Talking Through an Example of How to Do the Major Essay

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of the section up to the next blue rectangle.

 

Choices for Unit 1 are listed for you in the Instructions. Choices for Unit 2 include:

·         (FYI: Other possibilities for you to choose for Unit 2 are:
- 1901-1921 (using applicable sections from Chapters 20, 21, and 22)
- 1914-1927 (using applicable sections from Chapters 22 and 23)
- 1927-1939 (using applicable sections from Chapters 24 and 25)
- If of particular interest to you, Truman era and race including the executive order ending segregation in the military (You must use that executive order as your primary.)

 

The example below shows what I would write on if I were asked to do this assignment. It also tells you what I would do.

What method would I use to do a comparison: This link provides tips on a) how to read and b) how to compare. (The link is also provided in the Instructions link at the top of the Major Essay folder.)
Tip:  In Unit 2 essay topics (still available from Essay Topics on the left menu) I show you examples of how I label what I read when I am trying to understand things. I did those examples for both the consumerism and fascism questions.

 

What’s my choice (based on my interests and based on what I think is among the easiest to do):

·         For Unit 1, the period 1893-1901 - I take a look at the table in the link to the History Changes materials. (The link is also provided in the Instructions.) That table shows the big events in this period (in the left column of the table) and how these events fit into the whole era. The bottom of the link to the History Changes materials also tells me what to read.

·         For Unit 2, the period 1901 to about 1921, the era right after 1893-1901—the period called the Progressive Era and including World War I. From looking at the textbook, I find that this time period from 1901-1921 is covered in Chapters 20-22.

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of the section up to the next blue rectangle. – You can use the same tips on how to find what to read with any of the choices for Unit 2.

 

How I find out what to read:

·         For Unit 1, the period 1893-1901 – To know the specific pages, I look at the bottom of the link to the History Changes materials. (The link is also provided in the Instructions.)

·         For Unit 2, the period 1901 to 1921 – I try first the table of contents—not the brief one, but the one that has details. (In the 4th edition paperback, it is at the beginning of the book and begins on page vi). I identify these probable headings
- In Chapter 20, the heading “Race Relations in the Roosevelt Era”
- In Chapter 21, I don’t see a probable heading but I write down the page numbers for the chapter so I can use the index efficiently. (In the 4th edition paperback, the page numbers for Chapter 21 are 539 to 567 and the page numbers from all 3 chapters are 513-596.)
- In Chapter 22, the heading “Social Changes During the Period of Neutrality,” including a subheading “The Great Migration” and “Black Americans in the War”

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of the section up to the next blue rectangle. – You can use the same tips on how to find what to read with any of the choices for Unit 2.

 

Using the Index to Find Other Facts I Might Need

First I try to locate things from Chapter 21In the index. My first search word is African Americans. There are a lot of entries so I’m looking for entries with the page numbers 539-567 and that have a category that might help me. This is really successful. All I find is boxers, 560-561 but when I skim it, it does not fit what are promising issues I think I might want to cover in the comparison.

 

What I do next is to use the index with what I know and what I think I want to know:

I remember a quiz question that said Theodore Roosevelt shifted his position on African Americans to try to get the Southern vote in that 4-candidate election which I figure. Under his name, I find election of 1912 and, 552-554.

 

I remember that Woodrow Wilson supported segregation but I can’t find it for sure through his name so I don’t waste time looking that way and see if I can find it another way.

 

I am considering as another issue to compare is violence against African Americans, so I look up in the index using the page ranges for Unit 1 and for the 3 chapters from 513-596. I look up these words:

·         Lynching and I find for my time period these pages: 496, 521, 546, 584, 593.

·         Race riots and find for my time period these pages: Atlanta, 522-523; St. Louis, 584; Washington, DC, 593
FYI: indexes are helpers, not perfect. In Chapter 20 and “Race Relations in the Roosevelt Era,” there is a race riot in Springfield, Illinois, with lynching also happening in the riot. (Springfield is associated with Abraham Lincoln.)

·         I look below and see the category Racial Segregation and find for my time period these pages: DuBois and, 521-523 and (what I could not find before) in the Wilson administration, 556

 

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of the section up to the next blue rectangle. – You can use the same tips on how to find what to read with any of the choices for Unit 2.

 

What Primaries I Decide on and How That Has Consequences on My Finding Information in the Textbook

Because I wanted to look at African Americans who acted to try to stop these problems I chose:

·         For Unit 1, the 1899 document I.W. Barnett-Lynch Law
There is nothing to keep you from having 3 primaries and, if so, I’d add Plessy-Harlan, the only judge who wrote a dissent about the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

·         For Unit 2, the 1909 document NAACP (Cautions: notice they are asking for education for white children too. There are also white founders included in the group.)

 

Because of those choices of primaries, I also use the index to look up:

·         Wells-Barnett and find pages 492 and 523

·         NAACP, founding of and find page 523

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of the section up to the next blue rectangle. – You can use the same tips on how to find what to read with any of the choices for Unit 2.

 

What Do I Do Next?

1.     I read it all and I use my labeling method to read (in this link at the top). I stick a scrap of paper in the textbook by each page or set of pages I read and I usually write on that scrap what it is about. Example: NAACP- founding

2.     I do the same with the primaries.

3.     I follow the method with the 5 Ws so I can see all that I have learned in one page (in this link all the way to the bottom) with page numbers for each part of the content.
I have 3 columns on my piece of notebook paper:
- In the left column, the 5 Ws
- In the middle column, the period for 1893-1901
- In the third column, the period for 1901-1921

4.     Looking at my 5 Ws I decide to focus my comparison on these issues:
- How violence was used to suppress African Americans in both civilian and military life
- How the national government acted in politics and law
- How individuals, named and unnamed, tried to make changes

 

 

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of the section up to the next blue rectangle.

 

Example of the paper fake sentences as Sxxx.  Re the Instructions for what goes at the topAs for the things to be at the topBook edition and version: The example below assumes I am using the 4th edition paperback.

 

The question from the instructions is this and you can copy it as is at the top of page 1

Using the required readings on significant events experienced by blacks in the South, compare between one and three characteristics of:

-       The period 1893-1901

-       With conditions of blacks in (or from) the South covered in Unit 2, including governments’ actions.

 

Given the space limitations, you may also do either of these:

·         Using the required readings on significant events experienced by blacks in the South, compare between one and three characteristics of the period 1893-1901 with conditions of blacks in (or from) the South covered in Unit 2, including governments’ actions.

·         Using the required readings on significant events experienced by blacks in the South, compare between one and three characteristics of the period 1893-1901 with conditions of blacks in (or from) the South in the period from 1901 to 1921, including governments’ actions.

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of Part 1 below.

 

Click here for a brief oral explanation of Part 2 below.

Part 1 – Maximum 1 Page

 

Part 2 – Maximum 1 Page

Your name – 4th edition paperback -Using the required readings on significant events experienced by blacks in the South, compare between one and three characteristics of the period 1893-1901 with conditions of blacks in (or from) the South in the period from 1901 to 1921, including governments’ actions.

 

Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxx. Sxxxxxx xxx xxx xxxx, xxx xxxxx, and xxxx << 1 (2 max) brief sentence on your issues.

Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx. xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). Riots occurred in both the 1893-1901 period in xxxx (p. ###), xxxxxx (p. ###), and in the period from 1901-1921 inxxxx.(p. ###), and xxx  (p. ###). Lynchings were xxxxxx xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). African American soldiers xxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx. xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). << 1st issueon violence, to civilian and miitary.

 

Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx. xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). Supreme Court in xxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). National leaders in 1893-1901 period did xxxx (p. ###), xxxxxx (p. ###), and in the period from 1901-1921 Theodore Roosevelt did xxxxxxx.(p. ###) and xxx  (p. ###). Woodrow Wilson did  xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). . Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). << 2nd issue on national leaders.

 

Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx. xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). Ida Wells-Barnet in xxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx Ip ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (I.W. Barnett-Lynch Law, p. 2). In the period from 1893-1901, xxxxx xxxxx did xxxx (p. ###) and xxxxxx (p. ###). Inthe period from 1901-1921, xxxx xxxx  xxxxxxx.(p. ###) and xxx  (p. ###). Sxxxss  xxxx (NAACP, p 1), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). . Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx (p ###), and xxx xxxx xxxxx (p. ###). << 3rd issue on people, named and unnamed, who tried to change things.

Sxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxx. Sxxxxxx xxx xxx xxxx, xxx xxxxx, and xxxx << 1 (2 max) brief sentence closing your paper.

 

 

 

Part 2 is the ethical portion. The Instructions state:

1.      Part 2 (1 page maximum): Examine how those issues in history reveal how—to quote the Texas standard—“to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision making.”

FYI: “Ethical decision making” is something:

a.     That all of us have to do in our lives

b.     That history can help us prepare for by examining others’ experiences.

 

Unless you have been given a task by your boss, most things people write about is some personal interest that drives the choice. Personal opinion only works with people who already agree with us. They may be as wrong—or as right—as we are.

 

To communicate to a person who does not already agree with us we have to

1.      Shift to opinion to analysis

2.      Find honorable examples that reveal that analysis to those who do not already agree with us

 

You can’t cite your analysis, but you can—and must—cite your examples. Those examples can be:

·          Facts from the textbooks.

·          Facts from the primaries.

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2014

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2014

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/