Racial & Ethnic Minorities

Racial & Ethnic Minorities essay assignment

Racial & Ethnic Minorities essay assignment

Overview:

For this assignment, you should watch Eyes on The Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, Episode 1 or 2 (or both, you choose).

To use the streaming service provided by The University of Memphis, go to You will need to create an account using your memphis.edu credentials. This is a FREE service provided by UofM. You do not need to pay for it! It is basically like Netflix for documentaries, but the university pays for our subscription. Find the University of Memphis from the list of subscribers. Use your memphis.edu email to create your account. Follow the steps promoted by kanopy.com to set up your account. Then, search for either:

Awakenings 1954-1956 or Fighting Back 1957-1962

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Requirements:

You should write your reflection after viewing either Episode 1 or 2. Prompts to help you with your reflection are on the next pages. Reflections should incorporate the knowledge and vocabulary about race you have gained from this class, as well as details from the film. That is, you should take the perspective of a sociologist and use sociological terms from the text in your reflection. Use the prompts on the following pages to guide your reflection.

Your reflection should be at least 2 to 3 full pages of text, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides. Write your reflection in paragraph format, not bullet points. Use a standard 12-point font like Arial or Times New Roman. Please be sure to proofread your essay before submitting.

Due by Sunday by 11:59pm CST.

Upload your completed reflection. Each reflection should be your own original work created specifically for the purposes of this assignment. Your essay will be submitted through the university’s plagiarism software. Reflections written for other classes may not be submitted for credit. Reflections found to be in violation of this policy will receive a zero.

It is your responsibility that the correct file is uploaded. I will only grade the file you upload. Double-check that you upload the correct file. Save your reflection on your computer as something specific to this class and assignment. Do not use any special characters (such as ? # ! $ &) in the file name.

Save your file as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf. Other file types will not be accepted.

Episode Descriptions & Reflection Prompts: Eyes on The Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years

Note: You do not have to answer each of these reflection prompts. Just use them to get you thinking. The questions are based on Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years Discussion Guide (2006). Choose one episode to watch and use the prompts to help with your reflection.

Episode 1 – Awakenings 1954-1956: Individual acts of courage inspire black Southerners to fight for their rights: Mose Wright testifies against the white men who murdered young Emmett Till, and Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.

https://memphis.kanopy.com/video/awakenings (Links to an external site.)

Reflection Prompts:

• Segregation, a social system based on a long history of prejudices and discrimination, was deeply entrenched in people’s minds as well as in the culture. How did segregation manifest itself in daily life in the South? How did segregation disenfranchise black Americans? How does this still affect issues of racial equality today?
• Why do you think the lynching of Emmett Till became a catalyst in the national movement for civil rights? Do you see any parallels to today’s fight for civil rights? In what ways?
• Till’s uncle, Mose Wright, would not go to the police. In a democracy, what institutions are responsible for protecting the vulnerable? What options do individuals and groups have when these institutions cannot be trusted?
• Why do you think Rosa Parks became a symbol of the civil rights movement? Why did so many people identify with her cause? How did that identification build support for the emerging movement?
• What ideology do White Supremacists espouse? Who were/are they?

 

Episode 2 – Fighting Back 1957-1962: States’ rights loyalists and federal authorities collide in the 1957 battle to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School, and again in James Meredith’s 1962 challenge to segregation at the University of Mississippi. Both times, a Southern governor squares off with a U.S. president, violence erupts — and integration is carried out.

https://memphis.kanopy.com/video/fighting-back (Links to an external site.)

Reflection Prompts:

• What is the difference between desegregation and integration? What is required for each?
• What role did the federal government play in desegregation? How did this conflict with state level laws & values?
• How do you explain the mob’s reaction to the Little Rock Nine’s arrival at school? What do you think white protestors were trying to accomplish?
• Some people argue it is better to forget difficult episodes in our nation’s history. How would you respond to this suggestion?
• Who benefits from preaching hate and fear? Who is harmed by it?