Sociology 307
African American Social Thought
Fall 2002
Dr. Scott SchafferSecond Paper Assignment
Due Date: Mon Oct 28/2002 at the start of class. No late papers will be accepted without advance warning, a gravely serious excuse, and copious documentation.
Rules of the Game: This paper is to be a minimum of eight (8) full and complete pages in length; there is no maximum length for the paper, so you should write until your paper is fully developed. Your paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" by 11" paper, with 1.5" left and right margins and 1" top and bottom margins. Your paper must have a cover page, on which a creative title ("Second Paper Assignment" is simply not creative enough), your name, the number of the topic to which you're responding, and any other pertinent information should appear; your name should not appear anywhere else in the paper. Your paper must be spell- and grammar-checked; papers that have copious errors will automatically lose two full letter grades and may be returned for editing; if returned, you will have three calendar days to resubmit the paper or you will receive a zero on the assignment. This will also ensure that any other papers submitted in a shoddy fashion will receive a zero (0). You should follow all guidelines in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout; these guidelines will serve as the basis for my evaluation of your work. And finally, no direct quotations are permitted in this paper; any materials you use to support your argument must be paraphrased in your own words and cited following the guidelines in the paper-writing handout.
The Topics: You are to choose one of the following topics and develop an argument-based response to the boldfaced question in the topic of your choice. You must utilize at least nine (9) articles from the Civil Rights Since 1787 book, and at least three (3) of the books we've read so far this semester. A works cited page listing the resources you've used, following the bibliographic format listed in the "How to Write a Schaffer Paper" handout, is required. Failure to include all twelve required sources or the bibliography will result in deductions as listed in the course syllabus. No outside sources are permitted for this paper.
Please note that each of the paper topics contains an outline within it. You should not think of each of the subtopics as requiring one-sentence responses; instead, be sure to fully and completely explain how it is you came to make the claims you do, and show how you're using the sources from the course to support those claims. Also, be sure to detail the criteria by which you're evaluating the changes discussed in each topic.
1. To what extent do you think that responses to institutionalized racism during these three eras reflected a greater notion of inclusiveness of African Americans as economic beings, and why?
In order to answer this question: Outline the institutional arrangements regarding African American labor that existed in the three eras we've studied and the ways in which they utilized race as a discourse. Then, discuss the various responses to these institutional arrangements, making sure to show how they reflected ideas about African Americans' control over their own labor. Then, answer The Big Question.
2. To what extent do you think that responses to institutionalized racism during these three eras reflected the strengthening or weakening of a commitment to an inclusive conception of humanity, and why?
Outline the dominant and subaltern conceptions of humanity, and discuss the changes in each conception during each of the three eras we've studied. Then discuss responses to the existing forms of institutionalized racism that occurred in each of these three eras, making sure to show how they reflected the conceptions of humanity you discuss above. Then, answer The Big Question.