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[Unidentified young African American soldier in Union uniform] (LOC)

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[Unidentified young African American soldier in Union uniform] (LOC)

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[Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters] (LOC)

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[Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters] (LOC)

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Hand resting on "History of Slavery"

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https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t0b03/?sp=3&r=-1.197,-0.103,3.393,1.628,0
sort of interesting?

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The additional research has helped to clarify what events and places were, especially the ones that are only briefly mentioned in relation to something else. Doing research has led me to research even more further things

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I want to start looking at podcast and poetry collections

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watching movies and ted talks.

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I've been reading and annotating articles on topics that I wanted to know more about, watching videos e.g. ones from The Take on African American character tropes in film and media history and where they come from. I've also tried doing little visual chapters after each section of notes to have a better idea of what the things I've written about looked like

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Additional research

– What additional research have you begun based on reading the essays?

– How has/could additional research widen your understanding of the essays?

– What interested you about this research?

– What forms has your research taken? Reading? Listening? Watching? Looking?

– How does the form of the material change our understanding?Â

– How does the source of the material change the information? Who created it and from what perspective are they presenting it? When was it made? For what purpose?

– How far does your research take you away from the focus of the essays within Four Hundred Souls?

– What are you interested in learning more about that you have not yet?

– Where might you begin to engage with additional research material?

– Has anyone in the group found interesting sources / suggestions / thoughts?

– Are their things you are all interested in exploring? Could you all plan to review the same material and share your responses?

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The format of the book meant that it was never too overwhelming. I felt like having multiple people write reinforced the idea of a 'community of souls'

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I've read all of the essays and doing additional research now, I think creating a timeline could be nice

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What stuck out to me the most was how inaccurate American History is in terms of Black History. How important aspects of daily life came from the suffering of Black Americans - but the historical events are hazey and arent shown in general knowledge/ education. Reading some of the chapters gave me insight on this e.g. there was civilization before the Mayflower

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I love the fact that 400 souls is told through individual voices, but by the end of it you still feel like you've experienced a full narrative.

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I enjoyed the essays from the 1900s most just because it's a period of history I know better and could relate to better. So possibly these were also the ones that I found easier to engage with and understand. Essays such as Re Summer and Anita Hill were especially interesting.

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A lot of the essays made me angry, I was also a little disturbed (though not surprised) at times. There were times when I felt inspired and relieved at positive changes too though.

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I'm currently still going through my additional research, I've read all the essays now I want to know more details about certain things.

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Though it seems obvious I was surprised by how many stereotypes and racist policies were established in the 1600s/ 1700s, they have evolved to reflect today's society but these perceptions come from years of trying to suppress African Americans

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The essays were all written in an engaging way that kept my attention throughout reading.  There were particular events and stories that I wanted to know more about e.g. Soul City

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I really loved the poetry and the more lyrical approaches.

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What stuck out to you?
– In reading Four Hundred Souls, what stuck out to you, and why?
– What surprised you?
– What do you want to know more about?
– What emotions did you feel while reading the essays?
– How do these feelings vary from essay to essay or change the more you read the book?
– Which essays most interested you, and why?
– What did you find difficult to engage with or understand?
– Have you read beyond the initial essays selected by VINTAGE?
– How might this expand your understanding of the timeline?
– Might there be essays of interest you have not all read yet?
– In its full form, what interests you about Four Hundred Souls as a book concept?
– How does its format affect your experience of reading – multiple writers, short 5-page pieces, chronological timeline, many parts forming a larger work.

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What do you know about the writers and poets involved?

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What do you know about the writers and poets involved?

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Not enough!

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The multiple perspectives was very interesting, unlike a history book that comes from one set voice the issues were explored from different angles and by people of varying identities and experiences as well as areas of interest and expertise. You could tell that the writers were passionate about the topics they wrote on and so the book as a whole felt alive.

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The book shows that the history we know is not necessarily the one that needs to be told/ be the focus. Sometimes seemingly small or insignificant events and policies led to long lasting systems which still affect people today.

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I think it speaks to the fact that to be black is to be part of a larger community, and there is no one narrative or experince that can encompass such a diverse group of people.

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How does the book change my knowledge? Julia

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How does the book change my knowledge? Julia

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There was lots in the book that I didn't know about before. It was interesting to learn about a wide range of African American figures, not just people involved with politics but poets, sports people, artists...
Also I found that the book didn't focus so much on the events that everyone knows about already, it took an angle of exploring the stories of individuals

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Texas history, as it is taught in Texas, has a way of erasing some of the worse sins of the state. I was usually told that the Civil War was about state's rights and not fundamentally about slavery. We were taught that certain laws were put into place, but never learned about the people who inspired them. The emphasis was always put on the actions of the white settlers, never on the African Americans who actually inspired change.

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It places 1619 as the year the first settlers arrived in the US.

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I usually engaged with this information in a class room setting, on social media, through discussions with friends, or in my own reading / research.

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- Mayflower
- Martin Luther King
- Black people/ Americans today still pay tax from a debt which the government paid the slave owners an extortionate amount of money as an apology for taking away their slaves. The debt, well reached into millions
- will be continued when brain isn't dead

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My knowledge generally come from discussions (w/h POC's), internet, book, documentaries very much had to find things out for myself - there was generally a gap in school for me

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My GCSE history coursework was about the civil rights movement so I had a basic idea but mostly about the well known groups, events and people. I also knew a little bit about the Harlem Renaissance but overall my knowledge was in bits and pieces and I definitely did not know about many of the events and people mentioned
So I knew about the big things like,
Martin Luther King, the sit-ins, some of the protests, Black Power, Harlem Renaissance- Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B DuBois, a little bit about the slave trade, treatment of British black men vs American black men in the army in WW2. I knew about these people and events from school and general knowledge/ pop culture.

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- I grew up in Texas and spent a large portion of my education learning about American history. I have a lot of the base knowledge about dates /certain people but I also feel like I've learned a rather biased version of events.
- I've read some books on feminism that also touched on themes of intersectionality.
- I've learned a lot about specifically Texan history and it's relation to slavery and the civil war.
-  In my AP english classes we studied the works of Morrison (Beloved) and Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God).
- I've done a lot of research about the American justice and prison system. It's something I'm very passionate about. Specifically about how majority black and Latino prisoners are being used to fight the California wildfires.

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Knowledge
– What was your existing knowledge before reading Four Hundred Souls?

– Which people/events/history had you heard about previously?

– What did you know? Where and in what form had you engaged with this history and seen depictions of these stories?

– How does the book change your existing knowledge?

- What did you know about the contributions of Black Americans in U.S. society and where does that information come from?

– History often focuses on 'defining moments', how does this book redefine this history and timeline?

– How do the essays in Four Hundred Souls compare with what you grew up hearing about the origins of slavery and its modern day impacts?

– Within Four Hundred Souls the 400-year history is chronicled by eighty writers and ten poets, what is the impact of these multiple perspectives, this 'community', rather than being a single voice?

– What do you know about the writers and poets involved?