Assignment:
For this assignment students will write a 1,000 word paper on Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" Speech. Students will be assessed based on their knowledge of social responsibility in regards to a historical event. This assessment is part of your grade and focused on history but its focus on social responsibility comes from a program at Collin called Core Objectives Assessment Team (COAT) which is why it is slightly different from our usual historical analysis. Social Responsibility includes the ability to understand characteristics of communities, recognize principles of social or civic responsibility, address influences of social principles, and study the impact of social engagement. These papers will be graded as normal by me but they will also be sent to Collin's COAT assessment team for review.
For the assignment do the following: (All documents are provided under the Paper 2 assignment in our Papers Module)
Read chapter from our text book
Read Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech
Read The Black Scholar article - "I Have a Dream:" A Rhetorical Analysis
Read The ABA article - The 1964 Civil Rights Act: Then and Now
For the paper answer the following questions: For each question be sure to provide evidence from the readings to support your argument. All evidence needs to be cited in either MLA or Chicago Style.
1. What are the perspectives, beliefs, traditions, and needs of the groups involved in these readings? Be sure to consider the conditions that African Americans were living under at these times and how they were working towards change which led Dr. King to make this speech.
2. How are the societal issues surrounding the Civil Rights Movement impacting the communities involved? This includes both black and white communities.
3. How does the society that Dr. King lives in affect his behavior and decision making when he writes this speech? Would he have created this speech if society was different?
4. What was the impact on society of Dr. King's speech? How did the changes produced by Dr. King's speech affect society as a whole?
Each question should be answered as an individual question, must use evidence from our readings, and must have citations for each and every quote/non common knowledge piece of information provided. Citations must be in MLA or Chicago Style.
Readings:
1. The 1964 Civil Rights Act: Then and Now
Author(s): Juan Williams
2. "I HAVE A DREAM": A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
Author(s): Durthy A. Washington