HIUS 367 First Paper
February 15, 2005

Instructions - read carefully!


Choose Topic 1, 2, or 3. On page one of your paper, write the topic you have chosen. Write the Honor Pledge and your name on the last page. Your paper must be five to seven pages in length. Hand in your paper in your TA's mailbox in the Student Lounge, Room 112, on the
first floor of Randall Hall by 5:00PM on Thursday, March 3rd, 2005. Extensions will be granted only in case of documented illness or family emergency. Late papers will be docked one full grade each late day. You have the opportunity to address several issues from different perspectives. Be sure your topic and essay fit. In your essay, use examples from readings,
lectures and videos.

(1) Compare and contrast the goals of the following four civil rights leaders: Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey and A. Philip Randolph. How do their opinions and strategies differ? Does any philosophy
gain prominence? What do their respective goals tell you about the historical contexts in which they worked? Who were they speaking to? How did their experiences shape their perspectives? Use evidence from readings, lectures and videos to support your argument.

(2) If someone were to suggest that World War II was a critical point in the steady progression toward black equality in America, how would you respond? What, if any, changes characterized the immediate pre-war and wartime years? How would you assess the position of black Americans in 1945? To support your argument, use materials from readings, lectures and videos.

(3) Defend or attack the following statement: "Brown v. Board marks the
concrete beginning of the civil rights movement, symbolically and
strategically." In your answer, be sure to make a clear argument in support of or against Brown as the beginning of the movement. Be sure to consider the Brown decision in relation to other important events in the first half of the
twentieth century, what came after Brown, as well as in the context of the
NAACP's legal strategy of the 1930s and 1940s. Finally, consider the ways in
which civil rights activists and others have criticized it. Draw on evidence
from lectures, readings and videos to make your case.