While all Laidlaw Scholars will be presenting their research at the Columbia Undergraduate Research Symposium in the fall, what are the more immediate expectations that you have for your research? Are you writing a paper? Will your research be part of a larger scientific study? Do you hope to produce an annotated bibliography that you reflect on down the line? Is your research now the first phase of a project you’ll continue to work on throughout the year, and/or next summer? Now that we are nearing the one month mark of the program, please write about your expectations for your research.

Due to unforeseen circumstances in my research project, the work I’ve been curating over the past four weeks will now serve as part of a much larger project. I hope to develop it into a full research paper in the future. A major lesson that I've learned throughout this week is the value of adaptability. I was expecting to have produced a research paper, however, given the change in timeline of my professors much larger project, I will create an annotated bibliography that will serve as a helpful guide for me in my later research pursuits. The goal of my research project is to communicate how Black grief and its life-affirming practices in response to racial violence, has mobilized advocacy, resistance, and rebellion. I've been struggling to reduce this project to a definite timeline. However, because practices such as the shout circle, generational tales of the Flying Africans, and Black funeral services evolved as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, it's imperative to address the cultural impact of the Middle Passage and its continuation into plantation life.

Why does your research matter? Explain the significance of the question you are investigating, and why you are interested in it.

My research matters because it unearths stories, traditions, and individuals that contribute to an understanding of how Black grief and its life-affirming practices/traditions have been such a potent force of mobilization against systemic racism.  From the impact of storytelling, such as the popular Black folktale of the Flying Africans to the circular movements performed in tribute to the deceased, nearly every aspect of mourning contains rich historical and religious origins that have emboldened the community to carry on. My guiding research question is, How has Black mourning sustained and strengthened Black life across time and space? Through in-depth archival research, I examine Black grief not simply as a reaction to injustice, but as a generational force that fuels solidarity, resistance, and the ongoing pursuit of justice and liberation. Rather than centering only on death, this research highlights how mourning becomes a force for mobilization, community-building, and cultural preservation. It is both a tribute to those who have come before and a celebration of the traditions that continue to carry Black communities forward.