Assigned Primary Source Readings List:
Your Research Topic Options
Reminder: This research assignment requires you to do 2 things:
Closely analyze the ideas in the assigned primary source reading
Research the biography of the author in order to understand how he/she came to the views and opinions expressed in the text
THIS IS NOT A REPORT ON A FAMOUS PERSON. If you turn in a report like that, you will not do well.
YOU HAVE TO FOCUS YOUR ANALYSIS ON OUR ASSIGNED READING. It’s fine to broaden your horizon in your research to include other key writings by your author. Just do not forget to engage with the specific ideas in OUR TEXT that was assigned for class.
Assigned Readings You Can Choose
(These authors are in order based on the Syllabus Schedule. They also include a brief description of the content of the reading or the significance of the author.)
Carl Schurz–Union general on conditions in the South after the Civil War
Elias Hill–KKK victim
Frederick Douglass—19th century African American intellectual and equal rights activist
Anna J. Cooper—important African American writer who tackled both racism and sexism
Ida B. Wells—prominent African American journalist and organizer who crusaded against the evils of lynchings
Pun Chi (can substitute Wong Kim Ark)–discrimination faced by Chinese immigrants / Chinese Americans. If you substitute Wong Kim Ark, make sure to check in with me about which text you’ll use for your analysis!
Chief In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat—experience of Native Americans during American expansion
N. A. Jennings–Texas Ranger experience in the 1870s
Richard Pratt–advocate for assimilation of Native Americans
Andrew Carnegie–successful and philanthropic businessman
Henry George–critique of poverty and inequality in American society
George Washington Plunkitt–example of boss politics
Mary Elizabeth Lease–organizer for women’s activism and the Farmers’ Alliance
N. F. Thompson–businessman’s anti-union perspective
Samuel Gompers–president of the American Federation of Labor with a favorable view of unions
Emilio Aguinaldo–Filipino independence leader angered by US imperialism
Rudyard Kipling–British author applauding the US for becoming an imperial power and taking up the “White Man’s Burden”
Jane Addams (actually in your reader: 21-1)–social worker who ran a settlement house to help working-class women
Margaret Sanger–women’s reproductive rights advocate
Martha Gellhorn–reporter who describes the Depression-era conditions in North Carolina
Herbert Hoover–US President at the time of the Stock Market Crash and critic of the New Deal
Daniel Inouye (substituted for reading 25-2 for sources)–US Senator who served in WW2 but who experienced anti-Japanese sentiments in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor (would need to talk with me about which of his writings to use!)
Varian Fry–US journalist who reported on the Holocaust and advocated for greater US action
Rosie the Riveter Reading–women who worked heavy industry jobs during WW2
Joseph McCarthy–US Senator who claimed there was a communist infiltration of the US government
John F. Kennedy–US President, explanation of US actions in Vietnam
John Kerry–Vietnam soldier (future US Senator and Secretary of State) who criticized US government for continuing the Vietnam War
Booker T. Washington–prominent Black leader in the late 1800s
W.E.B. Du Bois–prominent Black leader who organized the NAACP in the late 1800s / early 1900s
Hiram Evans–KKK leader in the 1920s
Martin Luther King, Jr.–letter in response to white religious leaders criticism of his tactics in Birmingham
Cesar Chavez–labor and Latino rights advocate
Dolores Huerta—labor and Latino rights advocate
George Wallace–governor of Alabama who defended segregation and condemned the Civil Rights legislation
SNCC–Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee–Chicago office in 1967–affirmation of Black Power
NOW–National Organization of Women–women’s rights organization in the 1960s
Ronald Reagan–US President on cultural issues in America
Tony Campolo–Evangelical Baptist minister critical of evangelical views of cultural issues
