Final exam essay due in 48 hours (Wed 4:00)

Due Mar 15, 2023 by 4pm
Points 4
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FINAL – Part 2: ESSAY

Part 2 – Essay: Answer one of the following (worth 40% of midterm total). DO NOT INCLUDE THE QUESTION. It will trigger a plagiarism warning. Do not include quotes or page numbers. An expected response will be 800-1000 words (no more than 1200). It is due (hard deadline) in 48 hours (Wednesday at 4:00pm) on the canvas assignment page.

1) Pauli Murray’s book Proud Shoes traces the experiences of an African American family in North Carolina from the 1860s to the 1910s. Thomas Bell’s book Out of This Furnace traces a fictional Slovak family in Pennsylvania from the 1880s to the 1930s. Some of the issues these families dealt with seem similar. Both families faced economic difficulties and social challenges in the United States. Both wrestled with issues of identity. And both authors use similar metaphors to capture the sense of family pride: Murray’s family walks in “proud shoes;” Bell’s family legacy comes “out of this furnace.” But are these family experiences as similar as they may at first seem? Did the African American family and the Slovak family face the same or different challenges? When facing these challenges, did they use similar or different strategies? Answer using examples from each text. Finally, draw on your knowledge from the quarter to explain what factors might have caused these differences or similarities.

2) Explain the history and significance of the 14^th Amendment to the constitution. What does it say? How have the courts handled it? How have three of the following communities used it? In answering you should explain in detail what the 14^th Amendment has meant to three of the following populations:

Chinese Americans 1870s-1920s
African Americans under Jim Crow laws after 1896
African Americans and other Americans after the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Indigenous Americans after the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act and 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

Note: You should not need to use outside sources and in any case your answers should primarily reflect what has been discussed in lectures and sections and also draw on readings.