Roots Paper
Guidelines
(updated 9/25/06)
This paper is not a formal library research paper although you will have to gather information in preparation for writing. It is the story of your own family's immigration history in the United States told in your own words. Unless you are one hundred percent Native American, your ancestors came to the United States from somewhere else within the last few centuries. Many of you may have ancestors from a variety of origins. From where did they come? What you should describe are the experiences of past generations or branches of your own family in coming to and making a life in the United States. You may not be able to go back as far as their arrival in this country, but do the best you can. Feel free to leave out information that you feel is too personal or would make you feel uncomfortable. However, no one deserves credit or blame for anything done by his or her ancestors. Most family trees have their share of hard times and horse thieves. This project is intended to be interesting, educational, and fun.
Sample Roots Paper: "From farming in Varmland Sweden to the economic prosperity in Seattle" By Ryan Norstrand (PDf File)
Primary Sources: Your best sources of information are older family members and friends, old letters, and/or family documents. If you are not familiar with doing an oral history interview please ask. I will provide more information on this research method.
Website Sources:
Library of Congress's American Memory
Ellis Island Research
Heritage Quest's U.S. Federal Census for Washington State
Length: 12-15 pages, typed, double-spaced pages.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to tell in your own words the story of your family's immigration history to the United States.
ORGANIZATION AND CONTENT
Title Page
Your name and ID number
Professor Alamillo
CUE 304/HIST 314: Roots Paper
Paper Title
Your title should indicate the scope of the paper to the readers. So, something like "From Potato Famine to Prominence in Seattle -- The Story of the O’Neill Family" would give the readers a better idea of what your paper is about than something like "The Story of My Family." The title should be both descriptive and creative drawing the reader to page and holding their attention.
Introduction (1-2 pages)
- A good introduction will:
- Grab the reader's attention (usually with the first sentence) by posing a question, telling an anecdote, using a striking image, etc.;
- Provide some indication of what the paper is about.
- What new information did you learn about immigration that was not covered in class or readings?
- Forecast the direction of the paper: First, I will discuss…Then…Lastly.
- End with a statement of focus. The main reasons why my family immigrated were….
Branches of Your Family
- Describe as many branches of your family as you can, going as far back as you can. Try to identify persons who were the first in you family to come to the U.S. Discuss their lives before and during migration. When did they come? Why did they come? What happened after arrival and settlement in a foreign land and how did their ethnic identity change over time. If you cannot identify specific persons, speculate about who and when your ancestors came here. Identify the ethnic diversity in the various branches of your family.
BODY OF PAPER: MAIN THEMES
(10-12 pgs; use subheadings)
This section is the most important. Here you are required to incorporate themes, concepts and topics from course readings. Also, you are required to analyze your family’s story instead of describing it. You should address the following themes, if applicable.
Immigration Laws
● Explain how immigration laws and policies influenced the family’s immigration experience. Identify the period of entry and connect to existing immigration laws and policies. Make connection to Roger Daniels’ Guarding the Golden Door.
Racial Discrimination:
● Discuss events and incidents related to race, racism and racialization. How did family members become treated as members of a racial majority or minority group? Why was it difficult to discuss issues of race in your family’s history? Make connections to David Roediger’s concept of “whiteness” and racial “inbetweenness”
Housing and Neighborhoods
Discuss the housing and neighborhood experiences of your family. Was the neighborhood segregated according to race, class and ethnicity? For more information on restrictive covenants and segregation check out this website: Segregated Seattle
Social Class
● Identify the social class (lifestyle and ways of making a living) of various branches of the family over time. How did this influence the opportunities and consequences for your ancestors?
Gender Roles
● Compare the expectations of men and of women. Did this change over the generations? What were their responsibilities, their roles, and their limitations?
Ethnic Identity
● Discuss how immigration laws, policies and other historical events (i.e. WWII) impacted your family’s decision to assimilate into American society and/or maintain their ethnic identity over time?
● Discuss how your family’s religious identity has changed over time.
● Discuss how your family’ past choices has impacted your own ethnic identity in the present.
Influence of Major Historical Events
● Describe how your family (or specific family members) were influenced by or reacted to major events of their time, for example, Irish famine, the Civil War, the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), the Woman Suffrage Movement, W.W. I or W.W. II, the Depression, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement.
Conclusion (1-2 pages)
The conclusion is an opportunity for you to:
- Include a statement about the dominant impression of your family's experiences that you want the readers to get from reading your paper.
- Reflect on what this examination of your family history has meant to you personally. Include a discussion of what people and/or events strike you as most significant. This should relate to your concluding statement assessing the "dominant impression."
Statement of Limitations (1 paragraph)
- Explain how you will limit the scope of your paper. So, for example, you may explain that you have only limited information on your father's family, but a lot of information on your mother's family.
Suggested Method of Organization:
Chronological order, cause-and-effect logic, use subheadings. This might look something like:
1. Immigration and early days in U.S.. 1850-1875
2. Getting established 1875-1900
3. Extended family/branches 1900-1929
4. Depression affects family 1929-1941
5. World War II 1941-1945
6. Prosperity 1945-1980
7. Own life-time 1980-1999
Use Chicago Manual of Style Citation
A FEW FINAL THINGS TO THINK ABOUT. . .
1. This is an expressive paper. Its tone is subjective by definition. Therefore, it is fully appropriate to use "I" throughout the paper. However, watch when you use the construction "I feel..."; "feel" is an emotion. Either "I think..." or "I believe..." indicates critical inquiry.
WRONG: I feel my family's story is important to me because....
CORRECT: I believe/think my family's story is important to me because.... (cognition)
CORRECT: I feel great about researching my family's history. (emotion)
Good Luck!