African American Studies

Below is a description of the kind of document that is expected in this assignment. Remember that in the essay you will be writing for this class, you are expected to follow all the genre and style protocols of a scholarly essay. While MLA style is preferred for this literature class, you may use whatever citation style (APA, Chicago) you find most comfortable. A proposal is a document that outlines for the reader the essence of the argument you intend to pursue in your paper. It is a summary of the commentary you intend to write for your final essay assignment for this class. In many ways, this kind of thing resembles an article or dissertation abstract. (For examples of dissertation abstracts, see the link to “Dissertations and Theses” in the Article Indexes & Research Databases tab in the Library website.) A good source for the kind of literary papers that are appropriate for this class can be found by browsing The Explicator, a journal whose archives can be found via the search utility on the Library webpage. IMPORTANT: Your essay should include information regarding what text you are examining, what point or points you intend to argue, and what data, or the work of which other scholars, do you intend to use to help support your arguments. A biographical approach that focuses solely or primarily on the author’s life story will be of no use to you as an essay topic. If you are examining poetry, you will want to pay attention to issues like rhetoric, image, figurative language, and poetic form; if you are examining a narrative, you will want to consider issues like person, action, place, time, manner, and means, as they are realized in the narrative. For mixed genre works, any and all of these factors can be considered as possible topics. Any of these factors can be used as a focus for illustrating how a work exemplifies its subject matter. It is best to choose one topic, or a subset of one topic, as the focus of your paper. Any attempts to write an essay that covers several of these topics will only make your task that much more difficult. You can choose to offer your own analysis of one of these topics, or you may write an essay that synthesizes scholarly opinion on a particular topic before offering the reader your own conclusions. Either way, be sure to credit all your sources and avoid any approach that can expose you to charges of plagiarism. Remember that in this proposal, you are showing the reader what you intend to tell them in your paper, showing them how you intend to tell them, telling why you have chosen this particular argument, and, finally, what you hope the reader will learn from your presentation. One good source that I’ve found useful in thinking about the genre of “commentary,” which is one way of describing your final essay, is the “About” page for Glossator, an online literary journal: https://glossator.org/about/. While this description may seem overly broad, I’m offering the link with the intention of offering some guidance as you develop your essay. Please feel free to write me with any questions or concerns.

This post should be a well-developed paragraph responses to each prompt with reference to contemporary examples or to textual evidence from the assigned reading to support your position. 1. The Protest period entailed a comprehensive push for civil rights that included legal suits, civil disobedience and artistic cultural production. A major part of both projects was the protest or civil rights songs. Using one of the songs featured in the vernacular folder, discuss how figurative language is used to convey the songs message? How does the message of the song support the project of social justice and/or racial advancement? 2. In addition to music, fiery polemical speeches were a central aspect of black vernacular during the Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps no statesmen or intellectual of the period was as skilled as Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Yet, we oft times only here of two of major speeches: I Have a Dream and I Have Been to the Mountain Top. These speeches read in isolation provide a much different image of Dr. King, his writing style and his vision for the nation than one gets when reading his works in a larger context. Taking a close look at either Letter from A Birmingham Jail or The Three Evils of American Society, explain the thesis of the speech. How does King employ figurative language, repetition, logos, ethos, allusion and/or pathos to craft the thesis? How does your understanding of King’s message in this speech alter or enhance your understanding of Dr. King’s legacy? 3. Amiri Baraka and other Black Arts poets and political organizations like the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party often shared a philosophy of Afrocentrism, a cultural and political emphasis on black identity and community and its shared roots in the African Diaspora. How does the concept of Afrocentrcism reflect the generation’s frustration with older political philosophies such as agitation or the New Negro’s concept of Double Victory? 4. Frequently Dr. King and Malcolm X are presented as foils for one another, and emphasis is placed on how their philosophies diverged. However, there was actually a great deal commonly shared in their philosophies and writings, particularly towards the end of each man’s life. Comparing any two written or spoken texts of Dr, King’s or Malcolm X discuss the common themes or questions you see between their texts. 5. We have now studied the abolitionist movement, the Reconstruction efforts of Uplift & Agitation, New Negro efforts for Double Victory, and the Civil Rights era efforts. How can we read our current moment and the BLM protests as a recognition of the success and or failure of the ongoing search for African American racial equity?

Write a 3-4 page essay that addresses the themes below. Discuss how the variety of spiritual expressions found in the African American Diaspora have evolved over the years. How is food used to unite spiritual congregations in African-American communities?

Please discuss the following topics: 1. Do you think systems of oppression and privilege impact the development of women? 2. Are women identities (sense of self) based on the nature and quality of their relationships? 3. What are some of the challenges associated with being a woman in America and/or the world? ” I am a Saudi woman” 4. Do you know what it is like to be or perceived to be multiracial in America? 5. Do you understand the difference between sexual orientation and gender identities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIDKLt0cj-c I just want brief answers for each question

The assignment is to respond to a social media post where people are actively stereotyping. Please rewrite and edit to make it sound more proficient. I have attached the social media post I have responded too for reference. Feel free to add extra relevant information. The response is required to be 350 words or over, so do not make it shorter than 350 words. It is a page in a half so feel free to adjust the bid. Finally, feel free to message me if you have any questions.

After reading David Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, read Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia (This is the link, but you may want to open it in a separate window: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h490t.html). 1. How persuasive do you find Walker’s contentions about Jefferson as “one of the great characters as ever lived among whites”? 2. Do you read this judgment as contradictory to other conclusions Walker reaches about Jefferson? Why or why not? 3. Can Walker’s Appeal rightly be said to argue for what we currently identify as affirmative action? Why or why not? 4. Do you feel that Walker’s stance on interracial marriage contradicts the overall argu Complete the following questions first (with the 400-word minimum), then read and comment on your classmates’ responses. Check Web links for related materials. http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1993/2/93.02.08.x.html http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/trickster.htm Just as the lore of the Judeo-Christian Bible inspired the antebellum spirituals, it has also inspired many African American folktales from the beginning of black history in the United States. Trace the biblical origins of the tales that seemed to revise Christian ideas. You might need to do some research. What moral codes do these black folktales generally assert?

According to the reading ( https://www.nwfolklife.org/reggae-rising-hip-hops-roots-in-reggae-music/ ) on hip hop, what Caribbean music traditions have allowed for the creation of hip hop as we know it today? Second, in the video we looked at in class (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu8HkOdn8kg), one of the commentators questioned hip hop as “a Black thing, a New York thing or a Caribbean thing” (paraphrase). What are your thoughts on this? Given the reading and the video, is hip hop a Black thing, a New York thing or a Caribbean thing? Or can it be all?

Criteria: The paper must be at least three pages in length (but no more than five), double spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman font. You must include , date, class, etc. in one of the upper corners, a title, a thesis in your introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You must also include at least five sources, which must be cited in Chicago style. These sources must also be sorted as either footnotes or endnotes, and listed in a Works Cited Page at the end of the paper.  Must include the page numbers at the bottom of each page

v  Give an overall summary of the content of the reading. v  Provide a description of your thoughts/view of the reading to include questions for further exploration. v  Consider any emerging themes from the reading and how they might be relevant in your current context. v  How does the writer address the subject matter of African American Culture? v  When placing the selected reading in the larger context of this class what might you discover?

For this class, your final exam will be a take-home writing assignment. The exam will be due via Blackboard on Friday, December 4, by 11:59 PM. You will respond to three of the following four questions with a 2.5-to-3-page essay. Only question #1 is required. For each essay, you should use examples of specific countries, people, events, and processes whenever possible: REQUIRED QUESTION: The late 19th century was a period of significant change for African societies. What were the most significant changes facing Africa in the late 19th century? What roles did both Africans and Europeans play in making these changes? The colonial period affected Africans and Africa in many ways. In what major ways did life change? Were those changes different or similar across space and time? How different was the colonial period in terms of particular colonizers, time periods, or parts of the continent? Decolonization was a challenging but hopeful period of time. How was decolonization won and how did states attempt to decolonize (economically, politically, socially, culturally, etc.) following formal independence? In recent weeks, we have discussed the challenges facing African states were independence. What were three of the most significant challenges of the postcolonial era? Why did these challenges occur, and African governments and societies respond to those challenges? OverviewDrawing on the course readings and lectures, you will make an argument for what you believe is most important in explaining different periods in Africa history. You will not be able to explain every significant change, or discuss every location across the continent. It is best to choose a few points that you can then give specific examples for, and analyze those examples. In discussing these questions, you will exclusively draw on and cite the course materials. You must use both the readings and the lectures to do so. For each question, you should use concrete examples and information in support of your point. Any specific examples or statistics you can give will only help justify your argument. However, you must explain and analyze that data, as it may not be self-evident. Case studies of particular locations that we discussed in class may also be helpful in making your points clearer. In some cases, we discussed the same areas on several occasions. Tracing longer histories of those particular places may also be helpful in making your points clearer. ExpectationsEach essay will be, at minimum, 2.5 pages long, with size 12 font and no extra spaces before the paper or between paragraphs. Please start a new essay on a new page. The only thing at the top of your exam will be your name and “Africa and the Modern World Final Exam,” followed by the question #. You will submit the exam as a Microsoft Word document. Each essay should consist of: A clear, brief introduction that states your argument, and gives an overview of the issues you will be discussing. Roughly 1/4 to 1/2 page. At least three body paragraphs that delve into the different points that you make in your introduction. Each paragraph should be a part of your larger argument, as stated in your thesis statement/introduction. Each paragraph, you should have a clear argument that lays out the key points for that section, stating the relevant sub-points you will be discussing. For most—if not all—of these sub-points, you will need specific information and examples—from both the lectures and the readings—to help back up your argument for its significance. That information should be clearly analyzed so that its relevance is apparent. About two pages. A conclusion that re-states these major arguments, and some concluding thoughts that tie these points together in explaining your larger conclusions. Roughly 1/4 to 1/2 page. Citations When citing the lectures, please simply put at the end of the sentence (Lecture #). For the readings, the author’s last name, and a page number—when applicable—is sufficient. Grading Criteria Each essay will be graded on the following criteria: Does the paper meet the requirements for the assignment? A minimum of 2.5 pages per assignment, citing both the lectures and readings. Are your arguments well-made/chosen? Do you have a clear thesis that explains what you will be discussing over the course of the essay? Is the essay well organized? Is your argument broken up into a series of parts/case studies that connect together? Do you use good evidence in support of your argument, and analyze that evidence? Is the writing clear, well written, and free of spelling/grammar mistakes?