I-Search Paper (Racism and Slavery)

Angelina S. Dillard

Professor K

I-Search Paper

December 9, 2020

This was not my initial question; my initial question was based on just politics. I decided to change up my question because I was not interested in politics, I was more interested in slavery. So, what is my question you may ask, it is “How did the new deal affect American perceptions of slavery? /Did the personal stories collect through the Federal Writers Project change people’s perceptions of slavery? I have always had an interest in slavery. I think it is because of the fact that race is such a big idea in the present as was in the future. Race is more of a big deal back then than it is now, back then there was slavery, segregation, sex slaves, white versus black, and you can just think of a lot of different examples in the past. Now there isn’t much really to say about race besides that there are still people that think segregation should still be a thing, others think that whites are more privileged than blacks, we don’t have segregation anymore, but we still have the racist people. Those who don’t like others of color, those who don’t view others of color as the same hierarchy as us. Race has always been an issue, but it still hasn’t gone away, it has dampened, but it is not completely gone.

For my first primary analysis post it was based on slavery, I was excited to do something about slavery because that was a topic that I was really interested in. We had gone into a particular website and found articles about a mom and her kids being separated, husband and wife being separated, and some random woman being sold off into slave trade. All these different people have families, jobs, homes, and for them just to leave it all because of some idea of race is really heart wrenching. I know a lot about slavery. I’ve heard a lot about it. I have had family that has actually lived through it and I have the stories to tell today. So that’s why this topic has a very special place in my heart. I wanted to find out more about this topic because I wanted to find out more about what others know about it, think about it, and perceptions of those that had been enslaved, those that may have participated in it, and those who are just in the heart of that generation. This has led me to my question and my research. I had found these three different websites (Primary Sources) to help me investigate my question.

“About This Collection:  Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938:  Digital Collections:  Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/.

Lane, Charles. “The New Deal as Raw Deal for Blacks in Segregated Communities.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 25 May 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-deal-as-raw-deal-for-blacks-in-segregated-communities/2017/05/25/07416bba-080a-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html.

“FDR and The New Deal.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/fdr/.

I found these sources through recommendation or suggestion of my professor and classmates. I had also researched my question and found a video that really interested me and help me better understand what it is that I need to look for in depth of my question. These sources didn’t answer my question, but I would’ve liked to know about it more from a personal standpoint than a website article standpoint. I guess what I was looking for is for someone that participated in it to tell me more about it because then I would know that their perception is more genuine. And I would I guess feel a little bit more connection through that person telling me about their story. I wanted some like raw evidence, raw footage, something that no one had ever seen before, or something that not a lot of people have viewed. I wanted something that felt more real.

At first finding some sources I didn’t really know what I wanted to look for until I had thought back to my primary source analysis of those articles about a man and woman being separated and finding themselves again in like 45 years later. That’s the kind of stuff that I want to find. But those sources are not going to be as lengthy and so much answer my question as I would a website article. I would want to find A little bit of both but really want to know more about people’s story and come up with my own answer based on what others have said. Thinking back to the primary source analysis had really helped me guide my readings, findings, sources, and my overall answer to my question. Me going into depth in the primary source analysis and my question helped me find more specific resources that I wanted to use for my paper. So, the Research process did affect my initial question. My initial question was just based on perceptions of politics, but now I changed it to be perceptions of slavery because that’s what I was more interested in and that was more involved in my findings.

My sources revealed a new angle for my topic and that’s when I ultimately found more significance in my initial question that was going to guide me into my new question. I interacted through the sources that I found by watching videos, reading through them, and finding a new standpoint on not just my opinion but others. I found my first source through the suggestion of my professor. My second source through a Google search and then my third and last source through a YouTube search. When I went to my YouTube search, I had found this and then pressed visit and it brought me up to a website. I know that we were only supposed to have two primary sources, but I had chosen three because the third one had led me to watching more videos about slavery and I wanted to put all of them in here. Instead of putting all of the ones that I had watched on here I wanted to put the video that had initially led me to all those other videos. I found more significance in the one that I found first. I feel like just alone the YouTube videos might help me answer my question. But it is always nice to have back up sources in case what you want to say my need to be backed up by another source.

I really enjoyed my findings, because it just made me more excited to find another source and compare it to what I had just watched or read. I had read about three different website articles and about 10+ YouTube videos. Videos are always more interesting to me because it’s easier for me to interact with the videos and keep me focused that it is to read. I am not a big fan of reading so that’s why videos help me more to connect, understand, interact, and focus on my topic. I don’t feel I found too many sources; I feel like all of my sources had guided what I was wanting to say in my Unassay. So, I feel like I found just the right number of sources.

My Research process changed my understanding for my Research question and or topic because I wanted to be more specific and go into more depth about perceptions of slavery, how they were affected, what they were affected by, and personal stories. My question kind of gives away what affected people’s perceptions and who the perceptions was about and where the personal stories were collected from. But I wanted to go into more detail about the personal stories not just answering a broad question about “how the new deal affected Americans perceptions of slavery? “I wanted to answer that question with the personal stories that were collected through the Federal Writers Project. And the federal writers project is one of my sources that is going to guide my Unassay.

I learned that there is a lot of different sources for my research topic. The historical research seemed very interesting, honest, factual, and just all around moving. I really enjoyed reading the three articles that I read but watching all of the videos was actually fun. I will probably watch more videos on my downtime just for fun and also to help me write my Unassay. The Research process didn’t necessarily change my understanding of the topic because I already knew enough about the topic to probably write a paper about it but learning new stuff always does help and brightens your understanding for that topic. So, the Research process did change my question as I’ve stated before but only adjusted it a smidge. Instead of doing a general topic of politics I changed my general topic to slavery. There is always different topics about history and race was mine.

The primary sources that I found answer my Research question that I have now, not my previous research question. So, in saying that my initial question is not the same as my current one. The first primary source is the one I’m going to be using most because that is the one that really took off my question and is going to answer my question in full context. This primary source contains more than 2300 first person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. This is the kind of evidence that I wanted for my paper. These narratives were collected as part of the Federal Writers Project (FWP). If you go to the site it has additive slave narratives that are arranged alphabetically by the state in which the interviews took place. These narratives will show “How did the new deal affect American perceptions of slavery question/did the personal stories collected through the site change people’s perspective of slavery?”