Instructions for Writing the Essay Question:
(See checklist at the end of this document)
1. Choose one question to answer from the options provided below.
2. The essay must be word-processed, double-spaced, paginated, no less than 750 words and no more than 850 words.
3. You must have a separate title page on which you include your name, date, descriptive essay title that clearly indicates the topic, question/prompt number, your LIB 133 section and instructors name, and the word count for your essay. The title page and works cited page text do NOT count towards the word count.
4. Your essay must have a thesis statement and be organized thematically, not by readings.
5. You must answer all parts of the question in order to get full credit for the essay.
6. Sources:
a. In your essay, you must use specific and substantive examples (through paraphrasing and quotes) from at least three readings from the Spring 2017 course syllabus. You may use additional sources preferably from Units I and II on the syllabus but only after you have used three readings from Unit III.
b. You may also incorporate additional examples from documentaries and class lectures in your essay. Films and film transcripts do not count as readings. You may, however, refer to them once you have already used three readings from the Spring 2017 syllabus.
Take Home Essay Question Choices (choose one):
Submit your essay to turnitin.com AND to your professor at the exam.
Use three articles from Unit III the Spring 2017 syllabus. You may use additional readings from other parts of the syllabus and films after you have used the three Unit III articles.
1. This semester we have discussed equality of opportunity as a fundamental American ideal. Considering the issue of gender, in particular, how well has the United States lived up to this ideal? As you answer, make sure to consider laws, culture and social change since the 1950s.
2. How have U.S. government policies and legislation both increased and decreased inequality in the United States? Please discuss at least 2 concrete examples in the body of your essay, and provide evidence from at least 3 readings from Unit 3 of this course.
3. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun said, \”To get beyond racism we must first take account of race. There is no other way.\” Although the Civil War ended in 1865, African Americans have not experienced equal opportunity socially, culturally or legally. What progress has the US made against racism and what work still needs to be done?
4. Law professor Eleanor Stein used the phrase construction of an enemy to describe U.S. government policies that have unfairly treated Americans. Using her framework, how has racism affected Americans from many cultures?
Article Readings:
C. Richard King, This Is Not an Indian: Situating Claims about Indianness in Sporting Worlds, Journal of Sporting and Social Issues 28:1 (February 2004), pp. 3-10.
http://jss.sagepub.com/content/28/1/3.full.pdf
Chief Illiniwek
Chief Wahoo
Role and profitability of pseudo-Indian mascots
Sports teams and Native American mascots
Critical responses to these mascots
Naturalized acceptance of Native American mascots
Euro-American claims to Indianness
Indian activists repossession of Indianness
Relationship between mascots and American perceptions of ethnicity and race
Yen Le Espiritu, \”We Don\’t Sleep Around Like White Girls Do\”: Family, Culture, and Gender in Filipina American Lives, Signs, Vol. 26, No. 2. (Winter, 2001), pp. 415-440.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0097-9740%28200124%2926%3A2%3C415%3A%22DSALW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S
The authors research question and main argument
The authors research method and data collection
Effect of authors identity as a Vietnamese-American
The relationship between the U.S. and the Philippines
Filipinas and their sexuality, personally and in contrast with white American women
Cultural representation and conflicts between immigrant women and men
Filipina attitudes about their families and culture
Eleanor Stein, Construction of an Enemy, Monthly Review Vol 55, No. 3 (July/Aug 2003)
Oppression
Race and Racism
Social determinism
Xenophobia
Construction of an enemy process and examples
Elevation of xenophobia into national policy in the case of Japanese Americans and internment during World War II
The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941
Ways in which internment of Japanese Americans was rationalized by the U. S. government
Consequences of the construction of an enemy for ethnic groups at different times in U.S. history
9/11 and the Patriot Act
Arab Americans after 9/11
Les Carpenter, Ibtihaj Muhammad stoic in defeat: \’I feel proud to represent Team USA\’ 8 August 2016 16.37EDT https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/aug/08/ibtihaj-muhammad-fencing-rio-2016-olympics
Muhammads biography background, identity, sport
Connection/similar experiences to Simone Biles and Simone Manuel significance to her presence on Team USA
Challenges and stereotypes she has faced
Significance of her presence on the U.S. Olympic team
Angelica Jade Bastien, Why Historic Wins by Simone Biles, Simone Manuel Matter for Race in America Aug. 15, 2016
http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/simone-biles-and-simone-manuel-wins-impact-on-race-w434453
Identify Biles and Manuel
Race and the significance of their presence on the Olympic team
There are two Americas: one for white people and another for everyone else
Connect ideas about Biles and Manuel to DuBoiss idea of double-consciousness
The weight of the Black community
Significance of a Black swimmer in historical perspective
James T. Patterson, The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-rights-movement/essays/civil-rights-movement-major-events-and-legacies
Jim Crow segregation laws (examples and purpose)
The African American Civil Rights Movement
Non-violent protest
Grassroots activism
African American protests, targets and strategies
Significance of World War II for African Americans ideas about equality and discrimination
See the list of people on the discussion question document and be familiar with people you discussed in your section
Roles of federal government in the Civil Rights Movement what actions did they take (U.S. Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Congress, the President)
Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka, KS (1954) and school desegregation
Major successes of the movement
Pattersons claim that the Civil Rights Movement was only partially successful: in what ways has it not been successful?
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Case for Reparations, Atlantic Monthly June 2014
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
Clyde Rosss experiences living in Mississippi (education, home ownership issues, treatment by whites)
Rosss experiences in California and Chicago
Buying on contract
African Americans and mortgage discrimination
North Lawndales changes over time
Contract Buyers League and reparations
Governments discriminatory policies regarding homeownership
Urban segregated neighborhoods
Blockbusting
Social engineering
White flight
Redlining
Discrimination and the black middle class
History of slavery and the Civil War
History of slavery, segregation laws and the discrepancies of wealth accumulation for whites and blacks
Reparations (and Belinda Royall) for African Americans and for Jews (by Germany)
Meaning of homeownership for blacks and whites
Post-Civil War opportunities for black homeownership
How did whites limit opportunities for blacks in the Southern states?
How did the federal government participate in the suppression of black peoples rights?
Kleptocracy
Lynching
Black protests in Chicago
Significance and symbolism of reparations
Eric Liu, How Much Political Power Do You Have?
A quiz to compare yourself with the likes of Barack Obama, Cliven Bundy, and others The Atlantic Monthly(July/August 2015)
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/power-quiz/395273/
What does the author mean by the dynamics of power?
What does it take to be a powerful player or to have power in American politics?
Explain the significance of Lius six categories of power: money, ideas, force, crowds, governmental authority, and reputation.
Greg Myre , U.S. Women Will Rule In Rio (You Can Thank Title IX)
National Public Radio (NPR), Aug. 4, 20169:19 AM ET
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/04/487765827/u-s-women-will-rule-at-the-olympics-you-can-thank-title-ix
How did Title IX revolutionize womens sports?
Womens participation and successes in Olympic sports change after Title IX went into effect
Gender equity and income for athletes
Text Reading:
Susan Ware, Title IX: A Brief History with Documents (Waveland Press, 2014): Introduction, pp. 1- 31
What type of scholar is Susan Ware?
What type of book is Title IX?
Sports opportunities for women prior to passage of Title IX in the 1970s
Beliefs about women and sports before 1972
Comparison of womens and mens suitability and skills
Title IXs supporters strategies for passage of the law
What was the intent of the law? Was it designed to address disparity in sports opportunities for girls and women?
The womens rights/feminist movement of the 1960s/1970s, social change and Title IX
The NCAA and AIAW and their relationship to one another
Early changes (1970s/80s) that were the result of Title IX
King Football and the question of revenue-producing sports
Gender equity and how schools have worked to achieve it
Issues schools faced with implementation of Title IX
Three prong test
Title IX and court non-compliance court cases
Media (if you viewed them in class or at home):
Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream (2012, 60min)
740 Park Avenue
Significance of the street address and contrast between one end of the street and the other
The Koch brothers
Steve Schwartzman
The 1%
Income gap between elite/very wealthy and the middle class
Access and obstacles to achieving the American dream for those not born into wealth and privilege
o (example of the monopoly game)
Business strategies
Lifestyles of elite business men and their families
Money and political influence
The work of lobbyists to manipulate political system
Food stamps and food pantries
Race the Power of an Illusion: The House We Live In – Housing
Whiteness as the privilege of opportunity
Original Social Security Legislation and exclusion of domestics and farm workers (mostly non-whites)
GI Bill and Post WW II Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and low cost mortgages
FHA government guidelines adopted by real estate industry that institutionalized a national appraisal system with race as a factor in real estate assessment (effects on Bernice and Eugene Burnett)
Minority and changing communities receiving lowest appraisal ratings are redlined. mortgages and banks suburbanize America racially
Real estate practices inscribed in geography (blockbusting and red-lining)
White flight
Levittown
Urban renewal consequences
Fair Housing Authority Act (1960s)
The importance of land, home/property ownership, and the subsequent accumulation of wealth and its consequences – connect to Gates article
Title IX: Let Em Play 2014, (27 min, University of Illinois)
The history and impact of Title IX on college sports
What did equity of opportunities mean in university sports programs?
Dr. Karol Kahrs (biography, role at the University of Illinois)
Challenges of building female sports programs (culture of campuses: funding for uniforms, travel, scholarships and programs: accessibility to locker rooms and playing facilities)
Myths about girls and sports (on bodies, on gender roles and femininity)
Expectations of and for college women in the 1960s
Social changes of the 1970s and the rise of the Womens Rights Movement
Title IX lawsuits filed by women against universities for non-compliance
Efforts to protect revenue-generating mens sports (football, basketball) and Tower Amendment
Effects of new womens teams on mens teams
Strategies for attracting fans to womens games
TV coverage for womens games
Japanese Internment (if your instructor showed it in class in this unit)
(1940s, Office of War Information Committee of the Motion Picture Association)
Film (9 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OiPldKsM5w
Construction of an enemy (relate to Stein article)
Which states were affected by the removal and detention of Japanese heritage people?
Reasons for putting Japanese heritage people (immigrants and their American born children who were US citizens) in detention camps
Life in the camps homes, education, community, work
The use of this documentary as a propaganda tool: who is the audience?
Oscar Arredondo, Memories from My Home, an online art exhibit
http://chgs.umn.edu/museum/exhibitions/moccasins/
\”Proud to Be\”(National Congress of American Indians)
Red Circle No Honor in Racism
