Assignment:
1.) Taking into consideration the history you have learned this term, why is poverty so persistent among African Americans?
2.) Think about the Hip-Hop culture and how it has gone mainstream. What is its importance for black culture, and how is it another example of sports and the arts breaking down racial barriers? Why is it in sports and the arts that this happens and not in, for example, science or religion?
3.) Examine why the Civil Rights Movement stalled by the mid-1970's. By the end of the 1980's, how successful had it been? Were the desired freedoms won? What methods had it employed to best effect? Which strategies were most effective, and why? How did activism change? By 2005, what changes had taken place for African Americans? In this analysis, remember that African Americans are not a monolithic bloc. What divisions existed within the African American community by 2005?
4.) Examine in the 1980's and later the entry of African Americans in Congress. Did it change the face of government? Did it change anything more substantially?
5.) Analyze the problem of "driving while black" and the incarceration of African Americans.
6.) How did Ronald Reagan's presidency change the economic reality for African Americans?