American history paper on Lynching

The first paper will be an approximately 1000-­word essay based on primary sources that address the issue of lynching at the turn of the twentieth century. Between 1880 and 1930, mobs in the United States lynched more than 4,600 people, and more than 3,300 of the victims were African Americans. You will interrogate the origins and dynamics of this violence through contemporary explanations of it. Your task is to use those sources to develop an argument about lynching in its historical context. Imagine your audience as intelligent readers craving new knowledge about the past, but unfamiliar with these documents. What can you tell them about the sources that will deepen their understanding of American history generally and of these events in particular?

****Please Note: Analysis is different than summary.  You must note simply summarize or describe the documents in your paper.  You must critically evaluate them and explain why there are significant. ****

Primary Sources

1. Excerpt from Thomas Dixon, The Leopard’s Spots (New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1902), 365-71.

2. Senator Benjamin R.“Pitchfork Ben” Tillman, Speech before the Senate, March 1900.

3. Mary Church Terrell, “Lynching from a Negro’s Point of View“, The North American Review, Vol. 178, No. 571 (Jun., 1904), pp. 853-868.

4. Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in America,” Speech in Chicago, 1902.

Requirements:

• You must submit your paper to Canvas no later than 11:59 pm on the due date.
• The paper should be submitted as a Word document.  Please note that Google docs can alter the format of your footnotes. 
• This paper should be 1000-­1200 words long, double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman Font.
• You must integrate and analyze a minimum of three of the above sources in your paper
• This paper is worth 100 points.
• All papers must include footnotes and a bibliography formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. See the Citation Guide on Canvas.

Writing the Essay:

Success in course writing assignments will depend on careful research and clear writing.

• Thesis and Introduction: A strong thesis goes beyond simply reporting what you found; it uses the evidence to broaden, qualify, or even contradict our understanding of an important theme in U.S. history. Your thesis may emerge gradually as you wrestle with your documents in early drafts. In your finished paper, however, feature your thesis in the introduction.
• Working the Evidence: Most of a history essay should consist of “evidence paragraphs,” which develop and support the thesis with quotations or paraphrased material. Direct quotes or paraphrased material both require a citation.  Quote when you’ve made an assertion your reader is unlikely to accept without proof. After you quote, always explain: try to tease unforeseen implications out of the evidence; try to fend off a naysayer’s objection to your reading of the quotation. DO NOT use quotes longer than 3-4 lines. 
• Structure: As your paragraphs begin to emerge from this process of working the evidence, unify each one with a topic sentence, and arrange them in a sequence that builds toward your strongest claims. Your finished essay should thus feature a clearly sign-posted order as it advances from the introduction through your body paragraphs and, finally, to your conclusion.
• Style: Your essays should also be formal, clearly written, and free from spelling and grammatical mistakes.  Informal language, repetitive language, vague statements, 1^st and 2^nd person pronouns, and grammatical errors will result in grade reductions.  Proofread carefully.

 

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