Spring 2019, AMH 2020: U.S. History Since 1877
Paper Option #3: 1960s-1970s Social Movements
DUE WEDNESDAY, 4/17
This paper is worth 15% of your final grade for this course
Sources to Use:
Your paper should be based primarily on the assigned primary sources from Canvas that are
elevant to the social movements of the 1960s-1970s; a good paper will use at least 2-3 primary
source documents. You should also use relevant information from the textbook and your lecture
notes to supplement your analysis and provide necessary historical context in this paper. You
may not use unassigned, outside sources for this paper with the exception of images you might
wish to include in your paper (see below for explanation about images).
Overview:
In your Primary Source Analysis paper, you began to develop your skill in reading and
contextualizing primary sources and using them to learn something about the past. This analytic
paper asks you to build upon those skills by using a group of primary sources to develop your
own critical analysis, interpretation, and argument about a historical period and to find meaning
in past events. These sources will provide the necessary evidence to support your historical
interpretation and argument about the various social movements of the 1960s-1970s that
collectively made up the U.S. “rights revolution.”
Assignment:
In 4-6 pages (that means FULL pages), do the following:
Pretend you work for a museum, and the museum director – your boss - has asked you to
design an exhibit for the general public on the social movements of the 1960s-1970s
(feminism, gay rights, Red Power, Chicanx, etc. – all social movements except the civil
ights movement - because the second paper option covered the civil rights movement).
Write an exhibit proposal addressed to your boss, the museum director, that describes
your proposed exhibit, your reasons for designing the exhibit that way, and the main
message(s) you want your audience to receive by visiting your exhibit. Your boss has also
asked several of your colleagues to submit proposals, so you must convince the museum
director to approve your proposed museum exhibit instead of one of the other proposals
that she is considering.
Choose at least two social movements from the 1960s-1970s, and develop an argument
that you would like to present to your audience about the history of these movements and
why these movements are important. Once you develop your argument, you must explain
how you will present that argument to your audience in your exhibit – i.e., will this be a
physical exhibit or a digital exhibit and why? What will your exhibit title be and why?
What kinds of objects, documents, photos, etc. will you include and why? How will you
design the exhibit so that your argument will be clear to your audience? How will you get
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your audience to understand why your argument is important? In other words, so what?
*You may include images/drawings in your exhibit proposal, but these will not count
toward the required page limit of 4-6 full pages of double-spaced text.*
In writing your paper, you must develop your own, overarching argument (a thesis) and support
that argument with specific, detailed, relevant evidence from the primary source documents and
textbook. You must also choose a theme upon which to focus. You cannot cover all aspects of
the 1960s-1970s social movements, so choose just a few themes/examples that you can construct
an argument about and for which you have strong evidence. In writing your paper, focus on
articulating and supporting your argument. Do not simply summarize the documents or provide a
na
ative of what occu
ed. Instead, explain what they tell us about a larger issue of the 1960s-
1970s social movements and why that issue is important. You should be making a claim that
someone else could potentially disagree with, and you should work to persuade the museum
director that your claim is co
ect and that your proposed exhibit design is the best way to get
that message across to the members of the public who visit your museum exhibit.
In other words:
1) Develop and articulate an argument (thesis) about the 1960s-1970s social
movements that you would like to present to the visitors to your museum exhibit.
2) Your exhibit must focus on at least two of the 1960s-1970s social movements in
the U.S. - feminism, gay rights, Red Power, Chicanx, etc. –except the civil rights movement
(because the second paper option covered the civil rights movement). However, you may refer to
the civil rights movement/Black Power movement in your proposal if you believe that is
important to explaining your exhibit (i.e., historical context, influences on the movements you’ve
chosen, etc.). Just make sure your exhibit is primarily focused on the other social movements.
3) Use your textbook and the assigned primary source documents from Canvas
(AMH XXXXXXXXXXto provide information and evidence that support, contextualize, and illustrate
your argument and exhibit design. Follow the instructions on sources to make sure you are using
the co
ect number and types of sources for this assignment.
4) Make sure that your exhibit argument is clear, that you articulate that argument in
a clear thesis sentence at the start of your paper, and make sure that your entire paper is
structured to support your argument/analysis.
5) Use specific examples, information, and quotes from the primary sources and the
textbook to support your exhibit argument and description of your exhibit design. You can also
use your lecture notes, but most information should come from the primary sources and the
textbook.
6) Be sure to explain all of your examples and information clearly and fully so that a
smart person who is not taking this course and who does not know the full history of the social
movements (in other words, your boss, the museum director) can understand your paper and your
argument. The first time you mention a person, for instance, provide that person’s full name and
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explain who that person was. If you mention an event, provide the date(s) and explain what that
event was, etc. And make sure the relevance of all evidence and examples is very clear for your
eader. In other words, explain your thought process and explain the significance of all evidence
and examples. Don’t assume that your reader will understand what you mean; be explicit and
thorough.
7) Be as clear as possible in describing the way you will design your exhibit, and
provide a clear explanation of the reason(s) for each choice you make about how you will design
your exhibit.
8) You may include images/drawings – for instance, a sketch of the proposed exhibit
or examples of some of the objects/images/documents you want to include in the exhibit - in
your exhibit proposal, but these will not count toward the required page limit of 4-6 full pages of
double-spaced text. Provide a caption for each image that includes a description of the image and
a citation for each image that you did not draw/create yourself (where did you get it?). Make it
clear why you have included that image in your proposal.
9) Cite all of your sources using Chicago Style footnotes (see handout on Canvas).
10) Follow the paper formatting directions.
11) Follow the paper submission directions.
Paper Structure:
This is not a typical academic essay paper, but your exhibit proposal should still have a formal
and logical structure, as well as footnotes for your citations. This paper should be comprised of
full paragraphs. No paragraph should be shorter than 3 sentences (anything shorter is an
incomplete thought), and no longer than 2/3 of a page (any longer, and it becomes a run-on
paragraph). Every new point, topic, or sub-argument should get a new paragraph. Always put
ook titles in italics and primary source titles in “quotations.” Put your name, your Monday
discussion section (AMH XXXXXXXXXX, -004, -005, or -006), your TA’s name, and your exhibit title
on the top of the first page, and put page numbers at the bottom of each page.
To earn a high grade, your paper must have a clear, concise thesis statement in your introduction
(one declarative sentence that clearly states your exhibit’s argument), and you must support your
argument and exhibit design choices throughout your paper by using concrete, relevant, specific
evidence and quotations from your sources. Your paper must also contain proper grammar,
punctuation, and spelling and be structured in a manner that makes your argument clear and
persuasive. Remember, you are writing for your boss, the museum director, so you want your
proposal to be as polished and professional as possible. A paper that does not rely upon specific
primary source evidence from multiple primary source documents and that does not also
incorporate specific information from the textbook and lectures will not earn full credit.
You must also CITE all of your sources properly throughout the paper using Chicago Style
footnotes (see the handout on the Modules page on Canvas (lecture section) on how to do
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footnotes). You do not need to include a Chicago Style Bibliography at the end of the paper.
Your footnotes – if done well – will provide the necessary information on all of the sources you
used. You must include a footnote every time you use information that does not come from
your own head or from your lecture notes – that means every time you use a direct quote and
every time you paraphrase from the textbook or primary sources, even if you put that information
in your own words. A properly cited paper should have several footnotes per page.
Planning ahead and working through multiple drafts is the key to earning a high grade on this
assignment. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO WRITE THIS PAPER.
Format your paper as follows:
1) Your entire paper should be in 12-point, double-spaced, Times New Roman font
with 1-inch margins on all sides.
2) At the top of the first page of your paper, put the following memorandum header
(without the
ackets – fill in the relevant information the
ackets below):
MEMORANDUM
TO: Museum Director, [Museum Name]
FROM: [Your Name]
CC: [Your TA’s Name], [Your Monday Discussion Section]
Date: [Date]
Re: Exhibit Proposal: [Exhibit Title]
******************************************************************************
[Start your paper text below the above memorandum header]
3) Your first paragraph should be