Students will recognize and summarize the development or manifestations of a major theme, concept, or issue through the cultural products, social configurations, political ideologies, and religious beliefs characteristic of American culture from pre-contact to the present day.

This is a very open, unstructured assignment. It could go in many directions. This paper should be at least 1000 words, double-spaced, 12 point font. Obviously, in such a short paper, you will not be able to go into great detail. Just try to span the scope of our history from colonial times to the present in whichever route you go. You could trace the growth of freedom for African-Americans from the time of slavery through today. One possibility would be to write about the treatment of slaves and the treatment of and rights granted to free blacks before the Civil War. You could mention the recognition of slavery in the Constitution. You might write about the Emancipation Proclamation, the three (3) Civil War Amendments and the development of Jim Crow laws and the rise of the KKK. Maybe mentioning Plessy vs. Ferguson. Talk about civil rights in the 1920’s and 30’s and the fight to desegregate the military during and after World War II Brown vs Board of Education The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Sit-ins, Selma, Watts and other riots, the Black Power Movement) (obviously, you will not have time to do more than one or two of these in such a short essay) The growth of the Civil Rights movement under Dr. King And maybe the most obvious way to end would be 2008 (Obama's election...)? ***Another possibility might be to trace the struggle for women’s rights. Talk about rights women had during colonial days Maybe Abigail Adams’ plea to John to not forget the ladies in the Constitution Seneca Falls Convention Struggle for women’s rights before the Civil War Struggle for those rights leading up to women getting the right to vite Efforts to pass the E.R.A. Struggle for equal pay for equal work You could trace the growth of freedom in Native-American rights or Gay and Lesbian rights. Again, there are many avenues you could take for this. The hard part of this assignment is to keep it to 1000 words…well, not to go too far over.