INTRODUCTION
Throughout American history, various conflicting depictions of the institution of slavery have appeared in mediums like literature, film, monuments, and textbooks. In the antebellum period (before the Civil War), many of these sources were written by proslavery advocates and portrayed slavery in a more positive light by trying to argue for the benign nature of the institution. Meanwhile, formerly enslaved people and abolitionists told a very different story about the violence and dehumanization that enslaved people experienced. Ultimately, scholars rely on the narratives of slavery as told by individuals who experienced enslavement firsthand as the most accurate representation of the institution.
Secondary sources were created in a later period, in this case after emancipation and the end of the Civil War. Writings by scholars and representations of slavery in popular culture have also disagreed and evolved in their interpretations of and depictions of slavery, especially over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. While some secondary sources present continued bias regarding the nature of the institution, well-researched and credible secondary sources can offer the necessary context. They can offer necessary interpretations of primary sources from the period before emancipation and place these sources in a larger context of society, politics, and economics. Film, literature, and other creative mediums can also offer insights into the continued impact of the memory of the historical institution in modern America.
In this task, you will analyze primary and secondary sources. The historical context and the author’s perspective offer potential insight into the intended audience of the piece, especially for primary sources. Your responses will focus on the message, a similarity, and a difference in how slavery is depicted in the provided sources.
You will choose from the attached “Secondary Sources List” to respond to the task requirements.
You will choose from the attached “Primary Sources List” to respond to the task requirements.
You will use the attached “Authors’ Biographies” page for further understanding and to analyze the primary sources.
REQUIREMENTS
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The similarity report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).
A. Analyze similarities and differences in how two of the secondary sources in the attached “Secondary Sources List” represent the institution of slavery (suggested length of 4–6 paragraphs) by doing the following:
1. Describe how each chosen source represents the institution of slavery. Include two specific examples for each source and how those examples represent the history of slavery.
2. Describe the intended audience for each of the chosen secondary sources.
3. Analyze at least one similarity and one difference in how the chosen secondary sources reflect the history of slavery.
B. Analyze similarities and differences in how two of the primary sources in the attached “Primary Sources List” represent the institution of slavery (suggested length of 3–5 paragraphs) by doing the following:
1. Explain the perspectives of the authors for each of the chosen primary sources. Include a specific supporting detail from the chosen sources.
2. Describe the intended message from each of the chosen primary sources. Include two supporting details for each source.
3. Analyze one similarity and one difference in how the content of each chosen primary source represents the institution of slavery. Include specific examples.
C. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
D. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
File Restrictions
File name may contain only letters, numbers, spaces, and these symbols: ! – _ . * ‘ ( )
File size limit: 200 MB
File types allowed: doc, docx, rtf, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, odt, pdf, csv, txt, qt, mov, mpg, avi, mp3, wav, mp4, wma, flv, asf, mpeg, wmv, m4v, svg, tif, tiff, jpeg, jpg, gif, png, zip, rar, tar, 7z
