Service Learning/Research Project: The South Asheville Cemetery and Asheville’s African American Community

Due in class November 5, 2007

This project is worth a potential 125 points, to be distributed as follows:  Showing up and helping with the service learning project with a smile:   40 points; Reflection on your experience and an oral history selected from Ramsey Library’s Special Collections:  85 points

Step 1:  As a group we will spend a Saturday morning in the South Asheville Cemetery doing cleanup and maintenance of the grounds.  We will also get a tour and brief history of the cemetery from David Quinn, member of the Cemetery board.  For more information on the cemetery, follow this link to our Special Collections website on the cemetery: http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/oralhistory/SACC/colored_cemetery.html and scroll down below the calendar of collections to the essays about the cemetery.

Step 2:  Along with the visit to the cemetery, you will also do some research into the history of Asheville’s African-American community by finding at least one oral history in Ramsey Library’s special collections that relates to what you learned during our cemetery workday. You could be working in two collections:  The South Asheville Cemetery Collection, and the "Voices of Asheville" oral histories of African Americans.  The few oral histories in the S. Asheville Cemetery collection pertain directly to the cemetery and contain some interesting bits of information, but they are short and not as informative as the "Voices of Asheville" oral histories of African Americans.  Therefore, if you use an oral history from the S. Asheville Cemetery collection, you should also select an oral history from the "Voices of Asheville" oral histories of African Americans to complement the shorter piece.  Long before the due date, we will go to Special Collections and will learn how to use the oral history collections in our archives.  We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using oral histories as sources.

Step 3:  You will then write a 5-page paper that reflects on our time in the Asheville cemetery and the experiences of the oral history subject whom you choose.  What did you learn about Asheville’s black community from your cemetery experience and the oral history?  How have these sources – the cemetery and the oral histories – helped you to understand the life histories of people who lived in early- and mid-20^th century Asheville?  Because this paper is a reflection on your own experience coupled with the stories of Asheville's black residents, it is appropriate to use first person ("I") in your paper. 

The objectives for this assignment are: to help you draw connections between what you learn in the community and what you learn in the classroom; to expose you to some of Asheville’s history; to acquaint you with a part of Asheville and its people that you may not have encountered otherwise; to help you to practice your research and writing skills; to acquaint you with oral histories as one kind of primary source – and one kind of autobiography.

The audience for this assignment is an AP-level Asheville-area high school student who has never been to the cemetery, nor do they know much about the history of African Americans in Asheville.  So, keep this question in mind: what would you want them to know about that part of Asheville’s history? 

Your essay should conform to the following standards:

• 5 pages in length, using formal prose (proper grammar, proper sentence construction, proper paragraph construction, an introduction and conclusion, etc.)
• Double spaced
• Number your pages in the lower right hand corner of each page
• 12-point, Times New Roman or Garamond font – no larger or smaller
• one-inch margins all the way around the page – no more, no less
• This is an exercise in self-control as well as an exercise in thoroughness.  Papers that are too short or, for that matter, over one page longer than the prescribed length will be graded down accordingly.
• Run your paper through spell and grammar check before submitting it – but make sure that you also proofread your paper before submitting it.  I expect papers to be in proper prose, using effective grammar, proper sentence and paragraph construction, and a concise and clear introduction and conclusion.  If you are uncertain about how to construct a proper essay, see me for a list of reference works that may help. Don’t forget about the Writing Center.  Then, if you still have questions, see me.

Citations:  Always cite your sources.  However, because this paper is more of a reflection than an argumentative essay, and because the sources are limited to an oral history or two and your own experience, the citations can be less-formal.  Refer to the name of the oral history interviewee in your paper, and then provide a bibliography that includes a full citation of the oral history or oral histories that you utilized.  For example, "In her interview, Betsy Smith stated that . . ."  Then, create a bibliographic entry in this manner [options are italicized and in brackets]:

Smith, Betsy, interview by John Jones, March 1, 2000, transcript [or tape recording, if you listened to the interview], “Voices of Asheville Project,” [or other collection, depending on where the oral history is located within Special Collections], Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina, Asheville.

If you discover materials besides oral histories that you want to use in your paper, (photos, letters, information from the South Asheville Cemetery history on the Special Collections website), then refer to the source in your narrative, and then include that information in your bibliography as well.  If you are not sure how to format other bibliographic entries, Jamie or Helen in Special Collections may be able to help -- or ask me, and I'll be happy to help.  Remember, the key to a good source citation is to be specific enough so that your reader can go straight to the source if they wish.