The possible essay topics:
1. Discuss African American's struggle for Civil Rights following the Civil War through the 1960s.
In this essay, you should cover the start of segregation with Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Cummins v. Richmond Board of Education (1899). You should also cover the disfranchisement of African Americans with the Second Mississippi Plan (poll tax, literacy tests, etc. - William v. MS).
You should look at groups like the New KKK. What happened to the Scottsboro Boys? When you get to the modern Civil Rights Movement, you should cover school desegregation (Brown v Board, Little Rock etc) and the fight to end segregation of publics places (Sit-ins, Freedom Rides etc.) The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act should be in your essay.
Cover the major groups covered in the text, like Southern Christian Leadership Conference, NAACP, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, etc. and the people involved. Look for themes and connections from the 1890s to the 1960s.
2. Discuss fear of communism, socialism, and anarchism in the United States and how that affected domestic policy.
In this essay, look at early events like the Haymarket Riot and the Knights of Labor, and how unions were often viewed as dangerous during this period. Look the Socialist opposition to WWI and the opposition to Socialism after the Bolshevik Revolution (First Red Scare, Palmer, Hoover, Sacco and Vanzetti etc.) During the Great Depression think about Charles Coughlin and his accusation that FDR was a Socialist.
The look at the Second Red Scare led by Joe McCarthy. Think about HUAC: the Hollywood Ten, Alger Hiss, Whitaker Chambers, the Rosenbergs, McCarran Act etc. Think about the links between these 2 time periods. Why were accusations of communism or anarchism such a powerful political tool?
3. Discuss US foreign policy based on Open Trade and the spread of capitalism.
In this essay, start with early imperialism, particularly the Spanish-American War (1898). The look at the desire to trade in China (Open Door Notes). Look at how the Philippines fit into this idea. What about the Panama Canal?
The Roosevelt Corollary? How did Japan's expansion before WWII threaten US trade? What about US efforts to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union in Europe (Marshall Plan, Berlin, Truman Doctrine, NATO, etc.) What about the Communist Revolution in China? Be sure to look at the Korean War and Vietnam.
You don't need to go into great detail about the fighting, but do connect these wars to stopping the spread of communism. How did the US plans to stop the spread of communism affect our actions in Latin America and the Middle East? There is a lot of information here, so chose examples. You could look at Cuba and Nicaragua and skip Guatemala and El Salvador. You could look at the Berlin Airlift and the Marshall Plan, or the Truman Doctrine and NATO.
Terms:
Some hints, if you are identifying Battle of Wounded Knee (1890), you would need to mention Custer and the 7th Cavalry, Battle of Little Big Horn, the Ghost Dance, the Dawes Act and the Massacre itself. Make sure you are connecting the term to larger issues. The IDs should be several sentences long.
Remember, if essay one is the essay choice, the terms that would fit into essay one will not be on this part of the test.
Battle of Wounded Knee Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
William Jennings Bryan/Cross of Gold Speech Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Sacco and Vanzetti Scopes Trial Scottsboro Boys Bonus Army Social Security Act D-Day
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Marshall Plan
Berlin Airlift
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
John Forster Dulles and Allen Dulles Cuban Missile Crisis
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Viet Cong
Clark Clifford Selma Marches Stokely Carmichael Betty Friedan
Camp David Accords Iranian Hostage Crisis Moral Majority
Study guide for the Secret History of Wonder Woman:
• Think about how the book connects to people and events we have covered in class.
• How was Marston shaped by the suffrage movement?
• What about his wife and mistress?
• How did Alice Paul, Margaret Sanger, Progressive reforms etc. help shape the creation of Wonder Woman?
• How did WWII influence Wonder Woman? Think about women working during the War, and then being sent back how during the McCarthy era.
• How did the feminist movement in the early 1970s view Wonder Woman?
• You will need to include some specific examples from the book.
If you chose to read the extra credit book, Brown, Not White (listed on the syllabus), there will be an extra essay on this exam over this book.