Research Paper Project
Topic:
When people talk about being proud to be an American, they often mention our freedoms. Many of those freedoms came through sacrifice on the part of people who struggled for them from the Boston Tea Party to Abolitionism to Women’s Suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement. Activism is an essential and absolutely necessary part of our history. Democracy needs an active citizenry to survive.
Choose an American Nonviolent Activist to study. They must be alive today (not a historical figure like MLK) and working for justice in some area of American politics. This could be in voting rights, immigration, poverty, sentencing laws, abortion, war, campaign finance reform, racism, labor laws and many other areas. I would prefer you choose your own activist to study, but if you’re stuck, I have included a list of websites talking about different modern activists. I do not claim that these are all good choices. I have not gone through all the people in these articles. You will need to verify that yourself. I simply posted these articles to help you get going if you’re stuck.
In Part 1 of your paper, you will tell me how this activist fits in with the Madisonian Model we discussed in class. How are they keeping the powers separated? Are they helping keep our checks and balances in place? How are they speaking truth to power?
In Part 2 of your paper, you will tell me about the tactics this activist uses to accomplish their goals. What is acceptable to do in the name of civil disobedience? When is it OK to disobey the law in a democracy? When King did so in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, many people complained that his protests were too disruptive to society. They called King many things including a communist. They blamed King for the violence that happened elsewhere. King responded to these criticisms by saying things like:
“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
“And I contend that the cry of ‘black power’ is, at bottom, a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice a reality for the Negro,” King said. “I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard.”
What would your activist say?
Requirements:
Your paper will be a minimum of 1000 words long (not including your bibliography).
Once your paper is complete you will post it in CANVAS. It works best if you go in through the Grade book. (Please cite all sources in the text with the title and page number of the article, book, website etc. in parentheses.)
