American Studies
Two different topics for a page each. Pick one of these two Choose ONE of these prompts and write an essay answer of at least 2 and no more than 4 paragraphs. CHOICE ONE: / Write an essay in which you express agreement or disagreement with this statement: “The history of Native peoples in the United States is a history of their victimization, but it is also a history of their resistance to being victimized.” Use three required course readings to support and illustrate your answer. At least one of those readings must be a primary source. No sources outside this AMS 100 section are to be included. CHOICE TWO: / Write an essay in which you explain the meaning of the statement “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us” in relation to Mexican-Americans in the United States. Use three required course readings to support and illustrate your answer. At least one of those readings must be a primary source. No sources outside this AMS 100 section are to be included. And pick one of these two Choose ONE of these prompts and write an essay answer of at least 2 and no more than 4 paragraphs. CHOICE ONE: / Write an essay in which you express agreement or disagreement with this statement: “The history of race in America is inseparable from the history of the idea of American exceptionalism.” Support and illustrate your answer by using three required course readings. At least one of those readings must be a primary source. Do not include sources outside this AMS 100 section. CHOICE TWO: / Write an essay in which you express agreement or disagreement with this statement: “The history of religion in America is inseparable from the history of the idea of American exceptionalism.” Support and illustrate your answer by using three required course readings. At least one of those readings must be a primary source. Do not include sources outside this AMS 100 section. Heres a list of the sources from the class. Readings: George Lipsitz, What is American Studies? Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror from, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America John Carlos Rowe, Introduction from A Concise Companion to American Studies 1. Ronald Takaki, “Toward the Stony Mountains: Removal and Reservation,” from A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America 2. Robert Warrior, “Indian,” from Keywords in American Studies 3. David Roediger, “Suddenly White Supremacy” from How Race Survived US History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomena 4. Primary Document Reading: First Naturalization Act, 1790 Readings: Amy Greenberg, The Free Development of a North American Empire, from Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion, pages 1-19. Primary Documents: Black Hawk, Encroachment by White Settlement Memorial and Protest of the Cherokee Nation, June 22, 1836 Tecumseh, Appeal to the Osages Encyclopedia of American Studies, “Reconstruction” W.E.B. DuBois, “The Black Worker,” Chapter 1 from Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 Reconstruction Amendments: 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments, U.S. Constitution (Primary Source) Jason Phillips, “Reconstruction in Mississippi, 1865-1876” Wilfred Codrington III, “The United States Needs a Third Reconstruction” Readings: Encyclopedia of American Studies, Exceptionalism Uri Friedman, “American Exceptionalism: Anthropology of an Idea” Nelson Liu, “Political Polarization in the United States: The Influences of Exceptionalism and Religion” Donald Pease, “Exceptionalism,” from Keywords in American Studies Primary Documents: Rudyard KIpling, The White Man’s Burden, 1899 Responses to Kipling from African Americans and workers From Black Disabled Art History 101 by Leroy Moore (book excerpt) Museum of Disability: Eugenics (website) EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America (website) “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in America” by Douglas Baynton (article) “Joys and Challenges of Being Disabled” by Alice Wong (website article) “I’m Disabled and Need a Ventilator to Live” by Alice Wong (website article) Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (video)
