Each response must cite two assigned sources. You may draw on sources assigned earlier in the semester, but at least one of the two sources cited in each response must relate to material covered since Exam #2.
Respond to TWO of the following:
Prompt #1
Analyze a single image produced by Emory Douglas, Black Panther Party Minister of Culture, focusing on its utility or effectiveness as a primary source for understanding the aims of the Black Panther Party specifically, and proponents of Black Power or Black liberation more broadly. Be sure to offer a close critical reading of the image itself, offering a detailed assessment of the message the image conveys about the aims of the BPP, its views of poor Black Americans, and its approach to Black liberation. (To be clear, a strong response will do more than merely describe what the image shows, but will offer a clear argument about what the image means.) Be sure to indicate which image you have chosen, including when it was published, and take care to situate that image in its appropriate historical context. (If you analyze an image from 1967, for example, it would not make sense to discuss its connection to the killing of Free Hampton, which occurred at the end of 1969. If you discuss an image that portrays military violence, make clear that it was produced in the context of the Vietnam war and a widespread and highly influential anti-war movement.)
Prompt #2
Discuss the historical role of violence in building and maintaining systems of white supremacy, as well as in efforts to resist and overturn white supremacy in the context of the Black freedom struggle. Be sure to consider the many forms and structures of violence used by white institutions and entities as tools of Black oppression and the many ways that Black Americans have used the concept and practice of violence in their organizing. (For example, various activists have emphasized nonviolent direct action, defensive violence, and revolutionary violence as ways of responding to and challenging the use of force as a tool of racial subjugation.) Please be as specific as possible, defining key terms and naming specific practices, events, and historical figures in your response.
Prompt #3
Compare the tactics and strategies of TWO (and only two) of the organizations listed below, writing at least one complete paragraph about each organization, each with a minimum of five sentences. A detailed response should name and explain relevant campaigns, leaders, and successes or setbacks of the organizations selected, and should address if and how each organization’s approach to advancing Black freedom evolved over time. Be sure to define the terms “tactics” and “strategies” in your response.
NAACP
CORE
SCLC
SNCC
NOI
BPP
BLM
Prompt #4
This course has worked to complicate the so-called “master narrative” of the civil rights movement typically taught to school children and celebrated by politicians and the mainstream media. Julian Bond of SNCC summarized the master narrative in the following way:
“Traditionally, relationships between the races in the South were oppressive…Once Americans understood that discrimination was wrong, they quickly moved to remove racial prejudice and discrimination from American life…[By the end of the 1960s], the country had been changed, changed for the better in some fundamental ways. The movement was a remarkable victory for all Americans.”
What does the master narrative leave out or get wrong? Why? In what ways was the Black freedom struggle of the 1950s and 1960s a success? What dreams and goals of activists and organizers during that era have yet to be realized? Be as specific as possible in formulating your response.
Note: Responses to this prompt must reference two assigned sources other than Payne’s essay about the master narrative.
The primary task in writing a short answer response is to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant course material. Each of your two responses must consist of two developed, well-written paragraphs of at least five sentences (a total of at least ten sentences in response to each prompt). You must refer to at least two relevant assigned sources, including media (i.e. those listed in the syllabus or on Blackboard) to support each response and will not receive credit for using the same source in both responses. (In other words, you must reference a total of four different sources across your two responses.) You may certainly draw on posted slides, as well as class lectures and discussions, but these do not count toward the required sources. Only readings or media that you specifically reference or name within your response will earn credit. You may draw on sources assigned earlier in the semester, but at least one of the two sources cited in each response must relate to material covered since Exam #2. Please be sure to include a properly formatted Works Cited.
