Write a minimum 5-page paper based on our second book, Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost. You will not write an essay; this is a role-playing exercise. So, your paper will be in the form of a formal letter. These are the details:
Assume that you are William Shepard writing a letter to Edmund D. Morel (you will learn about them as we read the book). The purpose of this letter is to express your interest in joining Morel’s organization (the CRA) to help defeat King Leopold. That is why it must have some of the qualities of a cover letter for a job application, even though it must read as a formal letter. In this letter,
Shepard must express his desire to join the CRA and explain to Morel why his expertise is essential for his organization’s
success against King Leopold.
You need to research proper letter-writing practices for both, a formal letter and a cover letter for a job application. That’s the tone and quality of writing expected for this exercise.You must keep in mind that Morel has a sophisticated knowledge of the Congo.
Thus, avoid lecturing Morel as you describe how and why the Belgians colonized the Congo (historical context).
Your emphasis must be on the type of information that Morel does not have, including
your personal experience as a witness of the greatness of the Kuba people and your witness position of how Belgian atrocities destroyed this impressive civilization while you lived in the Congo.
What brought him to live in the Congo for 10 years. Because of that you also have access to victims and specific evidence of Belgian crimes that you can make available to Morel.
The goal of your letter is to leave Morel with a strong sense that Shepard’s contribution is indispensable to the success of his organization.
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2. Format:
This paper does not include a title page.
Start your paper with all the necessary information about you and the course as illustrated below.
Change the brackets for the required information. On the first page’s upper left corner write (single space):
[Submission Date]
[Your Full Name]
[Course Number, Course Name] [Semester]
Title: centered and in bold capital letters. While letters do not include titles, your paper must include one.
Write it right after the above information. It must suggest the central idea (or main argument) of your letter.
Avoid generalities. It is critical to present as much detail as possible—write about particular atrocities so you can appear
as a credible eyewitness of the horrors perpetrated by the Belgians in the Congo.
All your examples must come from the book, with proper parenthetical citations.
Letter format: right underneath the title, you begin writing your letter. Make sure to include all the information
expected on a formal letter: the date when Sheppard supposedly wrote it, the writer’s (Shepard) and the recipient’s (Morel) names, titles, and addresses. You can fake this information but it must reflect the time and place suggested in the book.
Paragraphs: Double-spaced and aligned to the left, with the first line indented to 0.5. Do not add spaces
between paragraphs
Font: 12 point Times New Roman.
Pagination: Except for the first page, all pages must be numbered on the lower right
corner of the page.
Sources and Content: The purpose of this exercise is to analyze the book. Neither additional sources are
required nor a bibliography at the end of the letter.
Keep in mind your audience (Morel). Write every part of your paper keeping in mind Morel’s interests,
knowledge, and position. The letter must grab Morel’s attention from the first to the last sentence.
As you write, keep wondering how can I maintain Morel’s attention?
This role-playing exercise has some flexibility that won’t be acceptable on any history essay.
Particularly, you can use any evidence of Belgian atrocities that are described in the book and
assume that they all are part of Sheppard’s experience.
You can feel free to express your ideas without any effect on your grade.
A diverse pool of ideas can only enrich our understanding of events. Thus, your grade will be based on the
quality of your argument and writing, not on the nature of your opinion, even if that goes contrary to your
professor’s position.
Regardless of your opinion on the topic, all ideas must be discussed and presented respectfully and
professionally, and appropriately supported by evidence.
Guidelines for an Effective Analysis: Since the assignment is role-playing, you must be creative in the way
you incorporate the following information in your text:
historical context—under which circumstances the story you are about to tell occurred?
(one or two paragraphs, no more.);
your main argument (the purpose and goal of this letter) must be clearly identified within your first paragraph;
analyze the evidence, and explain how this supports the reason you’re writing this letter; and
your narrative must be clear about your opinion on the book’s topic.
Quality Writing:
Each paragraph must explain its point and all paragraphs must follow a logical sequence
linking these points in the narrative that is easy to follow.
Each paragraph must include an appropriate introductory sentence and analysis.
Your writing must be grammatically correct and absent of careless errors such as typos— proofread!
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Your writing must be succinct and clear. Verbose or convoluted sentences will affect your grade negatively.
All statements must be supported by evidence from the book. Thus, all your statements must be explained.
Avoid simple reactive characterizations such as “I love this” or “I hate that,” “this is lame,” etc.
Avoid writing “In conclusion,” “In summary”, etc. Your writing must let the reader know the structure of your letter.
If you have questions about the assignment, ask your professor with enough time. We may solve your concerns
by email, phone, or meeting in my office.
6. Submission:
Submit your paper before the deadline. You can find the deadline in Canvas and your
syllabus.
Your letter must be submitted in Canvas as a .pdf file. Any other format would take points from your grade.
The name of your file must be [your-last-name]OnHochschild. Example: SmithOnHochschild.pdf
Late papers will be accepted, but they will receive a whole letter grade drop (From A to B, for instance) after
missing the deadline. Additional full letter grade drops will continue every 24 hours.
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