History

Please answer all of the questions listed below. Each question should be answered in at minimum 1-2 paragraphs. All answers must be written in complete
sentences. Your answers should include specific examples from the poems you are analyzing and from the readings and course lectures.
The question asks students to analyze the two poems, “If We Must Die” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” assigned during Week 1.
Links:
Claude McKay – “If We Must Die” -https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44694/if-we-must-die%20
Langston Hughes – “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44428/the-negro-speaks-of-rivers%20(1
Please answer the following questions:
1. What are the poems “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes about? What are the main themes of each
poem? What do you think the authors are trying to convey?
2. How do each of these poems reflect the ideology of the “New Negro”? In your opinion, are the views expressed by the two authors in these poems
consistent with the intellectual and cultural developments that took place in Black urban centers during the Great Migration? Why or why not?
3. In Week 1, you learned about some of the various forms of anti-Black violence that African American communities faced at the beginning of the twentieth
century. How does Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” relate to African American’s responses to that anti-Black violence? What forms of resistance to violence
and political oppression do you think he has in mind? (Try answer this question broadly. Refer to at least two different types of resistance in your answer)
This assignment will be graded according to the following criteria:
Does the assignment address all the questions posed?
Does the assignment demonstrate a close, careful, and thoughtful reading of the primary sources?
Does the assignment demonstrate a strong familiarity with course topics and themes?
Are all the claims made in the assignment accurate?
Does the assignment make sense? Are the ideas within it communicated clearly within it?
Citations: Your essay should include citations. Please cite the works you refer to, including works assigned on the syllabus. Students should refer to course
readings and course lectures in completing this assignment. Students are discouraged from consulting outside sources. However, if a student does consult a
source not included in the course materials they must cite the source(s) and provide a works cited page. Your citations may follow Chicago Style, MLA, or
APA formats. While citations must be included, students will not be penalized for imperfect citation formats.
Course Overview:
This course explores 20th century U.S. history with a focus on the emergence of various social movements over the course of the century.It explores key
themes and topics in modern American history including racial violence and racial stratification, American imperialism, Progressivism, the Great Migration,
World War I, the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the Women’s movement, the
Chicano movement, Black Power, new American right conservatism, neoliberalism, and the rise of new social movements for economic, racial, and
environmental justice in the early twenty-first century. The course uses social movements as a vehicle for exploring the major transformations and
developments that characterized twentieth-century American history, thereby considering the role of everyday people in shaping important historical trends
and events.