aleah’s blog
Just another WordPress.com weblogArchive for February, 2008
research update & proposal
So, after doing some research on what I thought was my original topic (The Atlantic Slave Trade) Dr. Berg suggested that I might want to narrow it down to slaves in New York. I think he is right because that is a more narrow topic and I should be able to find plenty of information on it. When browsing through the databases, I came across this fantastic article on African Americans and slavery in New York, which I shared in class today. I had twelve articles printed, and I wrote notes that I thought stuck out down in ink, like notes! My information, though, was very broad, only because I haven’t begun to dig deep yet, which I think I might do over break with my free time. What I did find was interesting, though. I was researching the Slave Trade and the article I mentioned earlier popped up. It went into detail about how African American’s were forced to work on European ships. Different European ships would seize each other and capture the staff (mostly all African Americans) and it said that those captured were either killed or sold to areas in the West Indies and South America. New York became one of the major cities where slave labor was common. This article said that almost anything you bought was either grown, produced or manufactured by African Americans. After sharing this information, I was happy that Dr. Berg suggest me doing African Americans in New York because I had kind of already wanted/planned to do that. So it looks like this is my subject! Dr. Berg also told me about a book where I could find information and I’m rather excited to read it because I am very interested in my subject and I love books. Two positives equals a positive! I will continue researching throughout break and update briefly on information that I find. If there is anyone in our class that has the same subject or something similar, go ahead and give me a comment 
Maybe we can exchange ideas and information and make this as fun as it can be. If not, I wish you luck with all of your topics!
2-19-08
Today, Dr. Berg was talking about getting into our research topics and finding something that we are really interested in. Something that has always interested me since I was young, since I had an African American cousin whom I was really close to, is the Slave Trade. I remember learning about it in history classes and it has always sparked curiosity in me. I think that will probably be what I choose for my research paper. I am really interested in how and when the Slave Trade began, how they were treated, and their other hardships. I want to know more about the boat trips overseas. I know that the conditions were horrible but I am interested in how horrible they were to a detail. I want to know what it was like for them right when they arrived to the U.S. and what they endured when they settled. Hopefully, this will make for a good research paper. I think that I should find a good amount of information on it and I know that I am most definitely interested in it enough to learn as much as I can and apply it, so we will see how it goes!
Just an update!
I have been very busy the past week with tons of homework! Gosh. But I know that it is all worth it in the end. Sometimes I like homework, it can be fun haha. Well, let’s see. Last Thursday, we had class in the library and we learned about how to get ideas and do proper research. Dr. Berg let us get into groups, choose a subject and find information on it. It was pretty fun. I like those kinds of activities, getting to interact with other people and such. It’s nice. So my group and I decided to do Jamestown. We couldn’t find too much on the subject, but Dr. Berg assured us it was perfectly fine because we only had a limited time to look, so that was good. I’m curious to see what we will be doing next class. I wonder if we have class on Thursday, actually. I’m not sure, since Dr. Berg has become ill but I think I’m going to show up anyway (just in case.) I hate missing class and falling behind, it’s the worst!
