In this assessment, you will examine several major events that shaped the history of voting in America and consider the social movements that were formed both to expand and deny the right to vote to these groups. You will examine discussions, debates, organizations, and protests as the right of the franchise is ultimately expanded in the form of the 15th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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. Explain the role of social movements in the expansion of voting rights through the Fifteenth Amendment (suggested length of 3–4 paragraphs) using specific details and supporting evidence by doing the following:
1. Describe a key argument in support of the Fifteenth Amendment.
2. Describe a key argument in opposition of the Fifteenth Amendment.
3. Explain how actions of supporters of the Fifteenth Amendment led to its ratification.
4. Compare the stated purpose of the Fifteenth Amendment with the actual effects on Black Americans after the passage of the amendment.
B. Explain the role of social movements in the expansion of voting rights through the Nineteenth Amendment (suggested length of 3–4 paragraphs) using specific details and supporting evidence by doing the following:
1. Describe a key argument proposed by the supporters of the Nineteenth Amendment.
2. Describe a key argument in opposition to the Nineteenth Amendment.
3. Explain how actions of supporters of the Nineteenth Amendment led to its ratification.
4. Compare the stated purpose of the Nineteenth Amendment with the actual effects on women after the passage of the amendment.
C. Explain the role of social movements in the expansion of voting rights through the Voting Rights Act (suggested length of 3–4 paragraphs) using specific details and supporting evidence by doing the following:
1. Describe a key argument proposed by supporters of the Voting Rights Act.
2. Explain how actions of supporters of the Voting Rights Act led to its passage.
3. Describe a moment of conflict surrounding the Voting Rights Act.
4. Compare the stated purpose of the Voting Rights Act with its actual effects on Black Americans after the passage of the act.
D. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
How to format your tasks
There is no specific formatting requirement for this course, but we strongly suggest that you label each prompt within your task. The task does not need to be written as a formal essay.
So for task 1, for example, you would start with a label “Part A1” and then write your answer to the prompt question. Then you label “Part A2” and write your answer to that prompt, and so on.
Don’t forget to include your in-text and reference citations, which are required even if you don’t directly quote your source and only use the course material.
E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
