African-Americans during the Great Depression
African-Americans during the Great Depression
piano Lesson Research Project/Presentation
Read the entire play before starting your research. DO NOT research for this project other productions or images of film or play versions of The Piano Lesson. Find research on the relevant social, political, economic, and cultural circumstances that form the context for the play in either the period the main action is set (figure this out) or other historical events referenced in the play (figure out the time period of each). Groups of 4. Each person must be credited for specific individual findings and research and must be able to speak to the project.
Possible Research Topics (Pick one) – Or suggest your own
– Slavery in Mississippi
– Anti-bellum Black Codes
– Post Reconstruction – Jim Crow Laws in Mississippi
– Laws specifically effecting blacks in Pittsburg in 1930s
– African-Americans during the Great Depression – In Mississippi
– African-Americans during the Great Depression – In Pittsburgh
– The northern migration of African-Americans – During slavery (underground
railroad)
– The northern migration of African-Americans after slavery (different migrations)
– Musical references in the play
– Beliefs, practices and sacred objects in West African religions
– African-Americans and ghosts OR
– Comparison to another August Wilson play – you would have to read the other
plays not just get someone else’s opinion and quote from both plays.
How to do good academic research for theatre? For more information on how to do Theatre background research for plays, I worked with one of our Librarians to create videos which I have posted under Content to help you out.
Expectations and Grading Criteria – You are not writing an essay. You will upload some of your research AND put the highlights into 1 Group PowerPoint. Try to keep it to about 4 points per slide so you have room to cite their sources.
SLIDE ORGANIZATION
- First slide should list all members of the group who actively worked on the project (Do not incude anyone who didn’t make meetings or contribute research)
- Each member of the group should have 2 slides with about 8 key FINDINGS listed in bullet point for list (Author, p#) (Student who found it).
SLIDE ORGANIZATION (cont)
- Each should have at least 1 slide that ties their findings back into the play. How does this help you understand the play better? Why might the author have brought in this historical or religious or musical information to move along this point in the play? (or you can intermix) also in bullet point, the relevence of finding to events, characters or places in the play and insights it might have given you about the play. Use quotes in from the play to anchor these claims. (DO NOT FORGET THIS KEY STEP OF BRINGING THE RESEARCH BACK TO THE PLAY).
- MIDDLE PAGES: 3 PICTURES/PAINTINGS (also cite sources of images) – These should not be from other productions or films of Piano Lesson but rather related to your research topic.
- AS A SEPARATE UPLOAD: Attach printed and highighted articles or book pages copies with margin notes and * next to the ones you used as key findings. For book sources you can take a picture with your phone of relevant pages, print, highlight and margin notate that. FINAL PAGE SOURCES CITED in an MLA bibliography form (you can find this at the library or on-line). You can use an
- REQUIRED SOURCES. In addition to citing throughout, put a bibliography on the final slide. Minimum 3 BOOKS (only one Book source is the play) and 2 good internet sources. Instead of 2 of the books you could use academic articles from the library academic search engines such as Jstor (see the library research help videos) . (For internet sources you must be able to find the author (and the author’s or institutions credentials) on the website or it is not a good source (except for the image sources which can be URLs.)
DO NOT
- I AM NOT INTERESTED IN HOW OTHERS, EXPERTS RESEARCHED AND ANLAYZED THIS PLAY BASED ON THEIR RESEARCH but how you do it.
- DO NOT USE ANYBODY ELSE’S IDEAS, SUCH AS THEIR CRITCAL ANALYSIS OR WORDS WITHOUT CITING AND QUOTING THEM OR IT IS PLAGIARISM (an academic offense with serious repercussions including failing the assignment, the class and even up to expulsion from school).
- DO NOT Use vague dates such as “back then” or “back in the day” or “in the time of the play,” use specific dates.
- DO NOT Cite sources that you have not attached and highlighted with margin notes.
- DO NOT ATTACH ARTICLES THAT HAVE NO SIGN OF BEING READ.
- DO NOT use other students’ papers, other colleges’ papers, but you can use
college sources if they house a collection of original documents related to a specific topic above. No sources such as Wikipedia where anyone with no credentials can add and change the information). Sources must be cited (consider the source and how information is vetted on that cite).
I just need some information to submit to my group to add to the presentation slides
I just need information for two slides
Answer preview for the “African-Americans during the Great Depression” essay………………..
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