper

THE ASSIGNMENT HAS BEEN POSTED - YOU'LL SEE IT ABOVE AS THE MOST RECENT BLOG ENTRY

Below is a link to the document you will analyze in your first paper. Please read through the document and post, as a Comment, 2 or 3 words or phrases that reflect your reaction to it. To be useful, I need to see the Comments posted here no later than Thursday afternoon.

Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, by Benjamin Franklin. 1751.

http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=4&page=225a