History 371

Devine

Fall 2010

Essay Assignment #1 (Option C)

INSTRUCTIONS

This essay is due by 11:59 pm on Friday, October 15. If you did not do Paper 1 Option A or Option B, you must turn in this paper. If you have already done either Option A or B, you may also turn in this assignment and I will count the higher of the two paper grades. You may email your essay to me as an attachment, turn it in to the History Department office (Sierra Tower 610) during business hours, or hand it to me in person. I am willing to read and go over drafts with you.

I prefer you email the paper to me since this is the best way to ensure that your paper does not get lost. When emailing, send a copy to yourself on the “cc” line. If you receive the email, it’s likely I 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.) Please “cc” Shirley as well.

How Long?

Papers MUST be 1500 words. If you use MS Word 2003, you can check number of words by pulling down the FILE menu, selecting PROPERTIES, and then clicking on the STATISTICS tab.

Format?

• Typed, double-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins all around. Margins can be set by using the FILE menu in MS Word and choosing “Page set up.”

• Please number your pages (use the INSERT menu on MS Word and choose “Page numbers…”)

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

How to cite?

If you are quoting directly from the book, cite the author and page number in parentheses within the body of the text, i.e. (Boyle, 47). All direct quotes from the book 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 the teaching assistant via email or in person.

How will I be graded?

You will be graded on focus (do you have a thesis statement and does it answer the question asked?), evidence (do you back up your argument with specific information from the reading?), coherence (is your argument consistent and understandable throughout the piece?), and scope (does your paper deal with the question in appropriate depth and breadth?).

Answer ONE of the following questions:

1. What motivated Ossian Sweet to leave Black Bottom and move to Garland Avenue? Ego? His wife’s desire for a nicer home? A desire to improve his social status? A desire to impress his friends in the “talented tenth”? The fight for racial and social justice? The values his parents and the AME church had instilled in him? Did one motivation have more influence than any other or did a combination of motives drive his behavior? In answering, be sure to cite specific examples from the reading that support your answers to these questions.

2. What motivated the homeowners on Garland Avenue to take part in a violent attack against the Ossian Sweet and his family? Fear? Racism? Economic insecurity? Anger at the rapid changes occurring in the broader society? Concern about their social status? Concern for their children? Did one motivation have more influence than any other or did a combination of motives drive their behavior? In answering, be sure to cite specific examples from the reading that support your answers to these questions.

3. Clearly racial tensions were running high in Detroit in 1925. Drawing on your reading of Arc of Justice write an essay explaining why this was the case. Who or what was to blame? What events or trends had ratcheted up the tensions? Whites and blacks had lived together in relative peace in Detroit during earlier periods. What had changed by 1925? Was this simply a matter of white racism or did other issues contribute to the tensions?

4. How important were Ossian Sweet’s experiences with racism as a boy and as a college student to his performance in the events that played out on Garland Avenue? In other words, based on what you have learned from the reading, did Sweet’s racial history give him confidence, sharpen his judgment, cloud his thinking, render him unable to act decisively—or was the past of no real importance to the story?