Song of Solomon Project Contract
Group Members:
Price Kinsey
Christopher Drexel
Section I. Mission statement
The purpose of this website is to provide a source of information for students and community members interested in book censorship in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. The research compiled on this website will include the historical context during the time Song of Solomon was removed from St. Mary’s County Public Schools. Our work will shed light on a topic that is normally brushed over or kept quiet in the media. We intend to cover both sides of the argument for and against Toni Morrison’s book and provide primary source documents for visitors to infer their own opinions. Our website should open discussions that extend beyond book censorship. Literature has impacts on development, culture, societal morality, and personal identity. We will achieve our goals by presenting information in accessible and diverse formats. We will integrate video interviews, TimelineJS, Prezi, photographs, and images of primary source documents. We will interview local professionals, professors, librarians, and community members to provide a diverse array of opinions.
Section II. Tools and structure
TimelineJS – https://timeline.knightlab.com/ – The timeline would be broken into two portions. We would cover our own journey through finding this case and collecting information for it. The process involved with putting together this website includes context for how difficult it is to find information on these topics and how opinions change over time. The second part of the timeline will include information about the books publication date, when it was assigned for reading, how quickly it was removed from reading lists, and how long the case was discussed by local papers. The Timeline will be presented on our static home page.
Youtube Video plug in– Through the medium of videos we will have our interview with key people for our case. Our current goal is to transcribe our videos as well. The videos will take some time to edit and present in an accessible way. The interviews will go on our opinions page primarily with one possible featured video on the home page.
Parabola WordPress– The parabola layout on wordpress allows for creativity and is clearly laid out. We intend to create our own images adding to the visual draw of the website.
Section III. WordPress Structure
The structure of our site will be this: there will be a homepage that will include a title, a picture of our book, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, this page will also include a brief summary of the site “The censorship of Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison in St Mary’s County MD”. The timeline will be placed on the homepage. The page will have additional tabs and information, such as a timeline of events and the content of the site. At the top of the site will be links to the other pages. The brief description of the site will be placed at the top of the page. The other pages will include About Toni Morrison, a Book Overview/ summary, Opinions of the book/ censorship of the book, Historical Context for St. Mary’s County, Interviews, and Sources. Each page will include text information and photographs about our research into the case, about the book, about those we will interview, and the author. The about the author section will cover her education, accolades, and information of her as an author. Book overview will cover a summary of the book including major themes, plot points, and sections that were deemed inappropriate. Historical context will look into St. Mary’s county through varying perspectives (socially/politically). The Opinions tab will cover how those in St. Mary’s County reacted to the novel and coverage of the newspapers and interviews conducted throughout the investigation. The Complaint section will be direct image of the complaint when it is received from St. Mary’s County superintendent’s office. Sources will include image citations and Chicago citation of everything used to create the website.
Section IV. Milestone Timeline
2/28- 9am Meeting with Amy Ford- Branch manager for Lexington Park branch St. Mary’s County Library – interview for general knowledge of censorship and a focus in on our case.
3/10- Website framework in place– All the tabs completed, sample texts eliminated, sidebar edited.
3/20 – Transcribe first interview with Amy Ford
3/21- Book synopsis and about author complete – Also timeline of events if able to find data, this step will require a focus in reading our book for the case, research into the author of our book Toni Morrison, and create a timeline of the report when it was filed.
3/22 Interview with Professor Robin Bates – prepare questions for Professor Bates, try to complete the audio transcripts as soon as possible to meet our deadlines, publish to site under tab for interviews.
3/24- Historical context complete, also complete collection of sources– Have sources uploaded and cited on the website by this date, use information given to us through the interviews to set the cultural context at the time of the book censorship.
3/25 – Transcribe interview with Professor Robin Bates
4/7 – Videos completed and uploaded
4/9 – Website Draft due
4/27- Website Final due
Section V. Division of labor
Historical Context -Drexel
Book summary- Price
About the Author – Price
Video editing for interview / transcribe – Price/Drexel
Interview questions – Price/Drexel
Divisions of opinions and explanations – Price/Drexel
Website layout – Drexel
Citations / Bibliography (Chicago) – Price
Requests for information (complaints against books) – Price
Other instances of complaints or banning of our book – Drexel
Home page image- Some cross between St. Mary’s County and Song of Solomon – Drexel
Complaint section- Drexel
In general