Project Paper

This assignment is worth 20% of your grade in the course.

Due: Dec 10, 9PM, through iCollege, as a Word (doc/docx) or PDF file.
The second the clock hits 9PM, the folder will lock.

I will not accept late assignments, so make sure you have your project submitted early. Inevitably, things go wrong at the last minute. Because of this, I would recommend you have it uploaded 24 hours before the deadline.

Prompt:
All semester long you have been writing response papers which have asked you to dig into primary sources. For your final project of the semester, I am going to ask you to show off the skills you have been practicing.

Read Nelson Mandela’s “I am Prepared to Die” speech and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (both on iCollege) then use those sources to write a paper addressing the following prompt.

Though on opposite sides of the world, both of these leaders are calling for social, economic, and political equality for people of color in their societies. How do their philosophies differ? How are their messages similar? Why do they take these different approaches?

To better understand these primary sources, you may have to do some brief research on apartheid in South Africa and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. At the very least, make sure you have read/watched the Module 14 Video Lectures materials.

Think About:
Though I DO NOT expect you to address all of these in your paper, you should think about the following questions as you read:
A. From Mandela
1. Why did Mandela decide that the ANC must resort to violence to achieve its goals?
2. What distinction does he draw between sabotage and terrorism?
3. Why were Mandela and other ANC leaders attracted to communism?
4. What aspects of apartheid does Mandela find most degrading?
5. According to Mandela, how does apartheid affect the daily lives of the Africans?

B. From King
1. According to King, what specific criticisms have been made of his civil rights campaign in Birmingham? What alternatives have King’s critics recommended?
2. How does King respond to these criticisms?
3. King describes his method as “nonviolent direct action.” What does he mean by this?
4. According to King, what are the main obstacles preventing blacks from achieving their goals in the civil rights movement?
5. King sees similarities between the US civil rights movement and the efforts of Asians and Africans to throw off the bonds of imperialism. Is his analogy valid? Why or why not?
C. From Both
1. What defines a “terrorist” or “freedom fighter?”
2. Do political leaders have justification for outlawing vocal opponents and suppressing
armed dissidents on home soil?

Other Requirements:
1. Your paper needs to include an underlined thesis statement. A thesis is the main argument you are making in your paper. Need help with this? See the “Thesis Statement” document in this folder.

2. Your paper needs to include multiple quotes from BOTH sources.

3. Your paper needs to include correctly formatted MLA in-text citations – this is what we’ve been doing all semester – and maybe a “Works Cited” page (see below).

Citation Method:
Use MLA in-text citations every time you quote or paraphrase – this is the method we have been using all semester.

If you want to quote from my lecture, your citation will be (Martin).

Works cited page – If you consult any sources other than the two primary sources and the materials from the Video Lectures (even if you are paraphrasing), you should submit an MLA “Works Cited” page with your paper. If you do not consult any outside sources, you do not need to submit a works cited. The only outside sources you should consult are sources that offer general information on the Civil Rights Movement or Apartheid.

See the Powerpoint posted in this folder for more information on citations and creating a Works Cited page.

Format:
Your paper should be approximately three typed, double-spaced pages, not including citations (that’s about 750-1000 words). Longer is permitted, but make sure your paper is well-edited – just because it’s long doesn’t mean it’s good. You should use 12-point Times New Roman font with standard (1 inch) margins.

Indent (hit the tab key) at the start of each paragraph. Do not leave spaces between paragraphs (like what I’m doing here).

Grammar and organization count – do not submit your first draft. Check out the GSU Writing Studio if you need some help https://writingstudio.gsu.edu/ This paper is short, so I expect it to be extremely well written.

Plagiarism will result in an F in the course. You have made it this far (weeks of work!) – don’t blow it now by cheating on the last assignment.

Need help?
If you need help with any aspect of the paper, feel free to reach out to me – emartin29@gsu.edu
Or the GSU Writing Studio – https://writingstudio.gsu.edu/ . They offer virtual appointments.