RESEARCH PAPER REQUIREMENT FOR HISTAA 313
Each student enrolled in HSTAA 313 will write a 10 to 12 page research paper (including footnotes or endnotes) assessing some important question in the history of the African American West. Avoid simply describing some episode such as “the 1879 Migration to Kansas” or “Seattle in World War II.” Instead pose a research question and given the resources at your disposal, answer that question. Thus your paper should ask why significant black migration to the Pacific Northwest did not occur in the 1920s or how the 1960s campaign for civil rights differed in this region, or determine the evolving role of African American women in the Black Panther Party, especially in Seattle.
I will accept a paper based largely on secondary sources if your research is centered outside the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho). However if you examine questions of particular relevance to our region, I would expect you to use primary sources as evidence to support your argument. Your paper should conform to the citation standards followed in the In Search textbook and should include at least 10 sources. Please note the citation style. Papers with improper citation styles will be marked down.
Please observe the following deadlines:
January 29: Please email me a paper title and a paragraph explaining your topic and why you chose it.
February 5: Present by email a one page outline and bibliography of primary and secondary sources to be used for your paper.
February 12: Present by email a brief progress report on your paper. This is an opportunity for you to describe any difficulties you may be encountering. Your report should, if necessary, include a request for a meeting to discuss those difficulties.
March 12: Turn in research paper by 5:00 p.m. to the History Main Office (the office closes at 5:00 p.m.) or send it to me as an email attachment.
Suggested Topic Areas
Susie Revels Cayton and the Communist Party
The Garvey Movement in Portland (or Seattle)
The Campaign to Change the Name of King County to Martin Luther King County
W.E.B. DuBois and the Racial Politics of the Pacific Northwest
The Rise and Fall of Affirmative Action in Washington State
The Nation of Islam in Seattle
Blacks in New Spain or Northern Mexico (1821-1848)
Black Fur Traders and Trappers in Pacific Northwest
The Slavery Controversy in the Antebellum Pacific Northwest
African American Slavery in one of the Five the Indian Nations
African American Rights in Antebellum Oregon
Reconstruction in Nevada (or California, Texas, Colorado Territory, etc.)
Civil War African American Communities in Kansas
Black Women in the 19th Century Urban West
The UNIA (or the NAACP) in the West
World War II Migration to Seattle (or other western cities)
Blacks and Asians in World War II Hawaii
African American Labor in the American West
The 1960s Civil Rights Movement in Washington, Arizona (or some other western state)
Black Power in the West: The Black Panther Party and US
BOOK REVIEW ASSIGNMENT
Those students who perform poorly on the midterm exam (69 or below) have the option of writing a book review to offset that grade. The books eligible for review can be found on the course bibliography. Your review should be a candid appraisal of the work. As with most book "reviews," you will describe the book's major thesis or argument. But I also request that you follow these guidelines in your assignment:
1. Assess whether you were convinced by the author's argument.
2. Discuss the most important new information you learned about the African American West from the book.
3. Describe how the book reinforced or challenged ideas about African American history that you have learned from the assigned readings, my lectures, and the discussions.
4. State whether you would recommend the book to others, and include specific reasons for your decision.
Your review should be approximately five typewritten pages, 1,500 words for those of you who use computers. I recommend that you devote the first three pages to a review of the book itself and the remaining two pages to respond to the four guidelines. Please number your pages. I will accept reviews attached to emails.
The first page of each review should have information on the book which appears as follows:
Quintard Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle's Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994), 330 pages.
You may choose, although you are not limited to, the books that appear on the website reading list. If you choose a book not on the list make sure that it is primarily a history which covers some topic related to African American western history. Avoid books that are assigned readings for the course or that are general African American history books (e.g. Darlene Clark Hine, African American Odyssey). Also not eligible are regularly assigned textbooks to any other course.