How effective was the reunification of enslaved families after abolition?

 The proposal is a page paper about my chosen topic which is “How effective was the reunification of enslaved families  after abolition? 

The main project in this course is a prospectus. Historians and other academics write prospectuses to sketch out new research projects. Your paper will set out a pertinent historical question based on a topic of your choice. It will also give a general overview of the topic and its historiography. You will be graded on 4 separate components: (1) general overview of the topic; (2) bibliography; and (3) final paper with a discussion of the historiography. Your final paper should not exceed 8 double-spaced pages of text, not including your bibliography.

The paper must begin with an overview which should include the historiography of the topic and the reason i would potentially want to research this topic – which will include my reason: “The reunification of enslaved African American families after abolition is a topic that has interested me for a very long time. However, the main influence that pushed me to learn more about the topic was the book Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery by Heather Andrea Williams. The book not only helped me understand how deeply family became a lifeline for many enslaved people but also helped me understand that the impact of slavery went beyond the trauma of being enslaved. Additionally, it shed light onto the fact that an enslaved person’s whole identity, and their reason for being, were at the whims of their owners and their decisions.”

The paper must include those details but after that, it should be about how i would go about researching the topic.