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Essay Available:
Pages:
3 pages/≈825 words
Sources:
Check Instructions
Style:
MLA
Subject:
History
Type:
Research Paper
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 12.96
Topic:

The Significance of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement

Research Paper Instructions:

Instructions: For this assignment, you will pick an American history topic that interests you the most and write a 3 to 5 page (double-spaced, 12 point font) essay based on primary and secondary sources. You can choose any topic but you are limited to events that occurred between the Great Depression and the election of Donald Trump in 2016. You are welcome to pick a topic we've already covered (or will cover) and go into more depth with it or you can pick a topic we did not (or will not) address. If you need help picking a topic, just reach out to me and I'll be happy to help.
Due Date: Tuesday, August 18 by 11:59PM. This is a new due date and different than the one on the syllabus.
Here are the steps you should take to write your essay. They are the same as the first research essay, but read them again carefully. I've bold-faced and underlined important matters that some essays neglected the first time around.
1. Pick your topic.
2. Do research finding primary and secondary sources. American Yawp is a great starting point since it combines both a secondary source section (the main narrative that constitutes each chapter) and the primary source collections at the end of each chapter. If you still need clarification on what constitutes a primary and secondary source, click here. I strongly encourage you to do a little more research outside of American Yawp. This does not mean just using Wikipedia or history.com, though. I recommend using FSCJ's Library and Learning Commons search engines to find good online articles or essays. You can of course do general Google searches as well. Just be sure you cast a skeptical eye on the website where you get your information. Not all sources are equal and some can just be bad. Ask yourself: Does the information come from a reputable source - a museum, an archive, a university, a scholarly book or journal - or is the website a creation of somebody who is just offering their opinions or simply and poorly repeating others' information? You can always ask me for assistance with research.
There is no requirement for how many primary or secondary sources you use as long as you have at least one of each. If you only have one of each, I'll expect to read an essay that goes into depth analyzing both sources in an original way. In general, you should use your secondary source or sources to provide historical context. For example, if you are writing about the sit-ins during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, you will want to use a secondary source to explain in general what was going on during civil rights movement that led to the rise of the sit-in movement. You should then, for example, use your primary source or sources to interpret the meaning or purpose of the sit-in movement as a phase of the broader civil rights movement. If you are still unsure about the distinction between a primary and secondary source, click here. As always, I'm most interested to read YOUR interpretations of historical evidence and not simply your summary or paraphrasing of somebody else's work. Your interpretation of a primary source is your opportunity to write with your own voice and put your own stamp on your essay.
3. Read your sources carefully and begin to focus your topic. If you choose, say, the sit-in movement, what specific topic do you want to address after looking at your sources? Do you think you have sufficient primary and secondary sources to write a 3 to 5 page essay?
4. Next, develop the historical question you want to answer in your essay. When historians write about the past they develop historical questions to help guide and focus their work and to create their main argument or thesis. If you don't develop a historical question and answer it, your essay can just be a flood of facts and not your interpretation of evidence. The best historical questions are ones without one word or yes/no answers. For example rather the asking, "Did African-Americans achieve equality during Reconstruction?" you might ask instead, "How did African-Americans fight for political equality during Reconstruction?" The question you develop will be your essay's title. As with topics, don't hesitate to ask me if you need assistance developing your question.
5. Write your essay. You should organize your essay so that has 1) an introduction with your answer to your essay's question - that is, your main argument or thesis statement; 2) supporting paragraphs where you present your evidence and analysis it support your main argument or thesis; 3) a conclusion in which you tie together your essay's main points.
6. You must cite your sources in your essay. Not citing your sources or simply copying and pasting text from websites and presenting it as your own work is plagiarism, a serious academic offense, which is very easy to detect. I can tell we have a class of ethical students so this shouldn't be an issue. I would like you to use MLA format to cite your sources in your essay and to create a Works Cited page at the end. For information on how to cite sources in your essay, click here. For information on creating a MLA format Works Cited page, click here. No, a Works Cited page does not count toward your page total.
7. Submit your essay as a Word or PDF document on Canvas. Due date: Tuesday, August 18 by 11:59PM.
8. Have fun! Historical research and writing should energize and fascinate you. That's why picking a topic that interests you is important. History is both an intellectual and creative craft and your final essay should be something that reflects YOUR mind and heart.

Research Paper Sample Content Preview:

The Significance of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
The Significance of the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement
American Civil Rights Movement was a mass protest movement among the African Americans in the United States that occurred in the mid-1950s. The efforts of African slaves in resisting racial oppression were the primary roots of the Civil Rights Movement. According to Smith (2014), African Americans acquired equal rights in accessing public facilities through the nonviolent protests of the 1950s and 1960s. Besides, the African Americans advocated against the enduring political, economic, and cultural repercussions of past racial segregation. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education marked a significant milestone in ending segregated education across the United States. Therefore, the Civil Rights Movement was a reform to the extreme aspects of racism across American institutions.
American Civil Rights Movement was a powerful and noticeable nonviolent protest to end the long history of African American’s oppression. One of the key focus areas during the movement was that all citizens of the country had to be equal under the government’s protection. The Supreme Court’s case, Brown v. Board of Education (1954), was the first fundamental step in the African American Civil Rights Movement. As a result, African Americans had the opportunity of attending the same school with the whites. Therefore, the court’s decision was a clear illustration that the African Americans would defend their rights and privileges in court and win. Notably, the Blacks wanted to address the issue of racial segregation at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.
Protest actions at Rosa Parks were one of the recognized acts of the Civil Rights Movement to end segregation in public buses. Martin Luther King led Montgomery Bus Boycott for 381 days to advocate for the recognition of the blacks in public. During the protest, African Americans used taxi services of African American owners or walked to the workplace (Smith, 2014). Eventually, Martin Luther King filed a case in court to reveal the unconstitutionality of segregation law in public transport. Similarly, the protests of the blacks influenced public schools from the city of Arkansas to accept African American students despite the ongoing resistance from the whites. However, President Eisenhower used troops to facilitate education acquisition among all American children.
Besides, a significant action occurred in 1960 after black students sat in a reservation for the whites in a cafe. The next day, more blacks sat occupied the same seats, thus the name “sit-in” in most American cities. Martin Luther King advocated for nonviolent strategies of struggle as a spiritual leader of the Civil Rights Movement (Verney, 2020). During the summer of 1961, freedom rides occurred that involved participants walking through the cities of the United States. Notabl...
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