Reflect & Retrieve #2
This 1965 quotation from Black intellectual and activist James Baldwin has served as touchstone for this class:
History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.
For Reflect & Retrieve #2, you’re responsible for offering an answering the question:
How do we “carry” early African American history “within us”?
In order to craft your answer to this question, you are responsible for reading ONE of the following articles:
2040: When Black History Is Unearthed, Who Gets to Speak for the Dead
2040: The Hidden and Eternal Spirit of the Great Dismal Swamp
Then, you are responsible for writing an at least 300-word response essay that explains and analyzes how the story told in your article of choice is an example of how we carry early African American history within us.
To compose a successful essay, you should connect your article of choice to historical information learned throughout this class, making strong, specific connections between the story in the article to historical information from multiple Snapshots or Scrapbooks. You also should incorporate multiple themes from our 2040 Theme Encyclopedia to smartly, sharply, and clearly analyze how your article of choice is an example of how we carry early African American history within us.
In short, think about contextualizing your article of choice with specific, historical evidence and examples from our Snapshots and Scrapbooks. While there is not a requirement for the number of different Snapshots, Scrapbooks, or themes you must engage with, you strongly are encouraged to include information and analysis from a diverse spectrum or sampling of our Snapshots and Scrapbooks.
Reflect & Retrieve #2 is worth 20 points.
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Reflect & Retrieve #2
