Summary
For the past couple of months, I have been interested in my family history and tree. From who my great-grandparents are, to where my ancestors were originally from, I interviewed people within my family to gather this and other information. At the beginning of this project, I had a major issue with how I would be able to present all of this new found information in a interesting way. After many meetings with my Apollo teachers, I decided to create a family narrative. This narrative had all of the main things narratives usually have such as plot, setting, characters etc., but I incorporated my family tree within it also. To go more into depth about how I went about completing the project, read below!
ENGLISH
The family narrative title "My Roots", was centered around 3 major ideas: family, ancestry, and story telling. To add another "element" to the story, I decided to make the characters related to my actual family. The main character Kayla Smith is a "descendent" and the second character, Kai Makeba, is a "ancestor". I wanted the interactions between Kayla and Kai to mirror interactions that would happen between a granddaughter and her grandmother: loving and good-natured. Passing on wisdom, knowledge, and stories of the past, are occurrences that often happen within a grandparent-grandchild relationship. To showcase this relationship, Kai explained and told stories about the family tree (my family tree) to Kayla. Throughout the narrative, I placed personal touches from my life such as connecting the personality of both Kai and Kayla, to the personalities of my father, mother, and grandmother. Although writing this piece was time consuming, I enjoyed creating something that I will be able to pass down to future generations of family.
Social Studies
Instead of creating a different writing piece for the social studies aspect of the project, I decided to incorporate the information I found for this aspect into the narrative as well. To begin my research, I focused on finding where my family was originally from by interviewing both my mother and father. Once I found those places, I researched historical events that were connected to that area, such as slavery. All of this lead me to Africa, where I found much information about how Africans may have fled or were captured and "shipped" to areas in the United States( specifically areas my family was originally from such as North Carolina and South Carolina). The information included European rule in Africa and how it affected people that lived there at that time and centuries later. I found most of my information from an essay called "The African Experience of the ‘20. And Odd Negroes’ Arriving in Virginia in 1619”. Created by John Thornton, this essay describes the most likely origins of the first slaves brought to Virginia in 1619. Thornton also goes into depth about European, specifically Portuguese ruling in Africa in the 1600's and the late 1500's. Once I had gathered this abundance of information, I formatted it into paragraphs that were "annotated" into my family narrative.
The link to The African Experience of the ‘20. And Odd Negroes’ Arriving in Virginia in 1619” can be found on The Apollo School website. Click down below to be redirected to the site.
The link to The African Experience of the ‘20. And Odd Negroes’ Arriving in Virginia in 1619” can be found on The Apollo School website. Click down below to be redirected to the site.
Down below are 2 snippets for each subject area from my family narrative, "My Roots" :
English Snippet
" 'We're here.' I was so busy admiring the flowers, I had not notice the mighty tree standing in the middle of the field. It’s branches were curbed reaching towards the sky in different direction. The leaves sprouting from those branches, were the same summer green color, swaying slightly in the wind. The tree was like an angelic statue, a piece frozen in time. I was in awe as Kai and I walked closer to the tree, noticing that the there were engravings on its trunk and branches. 'Each engraving is of a person from your, our, family tree,' Kai explains, ' from your father, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandmother and so forth. 'I touch the engraving of my father, smiling. I definitely had to call him when I get home, or just to a phone. I look at the many different faces of my family, some from the pictures I had looked at earlier. I did not recognize many of them. 'Sadly, many of our people never had or have the opportunity to learn about their family roots and ancestors. So many events and tragedies have prevented this from happening although I have seen people starting to become curious about who they are and where the may have came from,' Kai states looking over the many engravings on the tree. She pauses to look at me before continuing, 'You and your generation as a whole have the power to change the narrative. You are able to tell you children and your children tells theirs about the many stories of their ancestors and people.' Kai points to a branch, curling it’s way to the sky, were a familiar face is engraved. I look closer to see it is Kai, a younger version of her and other faces I believe to be ancestors of mine surround her. 'That’s a lot of responsibility,” I say nervously'I think you can handle it. You got it in you,' Kai says winking at me..."
Social Studies Snippet
Here is a snippet of one of the paragraphs that was "annotated":
"The 1600’s and late 1500’s, are the main focused on time periods of the Portuguese conquest of Africa, starting in its western territories. The capture and enslavement of the people that lived in West Africa and how this affected the areas of the overthrown kingdoms, were some of main focal points. For example in this essay, Thornton discusses how the Portuguese and the cult like group the Imbangala, a group dedicated to evil in central Africa, attacked a royal palace in the city of Kabasa. They did not only attack once, but twice. The forces were led by João, the son of then governor of the Portuguese, Mendes de Vasconcelos. “A great multitude of innocent people had been captured without cause” and the kingdom itself was left in shambles. Those who were not captured, enslaved or killed, fled the region. The Kingdom of Benguela, which was in modern day Angola, was also ruined. This kingdom was “stripped of people, cattle, and palm trees", primarily due to the Imbangala. There are many other similar events described throughout this essay which reflect how the people, specifically the people of West Africa, had their families torn apart because of their own homes and kingdoms being destroyed by Portuguese rule."
"The 1600’s and late 1500’s, are the main focused on time periods of the Portuguese conquest of Africa, starting in its western territories. The capture and enslavement of the people that lived in West Africa and how this affected the areas of the overthrown kingdoms, were some of main focal points. For example in this essay, Thornton discusses how the Portuguese and the cult like group the Imbangala, a group dedicated to evil in central Africa, attacked a royal palace in the city of Kabasa. They did not only attack once, but twice. The forces were led by João, the son of then governor of the Portuguese, Mendes de Vasconcelos. “A great multitude of innocent people had been captured without cause” and the kingdom itself was left in shambles. Those who were not captured, enslaved or killed, fled the region. The Kingdom of Benguela, which was in modern day Angola, was also ruined. This kingdom was “stripped of people, cattle, and palm trees", primarily due to the Imbangala. There are many other similar events described throughout this essay which reflect how the people, specifically the people of West Africa, had their families torn apart because of their own homes and kingdoms being destroyed by Portuguese rule."
Thinking Skill: Contextualization
Formal Definition: To analyze a word or event in terms of the words or concepts surrounding it.
Connection to "My Roots" :
Before starting research, I jotted down a number of different ways to incorporate contextualization into my project. This was a difficult task because at the time, I did not fully understand the concept and did not know how I would connect it to each subject area. I continued to complete research and write my family narrative as I kept the thinking skill in the back of my mind. I realized towards the end of completing the project, I had used contextualization by using the information I gathered from the essay, "The African Experience of the ‘20. And Odd Negroes’ Arriving in Virginia in 1619” and from interviewing my parents, to create context behind how African Americans have been impacted by slavery and conflicts within Africa 1600's and late 1500's.
Before starting research, I jotted down a number of different ways to incorporate contextualization into my project. This was a difficult task because at the time, I did not fully understand the concept and did not know how I would connect it to each subject area. I continued to complete research and write my family narrative as I kept the thinking skill in the back of my mind. I realized towards the end of completing the project, I had used contextualization by using the information I gathered from the essay, "The African Experience of the ‘20. And Odd Negroes’ Arriving in Virginia in 1619” and from interviewing my parents, to create context behind how African Americans have been impacted by slavery and conflicts within Africa 1600's and late 1500's.
APT: After Project Thoughts
Although I went into this project with little to no knowledge about the the numerous subjects I would research about, I was able to learn through this exploration. I learned and went into depth about things that I other wise would have not if I were not in Apollo. I have now become interested in the study of heredity/genetics, due to my research on family trees and ancestry. I am proud that I was able to create a ending product that showcased all of the research and learning that went into this project.
Annotated Bibliography: Project 1 | |
File Size: | 106 kb |
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