Baghdasaryan 1

The Rise of Institutionalized Racism in the 21st Century

Bias Against African Americans

University 100
Student Group Project
Mary Baghdasaryan
Nicolette Chilyan
Sosi Taslagian
Aracely Isidoro Cabrera
California State University, Northridge
9 November, 2015

Sources

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"Black Lives Matter." Black Lives Matter. N.p., n.d. Web.

This website provides crucial information about African Americans and their history. It gives current
statistics on crimes involving police attacks on African Americans. More statistics are available that
cover various crimes that happen to African American women and children by outsiders and strangers.
This website furthers and differentiates itself by letting anyone and everyone who visits it feel involved
by giving everyone the chance to join their fight and protest for Black Lives Matter. I can use this site
to gain further knowledge of all the trouble African Americans go through on a daily basis. Gaining
more knowledge may give me the chance to research appropriate solutions and better my presentation
on Black Lives Matter.
Garca, Jennifer Jee-Lyn, and Mienah Zulfacar Sharif. "Black Lives Matter: A Commentary on Racism
and Public Health." Am J Public Health American Journal of Public Health 105.8 (2015): n. pag.
Web.
This journal article covers more than one crucial point about Black Lives Matter. It has different
sections varying from racial health concerns to further research. While having many informational
sections, this article also incorporates African American history to always let the reader feel all that
people have been through. Furthermore, on top of everything else, it also provides solution thoughts to
current problems. I can use this journal article to my advantage to incorporate all this information into
my presentation. I can gain so much knowledge about African American history that I may not even
know about yet. This article is very interesting with all it has to offer and can be a great help to me.
Jordan, G. "Black History and the Struggle for Justice: A Talk Presented at the Launch of Black History
Month in Wales, 2013." Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies 15.2 (2015): 119-22. Web.
This journal article has a lot of useful information about African history and it also talks about Black
History Month in the United Kingdom which falls in October. Moreover, it gives definitions and
everything about the history of African Americans. It goes way back and connects all the information
with the current issues. This article is great because it is very explanatory in everything it says. This
article benefits me to gain knowledge of the past and tie it to the current and future. There is a lot of
information that I can apply to my presentation to make it the best I possibly can.

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Simkins, Chris. "'Black Lives Matter' Pushes to End Police Brutality." 'Black Lives Matter' Pushes to
End Police Brutality. Voice of America, 8 Oct. 2015. Web. 7 Nov. 2015.
This web link has a very interesting twist to it. It gives important information about police brutality
against African Americans. Additionally, it gives both perspectives of the occurred situations. It gives
points defending African Americans and points defending policeman. Furthermore, it also has a 3minute video that shows a couple clips of policeman assaulting unarmed African Americans and
includes inspiring speeches given by protesters fighting for rights. I can use this web link to understand
both sides of each situation and gives me knowledge of the world I live in. The video shows physical
attacks that have happened in the past and that can broaden my understanding of this whole subject.

Personal Reflection
As I started this project with my fellow classmates, I knew that it would be very informational
while being a social activity as well. Whenever we just started doing research on our topic Black
Lives Matter and completing our annotated bibliographies, I learned really helpful strategies from our
Library Reference Instruction Sessions. The person that helped us, taught us everything we needed to
know in order for us to complete our project flawlessly. From the sessions we had with her, I learned
how to complete an annotated bibliography and how to do scholarly research. Annotated
bibliographies consist of citations to books or other sources that follow with brief introductions to them
stating key information about the entire source. Furthermore, the one great reason why I believe
annotated bibliographies are so very helpful is because you get to know exactly what a scholarly
researched link is all about before even looking it up yourself. It is a very useful tool that I will
definitely be using in the future. Moreover, as I learned how to officially do scholarly research and
how to find reliable sources for any research project, I started to use the CSUN library research bar to
my advantage. My groups topic being Black Lives Matter, I found amazing links to information
that I did not know was put out to the public. I was in charge of researching and finding police
brutality cases against African American people and I completed my task while learning so much in the
process. I love research projects because there is just so much one can get out of each and every one.

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As I worked with my group that consisted of four girls, I got to be introduced to people out of my
circle, I got to get a little out of comfort zone, and I had the chance to meet at least one person different
that I will definitely keep in touch with afterwards. When the day for the group presentation finally
came, our group went up first. We all practiced and went over our tasks together beforehand and
supported each other as we were up presenting. I loved that we all wanted each other to succeed and
did everything we could to accomplish that. In conclusion, this whole entire project, including the
annotated bibliography, research and, group presentation, was such an amazing opportunity. I learned
so many useful things that will definitely come in handy as I continue my college life. I learned all the
things from how to research as a college student to compromising and supporting my new group mates
and I am so very thankful for that.