Your tasks are to compose a 8-10 page research essay on some topic relating to B

Your tasks are to compose a 8-10 page research essay on some topic relating to Black identity during Reconstruction, and then to present to your peers a brief video synopsis of your work. Your essay should argue for a specific thesis or interpretation of the materials relative to Black identity and self-awareness. Whether your theme is set within history, art, literature, economics, sociology or any other field, your analysis will need to incorporate core philosophical notions from Cooper, Du Bois, and Locke.
Cooper, Voice
DuBois, Souls of Black Folk
Locke, New Negro
Requirements
-Length of 8-10 pages
-12 pt type, double-spaced, 1” margins
-Number the pages and do not include a title page
-Document must be saved either as Word, doc, docx, or rtf. No PDF, Google doc, or Apple pages files.
-References:
at least six new references other than class readings
no more than two of them consisting of books/monographs
no fewer than two scholarly journal articles/periodicals.
-All references to films, texts, or the ideas of others must be properly cited. You may use any style format but you must stipulate which it is and adhere to it.
Deadlines
-May 22: Topic selection and approval
-June 3: Paper due
Possible Research Essay Topics
Women’s rights and roles in Reconstruction
The Great Migration
Black geographies, urban and rural
Lynching
Jazz
Ragtime
Artists of the Harlem Renaissance
Southern vs Northern black identities
Kansas in African-American culture and history
Jim Crow laws and economies
Passing as white
Strategies of resistance
Black Wichita
Ida B. Wells
“Race” music
The Black church
Black Spirituals and Gospel
Sexuality
Social class and conflict within black culture
Black filmmakers
Marcus Garvey and pan-Africanism
Black masculinity
Criminality
Blacks and the FBI
Blacks and the New Deal
Urbanization and ghettoes
Black radio stations
Black periodicals
Theorizing black identity: Cooper, DuBois, Locke
Sundown Towns
Black travel and the Green Book
HBCUs (Historically black colleges and universities)
Black expatriates
Colorism
Suffrage and Black women
FIRE
Oscar Michaeux, filmmaker
Class readings you may use as references
Cooper, Voice
DuBois, Souls of Black Folk
Locke, New Negro
Historical (full readings and selections)
Eric Foner, A Shorter History of Reconstruction
David Levering Lewis, The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader
Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns
Fiction
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Autobiography
Richard Wright, Black Boy
Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Films
Slavery By Another Name
Birth of a Nation