Category: Daily Class Notes Page 2 of 6

Response to Daily Class Notes 10/24/23

On October 26, 2023

Angelo’s Daily Class Notes can be found here: https://blog.richmond.edu/storytelling2023/2023/10/24/daily-class-notes-10-24/

We started the class by sharing comments/concerns regarding this course in the Spring semester. It is going to be held on Fridays, and it will be worth half of a credit. There will also be opportunities for an alternative assignment/time for those who won’t be able to make the Friday afternoon classes work with their schedule.
Talking about our field trip was great since we did not get an opportunity to after it was over since many people had classes to go to and were rushing. We went over prep notes and were able to discuss the complex feelings and ideas that were brought up while visiting the burial site. Many people mentioned how they noticed signs and areas of the burial ground in disrepair. We talked about the history of slavery in Virginia and how measures are being taken in order to acknowledge the atrocities committed. Everyone in the class had different experiences while learning about the darker parts of our nation’s past.
Finally, we talked about our midterm and what is expected. There are two papers to write, and they should be about 2-3 pages long.

Daily Class Notes 10/24

By Angelos Charalampos Bouras

On October 24, 2023

In Angelos, Daily Class Notes

After talking about the importance of scheduling an advising meeting and talking about the logistics of the next semester, we started conversations regarding the trip we had on Thursday. Then we took some time to read each others’ prep notes and analyzed the writings on the exhibits. According to eugenics’ beliefs, the white race was considered supreme leading to severe discrimination against the black race or other minorities. An interesting notice was rewriting Africa with different characters a microaggression that connects even to modern societies within Richmond. Looking forward to making change, the memorial is a symbol incentivizing locals and or even people who drive by to know about Richmond’s Unhealed history. More specifically, the planting of new trees next to the memorials is a way of reclaiming history and giving hope for change and healing. Except for these, we analyzed how the concept of slavery is approached in Texas and other states, where many topics are avoided or perceived through really superficially not trying to face reality and acknowledge history. That brings us to the general conclusion regarding storytelling; the ways many stories are being not heard or not even spoken even though they carry significance. An example of that would be the location of the tavern being next to the place where slaves would be tortured highlighting the views of white superiority. How were kids grown up in such an environment and what are the effects of such an abusive environment on the next generations? We continued analyzing eugenics by pointing out examples of measuring scalps or analyzing food consumption statistics to prove the superiority and inferiority of races based on pseudoscientific beliefs and false claims.

In the final part of the class, we went through the assignment of the mid-term portfolio, emphasizing the purpose of the assignment and the way students should approach it by analyzing the rubric.

Class Response — 10/12/23

By Nicholas Javier

On October 22, 2023

In Daily Class Notes, Javier

The class for the week was significantly fielded around more open-ended. After reviewing and discussing Nick’s advice and progress made through the resources provided and how the library system worked, we started with discussions about how to make the Annotated Bibliography. We evaluated the goals of the library resources and certain takeaways.

Interestingly of note, by looking up more parallel terms to the specifics, you might be able to narrow down resources to that which you might be pursuing. At a certain point, we exchanged annotated bibliographies with partners and evaluated them, seeking similarities, and differences, which led to raised questions of discussion such as pertaining to formatting. We discussed more takeaways, such as the Rhetorical Triangle, the use of formatting, among other resources.

We also discussed scholars and their very nature and definition which varies and is much broader. Some shared their experiences, such as Wesley, who told us about his experiences back home. Professor Dolson went on to explain certain components of “scholarly” experiences, such as tenure, and the effort it takes. Professor Dolson also talks about her own experiences, as well as the weight and value of volunteering and some of the things that occur in line with the Bonners Program and Center for Civic Engagement.

Class Notes Response 10/19

By William Linquata

On October 22, 2023

In Daily Class Notes, Will L

Seeing Lumpkin’s slave jail and the slave burial grounds was very different than when we saw the burial site on our campus. It was much larger and made me more aware of the fact that these were all over and now it is unknown where many of them are now. On my notecard, I wrote about how I thought that it would be similar to the site on campus but with more information.

After arriving we split into two groups to observe where the slave jail once stood as well as the former home of Emily Winfree and the field of the burial grounds. I was in the group that looked at the Winfree cottage and where Lumpkin’s was. Reading about the cottage I learned how Ms. Winfree was one of the thousands of black Richmonders who became free and was able to live in a thriving African-American community. Seeing where Lumpkins once stood was informative because it made me learn how many places like this used to scatter the area and now the majority of them are just buried under the city’s infrastructure.

Moving through the underpass we learned of the execution of General Gabriel and we saw some information signs under the trees where this occurred. The field was much larger than I thought and hearing that it used to be a parking lot was very interesting. There was also an obelisk that was made in memory of “Afrikan Ancestors and symbolizing the spiritual resurrection of a liberated and inspired people” -Afrikan Ancestral Chamber 2017. Leaving the grounds I wrote about how the size of the burial grounds surprised me and how the jail most likely still has part of its grounds under the highway.

Class Notes 10/19

By Ana Michaelis

On October 19, 2023

In Ana, Daily Class Notes

Today we went on our class field trip to Lumpkin’s slave jail and slave burial grounds.

After leaving campus we wrote a note card discussing what we were expecting to see on this trip, which functioned as our prep note. As we arrived, we noticed that the burial grounds were location of the burial grounds and slave jail was odd, that it was right next to multiple parking lots, a highway and it overall just seemed like an odd location.

Professor Dolson told us to take a picture of at least one thing that we wanted to spend more time on or think about more in the future. We split up in two groups of 6, and one went towards the burial grounds while the other observed and read information about Lumpkin’s jail.

We went under an underpass to get to the burial grounds, and we read a sign saying that general Gabriel had been executed in this location. The burial ground was beautiful, but it was disappointing to see that there had been electric poles on the burial grounds, and then Prof said that at one point this area had been a parking lot and had development on it. That was not changed until 2004.

I called and listened to all the numbers, and if you still want to go back and do the same the number is 804-277-8116 and then type in 201#, 202#, 203#, 204#. They discussed the life of general Gabriel, and how he led a protest against slavery and was later executed, as well as 25 other people who were involved. There was also general advice on how to live your life, listen to your ancestors, not give up, etc.

Prof said that one of the trees we saw today was also a tree that a mass amount of hangings were done, but we were unsure which tree. While looking at Lumpkin’s slave jail, I was impressed that the jail was converted into a school so quickly after the civil war.

By the parking lot we were in, there was a white house owned by an African-American women, and Kaylee made the comment of how disappointing it was to see how it was just placed in the middle of a parking lot, barely being held up by weak pieces of wood, and how it seemed like it was not cared for in any way.

As we left, professor Dolson gave us our note cards back and then we wrote how about what we had seen. The bus also would not turn on.

Class Notes Response 10/10

By Nicholas Gunn

On October 18, 2023

In Daily Class Notes, Nick G

This class with Nick Dease, the film and humanities librarian, was very helpful. He went through a plethora of resources that are available to us which I otherwise would never have known about. He first went through the processes of interlibrary loan, holding for pick up, and the online chat with a librarian. He also explained the UR One Search and showed us the best ways to search the database and find what we need. He described to us the variety of resources available, such as books, magazines, journals, and films. He also touched on the importance of learning the unique language of your topic to better be able to research and find resources about it.

He then went on to describe evaluating the sources we find based on their relevance, reliability, and legitimacy. He emphasized going through each source and tracing back different claims and quotes. After this, he talked about the different formats of citing a source such as APA, MLA, and Chicago, and went through the different benefits and drawbacks of each as well as different use cases. He also talked about the importance of giving credit where it’s due to avoid plagiarism, even if it is accidental. Not only does giving credit avoid plagiarism, but it also contributes to scholarly conversation.

He then finished up with some additional methods to narrow down search engine results such as placing quotes around text or explicitly stating “Not” to avoid certain results.

P.S. Sorry for the late response, I didn’t realize I was the responder for this class until I was looking ahead at the weekly schedule

Class Notes 10/12/23

By Kristine Nguyen

On October 12, 2023

In Daily Class Notes, kristine

We went back and looked at the assignment instructions for the annotated bibliography. We talked about the goals on the instructions and what we learned about the research process. Things we mentioned included finding sources in the library and finding them in library databases.

We also talked about the takeaways from Nick Dease’s library session. For example, Brice said that he liked that we could narrow searches to find what we need.

In terms of exploring curiosities, Julia said she didn’t know a specific question, but that she found certain topics interesting like annexation, which later helped her develop a question.

We talked about scholarly conversation. Mitch said that scholars can build a net of knowledge by collaborating with one another. Professor Dolson talked about tenure in universities (allows you stay at a certain university as a professor), and how it takes a lot work to get it. Professor Dolson herself does not have one; she helps run the Bonners Scholars program and does publish things but not as much as other professors. Wesley told us about a program Professor Dolson works with that helps people get driving lessons for transportation to jobs. We talked about volunteering and how it helps make people happy. All these professors are the ones writing these scholarly articles, all while teaching too.

Professor Dolson encourages us to track information during research and is setting us up to learn about Zotero. We should explore curiosities and evaluating, not necessarily looking at the first result on Google. We can have References or Annotated Bibliography as the title of our annotated bibliography. The first paragraph is mostly summary. There are also instructions to write evaluations on this website: https://www.bibliography.com/chicago/chicago-annotated-bibliography-entries/

Next, we looked through the rubric and partnered up and tried to score each others’ annotated bibliographies. We also asked questions afterwards. For formatting, we can look at the example on the above website. As a class, we are agreeing to use the example with red text. Do two paragraphs instead of one, with no line between paragraphs. Put your name on it somewhere, it doesn’t matter where. The content matters more than formatting in the rubric. For the analysis, we can comment on how the source is useful and why it’s interesting to you. Using “I” is fine because it’s informal; it’s a tool for us so we are the audience. But if it was to be published, then it might be more formal.

Professor Dolson talked about the Rhetorical Triangle. It helps with learning how to communicate with rhetoric, like with a rhetorical analysis. Imagine a triangle. One node is the person giving the message, the second is the one receiving the message, the third one is the purpose. Sometimes the audience can be the self, which we overlook.

More questions and answers followed. There is no length requirement, only the two paragraphs for each entry. Double spacing is preferred. We can include link to library source or author name if the source is a physical one. When separating entries, you should have the indent of the author separating each one. We should summarize both the author and source; also talk about what the source is and how might the source be used. Nick Dease’s PowerPoint is available in last class’s notes on the blog.

We don’t have class on Tuesday, but we have a field trip to a burial ground on Thursday. We’re meeting at the transportation hub at THC by 11:45. More information will come via email. The week after, we’re going to do a draft workshop for our midterm portfolio. For the portfolio, we’re just reading over our work so far this semester. We can do any work we haven’t done yet to prep for this. We will also be doing a personal storytelling project, which will help prepare us for our spring project at the detention center. Our analysis essay on Writing Our Way Out will most likely be due around the end of October, which we might have a workshop on again.

class note 10/10

By Chang Ni

On October 10, 2023

In Chang, Daily Class Notes

intro to library research:
Nick Dease Power Point Presentation

-Nick Dease, film & humanities librarian

-self introduction

-research services & resources

services: interlibrary loan (need to create an account), hold for pick up, chat with a librarian, text them…

resources: books, magazine, journals, films, onesearch (may not always be true), databases (a bucket of contents)

-starting your research

avoid binding decisions

learn the unique language of your topic

evaluate the source you find (currency, reliability, authority, purpose) (stop, investigate, find better coverage, trace claims, quotes and media to the original context)

-citing source

APA(when the research was performed), MLA(easy to read, citing to prevent plagiarism), Chicago

give credit where it’s due and avoid plagiarism

contributes to a scholarly conversation

what may be common knowledge in one culture may not be common knowledge in other groups

-searching library sources

ways to narrow down the search results

research database–>subject

Class Notes 10-05-2023

By Brice Di Carlo

On October 6, 2023

In Daily Class Notes, Uncategorized

Discussed Annotated Bibliography:

…

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Book Discussion:

What year did the U.S outlaw slave trade?

Slavery remained but slaves could no longer be imported for exported. Chapter 4 (pg 75) 1774 slave trade was outlawed.

Surprising? Skin color dictated who would be slaves. Blacks would be born into enslavement if their parents were slaves. Slaves could no longer be imported into U.S so a structure was used to prolong the use of slaves for multiple decades. Humans involved in slavery, saw slaves as animals/ economic units rather than humans. Their humanity was blurred.

Chapter 6: Patrick Henry…Give me liberty or give me death.

White men fought for independence from England, to give everyone rights and freedom, but this excluded blacks.

Page 79. –> The American fight for independence was funded by slavery. Soldiers were given a slave to fight the war. “History bleeds through.” What did we learn about where segregation came from?

White politicians looked for loop holes in the system, Brown vs Education. Its easier to control and limit the extent to which African Americans can contribute to society (Nick Javier).

Examples of specific loop holes

The grandfather clause, if your grandfather voted then you could vote, didn’t apply to blacks. (Will)

Law required people to have jobs but blacks couldn’t have government jobs, only low wage jobs (Julia) Pg 132

People who were supposed to work could only get jobs they could get. White employees looked to give blacks on low wages which acted as indentured servitude(Nick Javier)

Pg 139–> Literacy requirement. Every black had to remember the constitution, It was illegal for slaves to read or right which limited them from voting (Kaylee)

Ana took the literacy test in history class and the test wasn’t based off of knowledge of the constitution but literacy proficiency.

Why were white politicians so determined to create levels of society?

Pg. 130 Whites were supposed to be at the top of social and economic hierarchies while blacks were at the bottom of these structures. Nit picky rules that determines where people stood in the racial hierarchy (Julia).

Richmond took rid of certain districts and annexed certain locations. Red lining effected where people go to school and how voting is effective. All in favor of whites.

Not enough funding for blacks to go to school. There were barriers in teacher salaries between whites and blacks. Angelos volunteered at a school and realized that public schools in black communities had less funding.

Funding of public schools controversy:

School funding is very complicated. Funding is regulated by the state, but school boards enact policy. Formula at the state level that determines how much taxes for certain areas goes to public schools funding. Annexation is important because during segregation, some people didn’t want counties apart of the city. Wealthier people left to the counties to set up their own schools while they still worked in the city. Real estate in Richmond is owned by the government which lowers the tax base.

Back home, new governor, policy passed that allows school choice. Money is being pulled from communities with a majority in minorities. (Ana)

What do we think is Campbells Thesis:

Richmond’s history is unhealed. How?

Even though rights have become better for individuals, the aftereffects of redlining and other barriers still impacts people today. It’s like an open wound that stings and hasn’t healed yet.(Nick Javier)

History can’t be healed naturally like a wound, but it takes action from people to bring healing(Brice)

History still impacts multiple forthcoming generations. (Kristine)

Can history be healed? Things from the past can’t be changed, the wound leaves a scar, the wound is healing but the impact of the would is still seen? Talking about issues helps us to move forward(Kaylee)

Why is there a highway in-between the city? Black neighborhoods were destroyed. The wounds can be seen all around Richmond. The highway is a symbol of the past and its impact on peoples lives.(Julia) “History bleeds through”

High school got renamed from Robert Lee to John Lewis. Schools shouldn’t be named after confederates (Kristine).

In what war is the losing side able to dictate the narrative?(Haven)

Pause on subjects that bug you. We create untrue narratives when we feel discomfort. Pg 94… Slavery was referred to as Patriarchal institution, unenlightened labor etc.

The downriver slave trade. The people who were making money from slave trade had to have a way to shut their brains down from what they were indulging in. Family units are destroyed(how does that affect society). Many of the men who sold enslaved children had fathered those enslaved children. “The problem of America is the problem of the color line.” Why we hide our history is because we are related to people who were involved in the evil past.” Oppressed people made their own loopholes. This serves as hope for society. Look for stories of hope embedded in the book.

Class Notes Response 10/3/23

By Julia Dalmanieras

On October 3, 2023

In Daily Class Notes, Julia

I thought starting off today’s class by discussing our next assignment and solidifying plans for the next week was very useful in clearing up some questions about the library visit and what Prof. Dolson expects of us. I also enjoyed taking the time to read everyone’s prep notes because I was interested in people’s commentary and thoughts on chapters 4-6. Thank you again Prof. Dolson for your post about how to cope with some of the topics we are reading.

I thought that our discussion about Chapter 4 was very insightful because we were able to break down some really intense reading that was filled with statistics and historical facts. While reading, I personally found it hard to digest all of the information that was being thrown at me, so taking the time in class to break it down made it a lot more manageable to understand. Additionally, I like how Prof. Dolson pointed out that it’s important to connect this information to what we may have learned in our previous or current classes.

Something that I thought was very interesting during our discussion was the evolution of the white race, and how Bacon’s rebellion was one of the key turning points in this divide. This reminded me of what we read in the book that the Governor attempted to stop Bacon and his men from killing innocent Native Americans, but ultimately Bacon and other lower class individuals prevailed. This made me wonder if the Governor could foresee the situation, and that people would soon find out he and the Great Men had too much power.

Even though we only had the opportunity to dive into one of the three chapters, I think it was vital to take a closer look at what Campbell is trying to convey and how he is doing it through the use of primary sources and his own commentary mixed in. Overall, it has helped us get a better understanding of the book and of Richmond’s deep history.