Your writing often addresses history beyond the chronological scope of the assignment, and it relies too heavily on outside sources (which weren’t supposed to be used), and block quotes without fully synthesizing or analyzing the content at hand too. I’d love to discuss this paper further with you so we can better prepare for the final paper. The final paper–comprising one third of your semester grade–will cover chapters 10 through 14 of our course text, Asch & Musgrove’s Chocolate City, together with the films 9 Lives of Marion Barry and Lee Daniels’ The Butler (see streaming links at bottom). You are expected to synthesize these three sources into a single essay (2,500-3,000 words) that responds to the following topic:Chapters 10 through 14 in Chocolate City ostensibly present “a history of race and democracy in the nation’s capital” from the end of WWII through the beginning of the 21st century. This period also encompasses not only a number of crucial periods in recent US history generally, but some key turning points for the civil rights movement in particular. How might you understand key episodes and contexts in those national narratives differently, if you consider the same period in DC as viewed variously through each of the following:1) a documentary film focused upon one INDIVIDUAL figure (9 Lives of Marion Barry);2) a historically-inspired drama about a Washington FAMILY (Lee Daniels’ The Butler);3) a scholarly history organized around the experiences of the larger African American COMMUNITY in Washington (Chocolate City).Even though these three “texts” cover the same historical terrain in terms of both place and time, there are clearly different choices of emphasis, as well as obvious distinctions inherent to each medium. Your paper should explore how each portrayal illuminates the relevant past, viewed individually and in combination.Papers will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:1) Demonstrated mastery of ideas in all five chapters (50%) and both films (25% each);2) Conceptual sophistication of comparative argument, synthesis of ideas;3) Writing/organization.Thus, in addition to responding to the prompt with a comprehensive thesis (#2), and submitting a polished, well-structured piece of college-level writing (#3), you will need to show me that you have internalized our various course activities and can apply them in relevant ways (#1).Some other guidelines:* Utilize abbreviated parenthetical citations to cite sources, e.g. (Chocolate City, p. 36), but do not reproduce long verbatim quotations from our readings.* Format your document as single-spaced; place your name only at the end.* Upload your paper as a Word file
