“Historical Thinking”
Research question: How has the history of African slavery affected modern society for black people?
With this question being posed, I have different options of source material to discover the point of view on slavery and brutality on Africans and African Americans. For this question, it would be a good idea to locate the source material for quotes from Black leaders throughout history, such as Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Madam C.J Walker, Nelson Mandela, and more. With the given information provided through these sources and mentioning of many instances of racial prejudice and violence, I can reframe my question and add more specific instances of racial injustice that show why Black People in modern society feel the motivation they do today to protest against it. With this material, I will be able to reasonably answer the question by using psychological evaluation on the minds of black people who are aware of the harsh circumstances (in history and currently) that they’ve had to go through as a unit, as well as social status in the world, as this material would be full of things that most black people are already aware of. Materials that are not digitized can be books written by black authors or major black leaders throughout history as well as books that include slave narratives that describe their journey as a slave. My next step with all this information would be to connect the information given through these sources in history to modern day problems Black people have, and show how the awareness of these issues connecting influence Black people to have to think and move differently than any other race. The worlds reaction to the raging police brutality happening in America through protests is a physical representation of what happens when previous instances occur in history to an oppressed group of people that hasn’t been changed throughout time, and the psychological evaluation of Black people will demonstrate why these protests make sense when looking at the history of Africans or African Americans. It is important to utilize the various sources we have to educate ourselves on the ongoing problems this world faces in order to combat racial injustice.
I think this research question has a strong foundation for attempting to connect the past and the present. Also, leveraging the sources surrounding known Black leaders is a good start for thinking about the continuities of racial injustice in the United States. Psychologically speaking, you are introducing the idea of generational trauma– that trauma has a physical impact on the body and can be passed down generationally. There are some interesting studies out there on generational trauma that are very interesting.