aasp201 full course latest 2018 february

Week 1 discussion

African Studies and Initial Thoughts About Slavery

After doing the readings for Week 1, respond to the questions below.

1. What is African American Studies and what are the challenges it faces as an academic discipline?

2. Based on the timeline link in the reading for this week, state in not more than five lines what your initial thoughts are with regard to slavery.

Week 2 discussion

Brutality of Slavery and Coping Mechanisms of the Slaves

As we noted in the discussion for Week 1, slavery was a savage/brutal institution for which blacks paid the price. Discuss some of the brutality that slaves suffered from when they were transported from Africa and some strategies they used to survive or cope with the brutality of slavery.

Week 3 discussion

After the Legal End of Slavery

Though slavery was legally abolished by the 13th Amendment of the Constitution in 1865, the lives of slaves were characterized by hope and painful disappointments. Discuss.

Week 4 discussion

NAACP and Harlem Renaissance

After doing the readings for Week 4, please respond and comment as directed below the questions.

1. Why was the NAACP formed and what do you consider to be two of its major accomplishments?

2. How did the Harlem Renaissance redefine the image and capabilities of blacks?

Week 5 discussion

After doing the readings for Week 5, please respond and comment as directed below.

1. What led to the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s?

2. Discuss at least two major accomplishments of the civil rights movement.

Week 6 discussion

After doing the readings for Week 6, please respond to the discussion questions below:

1.What is your understanding of black power or the Black Panther Movement?

2. Compare and contrast their philosophy of black liberation and equality with that of the leaders of the civil rights movement.

Week 7 discussion

Post Presentations, comments but posts two formal comments as your Memo in assignment folder as instructed in the Week 7 Announcement

Week 8 discussion

After watching the video and/or reading the article that carries the video title, "Cornel West: Market-driven culture has destroyed virtue" (as assigned for Week 8), do you agree with the views of Professor Cornell West? Please explain why you agree or why you do not agree.

Short Paper

Write a two page paper of what you have learned about how slaves lived based upon primary documents introduced in Week 2 of the class Pick one of these topics and summarize and analyze what you have learned from Week 2's primary documents. What do you think should also be learned about this topic beyond what these three primary documents tell us? What two other sites on the Web offer primary documents about this topic?

Topics (Pick 1)

Housing for slaves

Food that slaves ate

Clothing slaves wore

Educating slaves

The paper should be 400-600 words, single spaced within paragraphs, and double spaced between paragraphs. Have a title for your paper and put your name and date on it. Use either MLA or Chicago Style for citations.

Possible organization for Paper #1

Paragraph 1: Introduction of the topic and the three primary documents.

Paragraph 2: Description of this area of life by slaves.

Paragraph 3: What else should be researched to find out more about this aspect of slave life?

Paragraph 4: Two possible places on the Internet to find out more about this topic (list and describe two good sources of primary documents about slavery)

Paragraph 5: Conclusions about primary documents offering researchers complete and conclusive information about this topic.

Annotated Bibliography

Instructions

Prepare an annotated bibliography (worth 10% of course grade) with 5 primary or secondary sources that you will use to write your final paper. Each annotation should include the following information, in this order, and identified by letter:

1. Full citation in either MLA or Chicago style of bibliographic item

a. Primary or secondary source - 1-2 words

b. Audience for the item - 1 short sentence

c. How this item will be useful to your work - 2-3 sentences

d. A quote, statistic, or paraphrase you might use in your final paper. - 1 sentence

Presentation

Instructions

Your presentation may either be a 5 minute YouTube video or a PowerPoint presentation with at least 8 slides. The presentation is worth 10% of your final course grade.

In the YouTube, you may show the class a significant historical place and explain what happened there. Or, you might visit the home of a famous person and show items that were significant to the person's life. You can show yourself talking, but be sure your points are concisely made. Practice before you submit the final version of your YouTube.

A PowerPoint presentation must be given in presentation format (no smaller than 24 point font size). Use bullet-points, not sentences, to state your ideas. Do NOT copy text from your paper, but use the visual capabilities of PowerPoint to help you make your points. For example, provide a timeline, chart comparisons between events or laws, or provide images of people or events you are writing about. You should plan to include either a written script or an aural recording of what you would say to an audience about each slide as you presented it. Learning to match what you are saying to what the audience is seeing is a surprisingly effective way of presenting material. It's a bit like 2 +2 = 5 --> the sum experience is bigger and better than the two individual parts of the presentation. However, you must be sure your visuals make sense and can be seen clearly, and that your accompanying text ADDS to what people are seeing.

Memos

Instructions

you will critique two of the presentations with a 200-250 word memorandum that you will submit both in the conference area and in the assignment folder. The critiques should be thoughtful and well-written because they are worth 10% of your total course grade. The Memorandum should follow this format:

Format for Presentation Critiques - AASP 201

MEMORANDUM

TO: Student's Name

FROM: Your name

DATE: Current date

SUBJECT: Critique of your presentation, "Name of Presentation"

Introduction: Explain what your overall impression of the presentation is and what you thought its primary message was. Explain briefly the kinds of strengths and weaknesses you found in the presentation.

Strengths of the presentation: Analyze why you thought two or three aspects of the presentation were particularly insightful, educational, or well-reasoned.

Areas that could be improved: Explain specifically what was confusing about the presentation. If there were grammar errors, give examples. Explain also what could be added or changed about the presentation to make it better.

Visual Appeal/Interest: How well did the student's presentation use visuals to add to the overall strength an impact of the presentation's message? What changes would you make? For example, did the student use a "pink" border on a presentation about Daisy Bates? Was that a good choice for this formidable woman?

Summary: Two or three concluding thoughts about the presentation. You might want to comment here about what you hope the student will include in his or her final paper.

Final Paper

The final paper for this class will be a 1200-1500 word academic essay/research paper about the topic you have be working on since Week 4. Be sure that your paper has the following:

1. A title, your name, the course name, the date, and "For Professor Melinda M. Schwenk-Borrell"

2. An introduction leading up to the main point or thesis of the paper

3. Information organized by paragraph, starting off with a topic sentence. Make sure the topic sentence directs both the content and the purpose of the paragraph for the reader.

4. In-text citations and a final page of full citations, using either MLA or Chicago Style.

5. Single-space text, with double-spaces between paragraphs. Number the pages.

5. A conclusion

6. Excellent grammar, punctuation, and spelling

Quiz 1

Instructions

Students will choose four of ten questions to answer with a well-thought-out paragraph response (about 100-150 words). Each question is worth 25 points. Refer to texts we have read so far in the class to answer the questions. One-fourth of the grade will be based upon the correct use of grammar, punctuation and spelling. Feel free to use the Effective Writing Center (under Course Resources) for help in writing your responses, but otherwise do your work independently.Submitted responses should be done in an MS Word document to the assignment folder.

Questions will be made available to students in a timely manner before the deadline.

What strategies did slaves use to cope with slavery?

Explain at least 3 facts about lynching in the Southern States.

Discuss the brutality endured by African slaves as they were transported from Africa to the Americas during the Middle Passage.

Why was the Freedmen’s Bureau created?

Quiz 2

Students will answer several short answer questions along with a short essay. Feel free to use the Effective Writing Center (under Course Resources) for help in writing your responses, but otherwise do your work independently.Response submissions should be done in an MS Word document to the assignment folder.

Questions will be made available to students in a timely manner before the deadline.

1. Name three leaders/prominent members of the black Panther Movement

2. Briefly describe your understanding of Jim Crow laws (Not more than five lines)

3. Name two accomplishments of the NAACP

4. Why was the NAACP formed?

5. Name two accomplishments of the civil rights movement

6. State one reason why the civil rights movement began

7. Name two leaders of the civil rights movement