Assignment Question
Using the primary texts supplied, you will choose two corresponding (paired, a total of four) Progressive Era documents and two Civil Rights Era documents and write a 750-word essay that examines how reformers/activists, organizations and institutions of different periods best used the thematic concepts that framed this course when making their arguments (Self-Determination, Liberty, Dignity, and Equality). For each of your chosen primary sources, you should identify the authors’ main point, and utilizing at least two of the four concepts, examine how they defended their positions. Your paper should conclude by explaining why some contemporaries of the Progressive and Civil Rights Eras found certain arguments compelling, while others found them offensive (to conclude effectively, you will need to explain the historical context in which these texts were written, based on what you have read in the U.S. History Open Stax text, lecture, and learned in class discussion/primary sources). No secondary sources, other than the U.S. History Open Stax text, should be integrated into this paper’s analysis. The purpose of this assignment is to advance your ability to reason through a specific historical question and to express your ideas in writing.
Thus: – Your paper should briefly introduce your paper’s topic or question and provide a thesis statement. In a paper of this size, your introduction and thesis statement should appear on the first page, in the paper’s first paragraph. – Your paper should show that you reasoned through the evidence in a fair-minded way. In other words, you should state (paraphrase) what your evidence says and not what you wish it said or think it should say. You need to state the evidence fairly, even if you think it wrong or offensive. – Your paper should use evidence to answer the historical question. You need to explain how the evidence answers the question. The easiest way to figure this is to think through your evidence and argument using one or more of the key concepts for this course.
– Your paper should develop and organize your thoughts clearly and logically. Outlining is a necessary, but not required, step in writing a well-organized paper.
– Your paper should draw a conclusion that addresses the paper’s chief topic or question and that states your answer to the question or your contribution to the topic.
