I. Multiple choice questions. Be familiar with the following terms, events, people,, and concepts: , Plessy vs. Ferguson, Brown vs. Board of Education, social movement, revolution of rising expectations, charismatic leadership, political process theory, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers (UFW), symbolic ethnicity/optional ethnicity, how sociologists measure assimilation, the Great Migration, the ideology of color blindness, holocaust, genocide, rule of hypo-descent ("1-drop rule"), miscegenation, racism as a psychological "disease" versus racism as a socio-economic system, wealth vs. income as stratification variables (Liu)(Brewer), , affirmative action (courts vs. voters), The Shape of the River, food stamp use as a measure of poverty, Immigration Reform Act of 1965, Civl Rights Act of 1964,
II. Videos "Keys to the Kingdom: Boston" What were the issues and events that led to a federal judge's order that the Boston schools be integrated and in particular, that the schools in South Boston and Roxbury be integrated. What was the experience of the initial group of black students who integrated South Boston High School? What happened with school integration the following year?
"The Struggle in the Fields" What were the issues and events that led to the Delano strike by the United Farm Workers? What allowed the UFW to finally achieve contracts with the growers? How did religious and cultural elements become part of this movement?
"One Survivor Remembers" In the Nazi Holocaust, a majority of Jews were sent to death camps; what was different about those who were sent to the forced labor camps? How were Gerta Weissman's friends killed and how did she manage to survive? How can we reconcile all the Holocaust commemorations and statements about never letting something like that happen again with the United States's slow adoption of the genocide convention and the minimal steps we've taken in the face of genocides in Rwanda and Darfur?
"Skin Deep." What approach is taken here to increased inter-racial, inter-ethnic understanding among college students? How do the students who participate in this weekend seminar plan to bring the experience of the weekend home to their campuses? Do you think students were honest in the way they presented themselves and reacted to each other?
III. Essay questions: I will give you three of the following questions and ask you to write on two of them: As always, I will evaluate your answer not based on whether it is "correct" but whether you make effective use of course materials in supporting your arguments.
A.. Takaki views World War II as a key turning point in the making of multi-cultural America. How does he support that claim, and what are the ways in which American society has moved in the direction of inclusion and equality since World War II? What are the areas where we still lag?
B. What are the ways in which race and ethnicity continue to divide the United
States and create disadvantages for minorities?
C. A major virtue of our political system is said to be its ability, in the long run, to extend to other groups the freedoms originally guaranteed to white men in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Illustrate this process based on this last third of our course. Be sure to include the role of the courts but also the role of social movements. . Do you find yourself hopeful or discouraged about the future of race and ethnic divisions in the United States and why?
D. How do those whites who believe black Americans have equal opportunity with whites account for the continuing discrepancies in areas like wealth, education, jobs, housing, and food stamp use? What does this reveal about the current state of race relations in the United States?
E. Gallagher argues that what he calls "the new color blind ideology" is just the latest form of racism in the United States. Evaluate his perspective, drawing not only on his article but more widely on course materials.
F. Describe the process by which black Americans have made strides toward greater equality in the United States. Why has it been so slow?
G. In his article, "The Melting Pot and the Color Line," Sternberg says argues that the melting pot dynamic is at work for all the major minority groups in the United States with the exception of African Americans. How does he support that argument, and how would you evaluate it in relation to other course materials.
H. The African American civil rights movement was the first social movement for minority rights to achieve high visibility in American society and win some major victories. How did that movement affect other race and ethnic groups in the United States? Give examples, including a look at the strategies adopted by other minority social movements.
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