You must answer the following two essay questions. Each essay is worth 50 points for a total of 100 points on the exam. Your essays should have a main thesis (or central argument) that is clearly stated in the introductory paragraph. They should include concrete examples (brief discussions of people, events, organizations, etc.) from the lectures, student presentations, and books that support the essays’ major points. In general, chronological organization (in order of when historical events took place) is preferred for history essays. Finally, essays should address potential counterarguments and conclude with a summation of your main thesis.
1.
You are 68-year-old black farmer in South Carolina and the year is 1923. You have to decide whether to stay in the South or join the Great Migration to the North. How has your life changed since you were born in 1855? How did Reconstruction and the Constitutional Amendments passed during that time affect you politically? How do you feel about the ideas of race leaders like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois? Your grown children and their children are moving to New York. Do you join them? Why or why not?
2.
You are a member of the Osage Nation and the National Women’s Party, rallying support for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1926. Talk about how the relationship between Native Americans and the federal government evolved from the 1870s to the 1920s. Explain how the position of women in the larger American society has changed between the 1890s and the 1920s? Discuss women who exemplify this change? Finally, explain why Americans should support an Equal Rights Amendment that guarantees women the same rights as men in America.
