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Otiona Alexandria Willis

January 2019

The Triumph & Tragedy of Bonnie and Clyde

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When deciding a topic for my National History Day project, I wanted to complete a topic

that nobody would do. I thought of ideas such as: “The Triumph and Tragedy of Pompeii”, “The

Triumph and Tragedy of Ghanis Khan”, and “The Triumph and Tragedy of the American Civil

War”. I thought it was necessary to do a topic that may seem “Simple Minded”, but has greater

details and thoughts. With the topic of Bonnie and Clyde, you could examine the life styles they

had before knowing each other and after knowing each other. With this giving a greater

understanding of the logic of both Bonnie and Clyde. I also thought it was necessary to do this

topic, because Bonnie and Clyde are always referenced in books, movies, music, and even news

articles. For Example, Bonnie and Clyde are praised by Beyoncé and Jay-Z as a ride or die

couple. They like to be referred to Bonnie and Clyde. Not only does Beyoncé and Jay-Z refer to

Bonnie and Clyde, even in this generation couples like to commit crimes and be called “Bonnie

and Clyde”. Everybody knows, Bonnie and Clyde for their crimes and as being criminals, but

nobody truly knows the triumph and tragedy of the couple.

During the development of my paper, I’ve completed research in my free time to

comprehend Bonnie and Clyde. This consisted of Videos, Fun Facts, Articles, Documentaries,

and Journal Entrees. Certain documents were significant to the investigation of Bonnie & Clyde.

For example, there was a poem written by Bonnie, titled as “The Trail’s End”. This poem is

about the end of Bonnie & Clyde being on the run from the police. Law Enforcement was

catching up to Bonnie and Clyde. While exploring this topic, I couldn’t find any documents that

Clyde wrote himself. The only documents that could possibly be found on Clyde, would have to

be wanted fliers or police reports. On the other hand, Bonnie had journal entries, wanted flies,

police reports, and poems. While researching Bonnie & Clyde, you’ll have a likely hood of

finding more information on Bonnie than with Clyde.

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I selected the type of presentation that I’m going complete, from the type of information

that I was given. With the information, that I’ve formed from Bonnie and Clyde. I concluded that

the leading choice, would be a website. An exhibition is to mediocre for this topic, I figured that

it would be spectacular to combine the older generation with the younger generation. This would

be the era of 1930’s subject Bonnie and Clyde and combining it with today’s generation of the

computer. Which the website, is an exceptional method to share the information, that I’ve

researched on Bonnie and Clyde. This would give a more professional look as well, as a more

interesting look into my project.

The topic of Bonnie and Clyde relates to that National History Day topic of Triumph and

Tragedy. Bonnie and Clyde as like other people in history had a rising point. Their rising point

would be meeting each other and committing crimes. During this period, they were in a gang,

called the Barrow gang. Which of course, Bonnie and Clyde were the most known gang

members. They would rob people, rape people, kidnap police officers, and most of all rob banks.

Until May 23, 1934, the law caught up to Bonnie and Clyde. They were both shot and killed in

Louisiana in a small city named Sailes. This was Bonnie and Clyde’s tragedy, as soon as they

died, their gang and gang members soon went out by Law enforcement too.
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Works Citied

Primary Sources

Burchett, Michael H. “Police Apprehend Bonnie and Clyde.” Salem Press Encyclopedia,

2013. EBSCOhost,proxygsuafpl.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/o

gin.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=89315796&site=eds-live&scope=site.

This article is the apprehending of Bonnie and Clyde, which took place in the year of 1934. This document

states what they were wanted for and where.

Blakemore, Erin. “Read a Chilling Letter From Bonnie and Clyde.” Smithsonian.com,

Smithsonian Institution, 29 Aug. 2016, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/read-

chilling-letter-bonnie-and-clyde-180960277/.

This document states a letter that was written by Bonnie & Clyde. Parker and Barrow grew to hate Hamilton

after he betrayed them in early 1934. Once a member of the infamous Barrow gang, Hamilton eventually

earned the contempt of his partners in crime.

Guinn, Jeff. “The Irresistible Bonnie Parker.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Apr.

2009, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-irresistible-bonnie-parker-59411903/.

This document states at that moment, the notoriety of the Barrow Gang was concentrated in Texas, with faint
radiations into select parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma. That would soon change. On April 13, 1933,
police in Joplin, Missouri, raided an apartment in that town in the belief they would find some bootleggers
there.

Woodward, A. Winston. “The Bonnie Parker Highway Patrol Fingerprint Card Fact Or
Fiction??” Bonnie and Clyde History, 1 Jan. 1970,bonnieandclydehistory.
blogspot.com/2009/06/bonnie-parker-highway-patrol_4109.html.

This document states the FBI records, it became clear that in 1933 and 34, the U.S. Bureau of Investigation,
spearheaded by an effort by J. Edgar Hoover himself-- was involved in the hunt to substantiate, a reported
Bonnie Parker fingerprint record.
Secondary Sources
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Jenkins, John Philip. “Bonnie and Clyde.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica,

Inc., 28 Sept. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Bonnie-and-Clyde-American-

criminals.

Kael, Pauline. “The Frightening Power of ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’” The New Yorker, The New

Yorker, 18 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/10/21/bonnie-and-clyde

When Bonnie tells Clyde to pull off the road, they are in a getaway car. As they are leaving the scene of a

robbery, with the police right behind them. Bonnie & Clyde was absorbed in family bickering, which is the

traditional all-American use of the family automobile.

McGasko, Joe. “The Real Bonnie and Clyde: 9 Facts on the Outlawed Duo.” Biography.com,

A&E Networks Television, 23 Feb. 2016, www.biography.com/news/bonnie-and-clyde-

9-facts-lifetime-movie-video.

Regan, Ceara Marie. “Bonnie and Clyde: A Toxic Love Not To Be Romanticized.” The Odyssey

Online, 8 Nov. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/500-words-bonnie-clyde.

Bonnie never showed an affinity towards crime. She had always been an upstanding citizen. While in school,

she was bright and well-behaved. All she wanted was to be an actress or a writer, but her fate allowed little

time for either profession. Clyde persuaded the smitten Bonnie to join him and leave her mother, whom she

loved dearly.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Bonnie and Clyde's Fascinating Tale.” ThoughtCo, 18 Apr. 2018,

www.thoughtco.com/bonnie-and-clyde-1779278

When Bonnie was in jail, Clyde and Raymond Hamilton staged another robbery at the end of April 1932. It

was supposed to be a quick robbery of a general store, but something went wrong and the store's owner, John

Bucher, was shot and killed.

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Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The Life and Crimes of Bonnie and Clyde.” RealClearHistory, 28 Nov.

2017,www.realclearhistory.com/2017/11/28/the_life_and_crimes_of_bonnie_and_clyde_

6714.html.

Bonnie and Clyde went on a two-year crime spree, during the Great Depression. Their crimes took place

from 1932-1934, in the Texas area. Which during this time the United States was against the government, so

Bonnie and Clyde took this as a type to commit crimes.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Bonnie and Clyde's Fascinating Tale.” Thoughtco., Dotdash, 14 Jan.

2019, www.thoughtco.com/bonnie-and-clyde-1779278.