View All Pages

2. Final exam study questions

final study questions 2023.pdf Download final study questions 2023.pdf

 

                                                             Final study questions

 

Part 1A -Short essays from lectures. You will see four of the following questions and be expected to answer two of them. Each is worth 15% of the final exam total. Aim for a paragraph of six to eight sentences (two-thirds of a large exam book page).  Some questions ask you to explain a concept. Others are about people, events, or issues. In answering these try to also show the historical significance; explain why something was important.

  • Explain what happened to German cultural identity.
  • Reconstruction and the “unfulfilled promise of equal rights”—explain
  • Explain the history and significance of the 14th Amendment to the constitution. Mention examples of its significance.    
  • Thomas Nast’s depictions of Irish people and Chinese people – describe and explain
  • “Dangerous religions” – explain and provide examples.
  • The Workingman’s Party of California and the “indispensable enemy”—explain.
  • 1924 National Origins Act and KKK—explain.
  • Turning from scientific racism to cultural pluralism—explain.
  • NAACP legal strategy and Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas— explain.
  • 1964 Civil Rights Act— explain law and significance.
  • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – explain law and significance.
  • Brain drain immigration— explain and provide examples.
  • Explain the concept of “channels of opportunity” and give  an example.
  • What are "ethnic enterprises"? Give an example and explain significance.
  • Explain the term “race formations” or “racialized categories,” and provide examples.
  • What are the gendered and racialized tropes of Asians in media as seen in “Slaying the Dragon: Redux?”    

 

Part 1B- Short essays from readings. You will see four of the following questions and be expected to answer two of them. Each is worth 15% of the final exam total. Aim for a paragraph of six to eight sentences (two-thirds of a large exam book page).  In answering these questions try to also show the historical significance; explain why something was important.

  • "As I look back on those years in Grandfather's house, I see that I inhabited a world of unbelievable contradictions," Pauli Murray writes on page 266. What contradictions and what impact did they have on her family?
  • Explain the significance of Cornelia’s surprising relationship with Mary Ruffin Smith.
  • “Having no parents of my own, I had in effect three mothers.” This quote comes late in the book. What did Pauli Murray mean?
  • Describing her grandfather’s post-Civil War career in education, Murray writes: “he was a soldier in a ‘second war,’ this time against ignorance.” (pg. 204) Why was education so important to Robert Fitzgerald in this period? What does his story reveal about African American opportunities and aspirations in the early years of Reconstruction?
  • Explain how caring for boarders helped families and also the Slovak immigrant community.
  • Why is gender important to understand the Slovak immigrant experience as detailed in Out of This Furnace?
  • Explain the ethnic hierarchy of jobs in the Braddock steel mills. Why was this significant?
  • How are issues of Americanization portrayed in Out of This Furnace? How did Djuro (Kracha), Mike, and Mary negotiate issues of cultural change? In what ways did they become American? In what ways did they remain Slovak?
  • According to Helen Zia, what is the significance of the Vincent Chin case?
  • What does Zia mean by the subheading “A Myth and a Movement? What does the myth have to do with the movement?
  • Zia’s book invites us to think about race formation as an active, ongoing process – explain.
  • On page 217, Zia recounts a conversation which includes the following quote: “Soon they’ll think we’re all cabdrivers.” What is the significance of the conversation in Zia’s view? What is she arguing in this part of her book?
  • Explain the title Asian American Dreams.
  • “The Return of Juan Seguin” is the title that Juan Gonzalez uses in his chapter on Latinos and the Remaking of American Politics. What does he mean? What are the key points of the chapter?
  • Gonzalez writes that “Unlike the Europeans and Asians, Latin Americans moved from the backyard of the U.S. Empire to its heartland.” Explain the implications of this.
  • Gonzalez writes that “Mexican, Puerto Rican, French Creole, and Native American language experiences, then, are markedly different from that of European immigrants.” Explain his argument.

 

Part 2 – Long essay question: You will see two essay questions and must answer one (worth 40% of the final exam total). You will be expected to formulate answers by drawing upon ideas and information from both readings and lectures You will have 48 hours to complete the essay and should plan to submit a well-written response of 800-1000 words (no more than 1200).