Doing Some Background Research

For our first assignment your research skills will be tested. Rather than lecture or provide a specific set of questions to be answered, for today's assignment you will visit the link below. After perusing that link, you will choose an artist, politician, or event, and conduct research about it using the internet or a local library. You will post a 250-word overview of your topic. You MUST provide 3 references at the end of your post (i.e. web links, book titles, etc.), preferably in MLA or APA formatting. Check sonofcitationmachine.net for citation options.

There are two points to this assignment. First, we need to verify that you are using appropriate internet sources. Wikipedia, for example, is not an appropriate website as it can be edited by anyone who visits the site. Your Bibliography will tell me whether or not you are using the internet correctly. Second, you will all ideally pick different topics so that we all learn a little bit about various elements of the Harlem Renaissance.


Thursday, October 25, 2007

My Imaginary Giant

"Black Jack Johnson NYC R-O-C-K-I-N-G"- Mos Def

When ever I heard the name Jack Johnson, I never thought of the singer. In my head, he was this large dominating figure who, up until recently, was nothing more than a figment of my imagination. I had heard of a boxer from the early 20th century that went by the name, but never knew anything about him; come to find out he was "the world's first Black heavyweight champion" (Schomburg Center). Imagine my shock and delight from this newfound information. All this time I had actually though of a great black man who represented strength, was actually all of that and more...He was born in Galveston, Texas where, just as any black man in the early 1900's, he was forced to do manual labor once he was of age. realizing he was rather large for a normal maqn of that time, he began to train as a boxer. He built his career off of his sheer dominance and flare in the ring. He won the heavyweight title in 1908, after knocking out Tommy Burns. He fought and beat black and white fighters, the latter leading to bigotry, and racial hatred from prejudice whites. His mere beating of white men wasn't the only reason for the hatred being tossed his way. He openly dated and married white women which ultimately lead to his arrest for violating the Mann Act, crossing state lines with a woman for "immoral purposes" (Unforgivable Blackness, PBS). He fought overseas to make ends meet and to avoid going to jail, but he eventually came home and surrended to police. After jail, he fought here and there, but never gained the notoriety or fame he once had. He appeared in movies and opened nightclubs, and ennjoyed the recogniton he did recieve from people for his unbelievable achievement and career. He was probably the most popular figure of his time, black or white. He died in a car crash in 1946. His legacy would be put to film with movies such as "The Great White Hope" and the documentary "Unforgivable Blackness". He was more than a boxer, he was a giant amongst men.

"2027 Mann Act." Usdoj.Gov. Oct. 1997. 23 Oct. 2007 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm02027.htm.

Burns, Ken. "Unforgivable Blackness: the Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson." Pbs.Com. Jan. 2005. 23 Oct. 2007 http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/.

R. Lindo, Nashormeh N. "Exhibition: Jack (John Arthur) Johnson." Harlem 1900-1940 an African-American Community. 1991. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. 23 Oct. 2007 http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/text/jajohnson.html.
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1 comment:

Saif Khan said...

It is interesting the way we picture things in our head when we hear a pharse and the actualy mean to the phrase can turn out to be something completely different.

November 2, 2007 at 11:33 AM

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