PROJECT 2-perspective
"A particular perspective is a particular way of thinking about something, especially one that is influenced by your beliefs or experiences."
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/perspective
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/perspective
This project was one of the more personal projects that I researched in Apollo. After my aunt visited me and my family this year I became interested in my family tree and lineage. While I was actually making a cake, the idea came to do a project about family history and to collect family recipes and stories. The idea was at first to study both the African American and Jamaican American side of my family, but I decided to just study my African Americans roots, and culture.
ENGLISH
This project was the first time that I didn't combine two of my subjects together into one project. For this cycle I at first wanted to create a family tree and conduct interviews for English 3. My research started with talking to my family. One of the biggest struggles that I faced when doing this project was the feeling that I wasn’t doing enough. Because a lot of my research was talking to family and collecting stories and ideas, I felt as though it wasn’t “school” enough. For so long I felt that if you were enjoying what you were doing, then it wasn't educational enough but this project definitely challenges those ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about his project. One of the first people that I interviewed were my grandparents and my aunt. My Aunt Deborah has spent many years collecting family history and stories. She helped me to gather the names and the dates for the family ancestors. My grandparents shared with me their perspective on what their life was like growing up. My grandmother shared with me the stories of when she was a girl and what it was like growing up with her siblings. My grandpa’s family line was the one that I traced back for the family tree so his stories about what his childhood was like were the most helpful. I took the information and the perspectives and made the family tree out of them. I organized several members and generations into panels. Each panel was painted a different color and I made sure to annotate who was married and who had children as much as possible. I did research on how to properly organize a family tree, and how to create certain annotations, but in the end I created my own. There are some dynamics in my family that are hard to capture with traditional annotations so I had to create my own. After the family panels I wrote diary entries based on 3 different perspectives. The first perspective was of a mother who was a former slave that ran away to freedom. The second perspective was on the daughter of that mother. Lastly, the last perspective was my own. Each perspective was inspired by events and/or people in my family. It felt wrong to speak for a deceased family member so I choose to create fictional but historically based perspectives. Overall, I learned so much about my family. I learned why they do the things that they do, I learned about the history and culture of my family and I learned about myself. Analyzing the perspectives that I did definitely changed me and changed the way that I see the world.
SOCIAL STUDIES
My Social Studies project was one of the more specific projects that I created. I took a look at the several laws that were passed over many years and how they affected the African American community. I did have a more targeted approach and I also added in how they affected my family specifically. There were many laws that I heard of that I just expanded on, but there were some laws that I hadn’t heard of before, but I was able to research and learn about them. I did end up adding the formation of some groups and organizations that assist and help African American because it went along with the research that I was doing. One of the groups that I learned about was the NAACP. I knew of the organization and the importance of their work but I didn’t know about the specific work that they did or how they were formed. I also researched and learned more about how the country and how the communities reacted to the many laws that were in place. For so many of the laws the South hated and resented the government for pushing and for advocating for the rights of African Americans. While at the same time there were many people who think that the government didn't do enough to support African Americans. For example, the Reconstruction Act. For Social Studies I also wrote a comparative essay about Reconstruction. There are people who think that the reconstruction of America was the first real catalysis for change in this country. However, there are people who believe that the reconstruction of America was just another disguised dig and the very people who suffered and bled for this country. There were several laws that people think that did more to hurt African Ameircans than it did to help them. These perspectives I believe can help us with the racial issues and injustices that we are facing today. Being able to listen to both sides and to understand how people felt hurt by the laws that were passed can help to free up some of the tensions that are in the country. I once heard someone say, “It is not that history repeats itself; it's just that people never change.” I believe that the only way we can change is to really hear and talk to others about how they feel and about their perspectives.
ART
Lastly, for Art I created a recipe box. Food and recipes have always been a huge part of my life and the life of my family. For many of the holidays and celebrations we would share our recipes with one another and would have full family feasts. Recipes and food have been an important part of African American culture for a long time as well. Slaves were given measley and sad portions but they would use traditional African food practices and recipes to create soul food. Soul food is one of the most recognizable cuisines in America, and it was created by slaves and by African Americans. These same recipes run in my family as well. From cornbread, to fried chicken, to pork chops, to happy day cake, these recipes hold a lot of stories and history for so many people. I have always loved to cook as well. My Dad, Mom, Grandpa, and Grandpa were the ones that taught me how to cook. Because of the family ties and love that are in these recipes I knew that I had to include them in this project. I got a box for Amazon ,and I decorated it to hold the recipes. I added black, red, green, gold, and white for the Pan-African colors and to show value and peace. I ended up collecting over 30 family recipes from several different family members. I also included little pieces of paper that give context and perspective as to why and how these recipes are important to me and my family. Along with that I actually baked one of those recipes. I baked my godmother’s recipes for red velvet cupcakes. They ended up looking really good, and tasting good as well! I also incorporated some art into the family panels that were created with the design and colors that I choose to use for the family panels. Overall, I really loved this project. I earned so much and my perspective really did change with the research and stories that I heard.