LGBTQ History Assignments

Major Assignment for Unit 2 Instructions, Rubric, and Example

Forgetting Something? Fill In the Gaps!
Instructions
This is a single course and can’t fit everything. Use some of the ideas and resources listed here to identify a particular moment, person, or event in LBGTQ history:

Feel free to use google or library database searches. These links might also give you some ideas:
US LGBTQ Timelines
US LGBTQ Subjects
US LGBTQ History Places
US LGBTQ People
National Park Service LGBTQ Theme Study
GLSEN LGBTQ History Resource

Once you’ve chosen your person, place, or event, explain and analyze how definitions and understandings of sexuality in that particular moment shaped that person/place/event.
Finally reflect upon the differences in historical and geographic contexts between your chosen moment/event and the present day, connecting when possible with the course themes laid out in the Unit 1.5 lecture.

This assignment is designed to make you learn additional aspects of LGBTQ history but also strengthen your critical analysis of how gender and sexuality changes over time, is dependent upon location, and other identities and forces at work at any given moment.

This assignment requires you to write a 3-page double spaced paper. You should have a thesis, dedicate roughly one page to identifying the chosen person/place/event, 1.5 pages analyzing and explaining how definitions and understandings of sexuality in that particular moment shaped that person/place/event, and half a page reflecting upon differences with present day and connecting course themes.

Rubric
Follow Directions: 10%
Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Cite your sources: 5%
Provide a source/source for your research. Please follow the Chicago Manual of Style to cite your sources in footnotes. Bibliography IS REQUIRED and does not count toward the page limit.

Writing: 20%
This is a short writing assignment, but should not be confused with an easy one. With so few words, EVERY WORD COUNTS. Writing should be clear, concise, and constructive. Provide a short a direct description of what the picture captures and from where you got it (when and where you took it or the date and website from which it came). Then dive into meaningful analysis that links to course concepts.
A few writing tips:
• Avoid the following words in academic assignments (including this one): you, I, thing, stuff.
• Do not start sentences with “It”.
• Avoid passive voice.
• Go beyond “to be”- there are a LOT of verbs out there in the world. Challenge yourself to limit your use of to be and its conjugations am, is, are, was, and were.
• Do not end sentences with prepositions.
• Use topic sentences and have an argument.
• I welcome the use of they as a singular pronoun.

Thesis, topic sentences, and structure: 15%
Even though this is a short paper, you need a thesis. Make an argument! Is there a particular oppression, theme, social force that shapes your person/place/event? If so, that can be a great source of thesis inspiration! Example: Martin Luther King Jr.’s choice to use peaceful protest stood in stark contrast to the violence most people of color faced in the 1960s United States.

Help your thesis along by providing supporting topic sentences for every paragraph afterward! Topic sentences should be the first sentence of every paragraph and should both introduce a new level of your analysis AND also help support your main thesis. A strong thesis and thoughtful topic sentences will provide great structure to your essay so readers won’t be left muddling through stream-of-consciousness writing.

Identifying and explaining your chosen person/place/event: 10%
This is largely a summary of your chosen person/place/event. However, you also need to provide some larger context about the time and place relating to your choice. I know a good bit about LGBTQ history, but I can’t know everything- consider this your one page opportunity to teach me the important aspects of your chosen person/place/event.

Analysis: 25%
How do definitions and understandings of sexuality in that particular moment shaped that person/place/event? Use the themes of the course to help you dig deeply and provide some strong analysis about what forces created this person/place/event.

Reflection: 15%
Reflect on the differences in historical and geographic contexts between your chosen person/place/event and the present day, connecting when possible with the course themes laid out in the Unit 1.5 lecture. Where have there been major shifts? What do those changes mean for LGBTQ folks today? Remember to avoid using “I” here or “you.”