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Research Project Proposal Outline
Directions:
Use this outline to ensure that you discuss all of the required Research Project
Proposal elements in your video or multimedia recording and to organize your ideas. Be sure to
review the model that is provided for you in the Research Project Proposal Discussion Board
Instructions and Model document to guide your work. Because you will not be submitting this
document, you do not need to worry about your document format.
I.
Primary Source and Analytical Approach
a.
“Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
b.
Textual and Historical Analysis approach
II.
Primary Source Summary and Analysis
a.
During the 20th century, all African Americans were subjected to slavery,
cruelty, prejudice, and racial segregation, according to the brief poem
"Sympathy" that was published in 1899.The author utilizes the metaphor of a
bird singing in a cage to emphasize the themes of freedom and slavery and to
encourage African Americans who were once in slavery to be freed from all
cruel and harsh treatment.
III.
Research Question
a.
What beliefs or presumptions concerning racism, discrimination, and
segregation were prevalent in the late nineteenth century?
IV.
Background Knowledge
a.
Jim Crow laws were effective and didn't end till 1968.
b.
Dunbar wrote his poem while he was employed with the National Library of
Congress.
c.
Slaves were emancipated by the president, which was Abraham Lincoln in
1863, and racism along with discriminatory practices was common at the time
V.
Working Thesis Statement
•
a.
"Sympathy" shows that Dunbar's poetry was not one of the appealing, happiest
poems; rather, it was a miserable metaphor poem that depicted African Americans
being held back by Whites by using a caged bird.
