History 305

Devine

Spring 2011

Essay Assignment #2 (Option B)

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

This essay is due Monday, May 9th by 11:59 pm. You may email your essay to me as an attachment (the preferred method), turn it in to the History Department office (Sierra Tower 610) during business hours, or hand it to me in person. Late essays will be penalized, so please turn your assignment in on time.

 

If you completed Option A and would like a chance to improve your grade, you may turn in an Option B essay.  I will count only the better of the two grades.

 

I prefer you email me the paper since this is the best way to ensure that it does not get lost. Please send a copy to James as well (james.adams.397@my.csun.edu). When you email us, you should also send a copy to yourself on the “cc” line. If you receive the email, it’s likely we did as well. I will send you a confirmation email when I receive your paper, however, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY (and not the email server’s) that I get it. (“But I sent it to you – didn’t you get it?” will not be a legitimate excuse for a late paper.) 

 

HOW LONG SHOULD THE PAPER BE?

 

Papers MUST be 1500 words and no more than 1900 words.

 

HOW SHOULD I FORMAT THE PAPER?

 

• Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around.

 

• Please number your pages by using the “insert page number” feature on your word processor.

 

• Give your essay a title that indicates what the paper is about. (Something more revealing than “Essay #1” or “Tarzan”) Clever titles will be duly noted.

 

• Base your essay entirely on the assigned course reading. You do not have to (nor should you) draw on any outside sources.

 

Don’t forget to put your name at the top of page 1 of the essay before you email it. (People actually forget to do this.)

 

HOW DO I CITE?

 

If you are quoting directly from a source, cite the author and page number in parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (Hine, 47). All direct quotes MUST be in quotation marks and must be cited. Paraphrases of ideas drawn from the book MUST also be cited.

 

If you have any questions or are in any way unsure about what you are being asked to do, be sure to speak with me or James via email or in person.

 

HOW WILL I BE GRADED?

 

You will be graded on:

 

1)    focus (do you have a thesis statement and does it answer the question asked?)

 

2)    evidence (do you back up your argument with specific information from the reading?)

 

3)    coherence (is your argument consistent and understandable throughout the piece?)

 

4)    scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?) 

 

 

THE ASSIGNMENT

 

Answer ONE of the following questions:

 

  1. What made Anne Moody and her fellow civil rights activists different than many of the other African-Americans who lived in Mississippi?  What personal qualities made them exceptional?  How did these qualities both sustain them through difficult times in the Movement and yet also contribute to frustration and even despair?

 

[In answering, you will need to focus on (1) how Anne’s personality distinguished her from others around her; and (2) how her personality influenced her decision to join the Movement and her behavior while she worked in the Movement.  You should also feel free to discuss some of the people who told their stories in the video we watched in class. In the first paragraph, you should state briefly which of Anne’s character traits your essay will examine and how these traits helped (and hindered) Anne as she struggled to advance the cause of Civil Rights.  Then, spend the rest of the essay supporting the statements you have made in your first paragraph by discussing specific moments and anecdotes throughout Coming of Age in Mississippi that demonstrate what you’re saying is true.]

 

2.    What did young people in the 1960s – particularly those attracted either to the political radicalism of the New Left or the cultural radicalism of the counterculture – find wrong with American society?  How did they propose to right these perceived wrongs, to solve the problems they believed plagued 1960s America?  Why did they fail to bring about their vision of a better society and instead produce unintended consequences that often strengthened the very forces against which they were rebelling?

 

[In answering, you should note that the New Left and the counterculture perceived different types of problems, proposed different types of solutions, and generated different unintended consequences. You might organize your paper around the three questions, but then alternate your discussion between the New Left and the Counterculture.  To answer this question, you should have read the three articles on the 1960s and taken thorough notes during the April 19th class.]

 

 

3.    Thomas Hine argues that during the 1970s American society retreated from the social causes of the 1960s and turned inward.  Individuals sought to raise their own consciousness, to find and embrace their own identity rather than struggle on behalf of others.  At the same time, many Americans abandoned their optimistic faith in the postwar consensus.  No longer did the majority believe that a single “American way of life” existed, that progress was inevitable, that the government and other sources of authority were competent and trustworthy, that “mainstream” values were not to be questioned, and that there were no limits on the United States’ power, resources, and potential.  Rather, many concluded, the new era would be one of limits and that the future hardly looked so bright.  Inevitably, this new cultural mood brought changes in thinking and behavior.

 

          Drawing on Thomas Hine’s The Great Funk as well as material from our class discussions, explain how we can see these changes in thinking and behavior expressed in the way people dressed, how they furnished their homes and offices, what products they bought (and how these products were marketed to them), how they lived, loved, and lusted, what ideas they embraced, and how they came to see, understand, and present themselves.

 

          In sum, you should cite specific evidence to demonstrate how the shift in mood described in the first paragraph above was reflected the various aspects of everyday life enumerated in the second paragraph.

 

          You should not simply describe what products people bought or how they decorated, dressed, and behaved.  Rather, you must show how purchases, décor, dress, and behavior were connected to (and called attention to) a new cultural mood that rejected the postwar consensus. Do not choose to answer this question unless you have actually read Thomas Hine’s book. 

 

4.    Since the 1960s, there have been various groups that have either been excluded from mainstream American culture or have been so alienated from mainstream values and priorities that they have chosen to form a counterculture.  Choose at least two groups that we have studied over the past few weeks that fit this description – for example, civil rights activists, New Left radicals, counterculture hippies, feminists, gays, 1980s punks, and Christian evangelicals – and address 1) why they believed they had to challenge or step away from mainstream American culture – that is, what were they rebelling against?; and 2) how, through their speech, music, and/or behavior, they presented alternatives to mainstream American culture. In your conclusion, tell the reader why your chosen groups largely succeed or failed in their quests to establish a viable counterculture or to convince mainstream culture to adopt some of their values.

 

[In answering, ground yourself in specifics and provide a variety of examples from the assigned reading that support what you are asserting. You should choose your groups carefully. Make sure you have enough material to sustain an argument.]