I’m exploring a bunch of options for my research paper… and each one could be narrowed down too!
1. Recently, there has been a lot of attention around what has happened to the “black marriage” – an enduring marriage between two black individuals. Certain statistics show that 42% of black women will never get married, and those that do often end up divorced (as a living example, of the 3 sisters in my mom’s family and the 3 sisters in my father’s family, my mom is the only woman still married to a black man). Some critics blame the culture surrounding black women, or negative attention around black men, among other cultural issues. First, I’d hope to focus on historical traditions of the “black family” and “black marriage,” with sources such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Then I’d want to see how black marriage has changed throughout history, culminating with the Obama family effect. Finally, maybe I’d provide a glimpse of how some black writers and performers are reinventing hope in the black marriage (ex, the movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman) while others are encouraging black women to start considering the possibility of relationships with white men (ex, the movie Something New)… open to suggestions on this one
2. African-American entrepreneurs of the Gilded Age – still need to do some poking around on this one...
3. The Transcontinental Railroad – I’ve always been interested in this railroad’s effect on California’s growth in the mid-1800s. And Leland Stanford Sr was one of the “Big Four” barons that built the railroad!
Clearly it looks like I’ve spent more time thinking about the first one, but I definitely haven’t settled on it, so I’m open to feedback on all of them!
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Hey Andrea,
ReplyDeleteYou obviously have thought a lot about your first topic, but I think that's good—it sounds like it'd be a great topic! Actually, I saw a newspaper article today (hmm . . . San José Mercury, maybe, possibly the Palo Alto Daily . . . it was in Tressider) about the recent rise in divorce rate, and it had a photograph of an African American woman accompanying the article. If you can track it down, there's one recently published article to use already! It's something you seem to have experienced first-hand, and the divorce of family members is something that will be immediately relevant to many. Looking at the effect of the Obamas would be timely and interesting as well—I think you should go for this one!
Hey, Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Chris--it seems like you've done a lot of work on your first topic. I think you might need to decide whether you want to do more of a fact-based study (census materials, etc) versus a study of the tradition, depiction, and attitudes of black performers/writers towards marriage and perhaps its change over time.
Dre--
ReplyDeleteThose are all pretty sweet ways to go. Considering you've thought more about the first one and the third one is relatively straight forward, I'll try to throw in some ideas about number two. So as far as African American entrepreneurs during the Gilded Age, I'm guessing since you used the term Gilded Age you're thinking in business? There was a lot going on in the way of social entrepreneurship as well, especially considering the largest change in that period for African Americans was a social change. But if you want to focus on business you could maybe look to see if you find something like: maybe discrimination against African Americans led to a higher level of entrepreneurship because of the need to "do it yourself" in a way. Did closed doors force them to open new doors? Further, did African Americans maybe have a higher rate of business failure because they were forced to create new businesses but then would be, in a sense, forced out by the greater economic establishment?
Hey Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea on changes in black marriages/ black families.
This is sort of taking it back in time from the modern data you're talking about here, but maybe it would be interesting to look at the developments in American law regarding black marriage: what were the pre-emancipation / pre-Civil War practices of black marriage? What was the 'divorce' rate like (I put divorce in quotations since marriage between black slaves was not officially legal as far as I know)? How did the idea of marriage in black communities change after the Civil war? What are the lasting effects of slavery on black marriage? Are there vestiges of values/ideals/means of thinking about black marriage left from this time period? This might be an interesting way to frame your argument about the current state of black marriage in America.
-Sylvie