English 102 (Writing About Literature) Research Guide: A Raisin in the Sun
Use this guide to find articles about authors and their works! We also have tips for citing sources in MLA style.
A Raisin in the Sun
Using research on the following topics, you have been asked to write an essay on A Raisin in the Sun to answer the questions your professor has provided in the essay prompt. At least two academic resources are required. Suggestions for possible academic resources are provided on this page.
Research Topics
- civil rights and race relations in the U.S.
- the persistence of housing segregation in the U.S.
- oppression of women in the 1950s
- assimilationism vs. holding onto African roots
- white flight/fear
- Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowA wide selection of criticism and background on the play are available in this database.
Civil Rights and Race Relations
- Civil RightsVery thorough overview of the Civil Rights movement in the United States from the 19th Century to the present from The African-American Almanac
- Civil Rights MovementFrom the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, focuses specifically on the Civil Rights era from the end of World War II through the 1960s, roughly the era in which the play is set.
- Domestic Policy: Government, Civil Rights, and Race RelationsFrom American Decades, civil rights and race relations in the 1960s.
Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s to the 1980
E 185.61 .H224 1990
First-hand accounts from those involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
E 185.6 W685 2010
A history of the movement from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century of African-Americans from the South to Northern urban centers.
Assimilationism
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowScholarly database of periodicals. Use the following subject headings: assimilation (sociology), assimilation of immigrants, acculturation, cultural identity, emigration and immigration -- social aspects, identity (psychology), Africans, African-Americans
- Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new windowReview "Immigration" entry or search for "assimilation" in the search box at the top of the screen.
- Encyclopedia of Race & Racism - IntegrationGeneral overview of integration in U.S.
- Cultural Assimilation - Debates on ImmigrationArticle which explains concept of assimilation and the pluses and minuses of assimilation.
- Lure and loathing : essays on race, identity, and the ambivalence of assimilationCall Number: E 185.625 L87 199320 essays on the assimilation experiences of African-Americans.
Housing (Residential) Segregation
- Academic Search PremierScholarly database of periodicals - use Residential Segregation keywords.
- History of Residential Segregation in the United States and Title VIIGood overview of twentieth century residential segregation in the U.S from Black Scholar journal.
- Encyclopedia of Race and Race Relations - Residential Segregation articleA good overview which provides some history and data on the issues of housing segregation.
- Civil Rights and Social Wrongs: Black White Relations since World War IICall Number: E 185.615 C584 1997Publication Date: 1997See chapter on Residential segregation and persistent urban poverty. (print book)
- The Future of Fair Housing: Report of the National Commission on Housing and Equal OpportunitySubtitled: Forty Years After the Passage of the Fair Housing Act, Housing Discrimination and Segregation Continue. An extensive report on the issues around housing segregation and fair housing.
White Flight/Fear
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowPeriodical database. Try a search on neighborhoods and segregation as subjects. "White flight" can also be searched as a keyword and will produce some results.
- "White Flight"Essay from the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture.
- "White Flight: Did Busing Hasten White Flight and Weaken the Civil Rights Movement?"Essay from History in Dispute showing multiple viewpoints on this issue.
- "Was Postwar Suburbanization "White Flight"? Evidence from the Black Migration."Scholarly article from the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
The Color of Law : A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America
Call Number: E 185.61 R8185 2017
Includes a section on "white flight."
Women in the 1950s
In various databases, such as Academic Search Premier, and History Reference Center, try searches using "women's rights," "women's roles" "women AND 20th century," "women AND 195*"
- The Fifites in AmericaType "women" into the search box. "Women and the roots of the feminist movement" is excellent, but several others are also relevant.
- American Decades (20th Century)Click on TABLE OF CONTENTS and choose 1950's in the drop-down menu; then use SEARCH WITHIN PUBLICATION>WITHIN THIS VOLUME on the right side of the screen. SUGGESTED SEARCH TERMS: women; women's rights; women's roles;
- The Columbia documentary history of American women since 1941Call Number: HQ 1420 C65 2003Sections 1 and 2 contain essays about the late 1940s and 1950's
- America's women : four hundred years of dolls, drudges, helpmates, and heroines byCall Number: HQ 1410 C588 2003Section on 1950s
- Mothers and more : American women in the 1950s byCall Number: HQ 1420 K35 1984
- America's working women : a documentary history, 1600 to the present byCall Number: HD 6095 A662 1995
- Life upon these shores : looking at African American history, 1513-2008 byCall Number: FOLIO E 185 G27 2011Look at Pt.14: Foundations of the new civil rights movement, 1950-1963
- Fit to be tied: sterilization and reproductive rights in America, 1950-1980history of women's reproductive rights including forced sterilization programs and societal pressures to have children
- Higher education for women in postwar America, 1945-1965especially look at Ch. One - Postwar Gender Expectations and Realities
- Feminist FataleOverview of Betty Friedan and her views on women in the 1950's which led to her groundbreaking book, "The Feminine Mystique."