History 101
Research Paper: Race and Minority Experiences in the 17th and 18th
centuries
Research Paper Essay Question: How was race conceived in this period of
the British Colonial America/United States and how did this play out in
minority experiences? Focus
on how racist beliefs and laws shaped minority experiences. You will be writing
on two minority groups. One is the African American experience, and the second
will be your choice (hint, the group that has the most for you to cover is
Native American Indians, most of the other minority groups do not come into
play until the 19th century). Answer the question citing specific
examples that demonstrate the equal or unequal opportunities presented to them,
and how this measures up to the notions of what it means to be free as an
American.
The alternative essay question you
can answer is: How was race and class conceived in this period of the British
Colonial America/United States and how did this play out in minority and lower-class
experiences? Like the
question above, you must focus on African American experiences. But in this
one, instead of focusing on a second minority group, you focus on the lower
white laborer classes as your second group.
Coverage of the two groups should not be equal. On African
American experience, it should take up about 2/3 to ¾ of your paper. The
minority that you chose to cover should be 1/3 to ¼ of your paper. That is
because you have a lot more sources on the African American experience, and
less (your own research) of the other, and so I’m am not requiring you to do
the kind of research that would bring in half the information (I’m being nice
to you here). If you’re doing the second option, I’m thinking African American
from ½ to 2/3, and lower classes 1/3 to ½.
Here is what I recommend in both cases. No matter what groups
you are focusing on, the backdrop to them is colonialism (and the reasons for
colonialism: opportunities, economic expansion, religious freedom) and
Revolution (changing political and economic norms). The historical context
changes over time, and it in turn changes experiences. You can trace those
changes and explain why they happened the way they did. So you can ask
yourself, how did African American and other minority experiences change, why?
You can also ask yourself the same thing about the working class. And you can
answer other types of questions like, do the ideals of the American Revolution
such as Republicanism and Liberalism have a positive effect on the minority
groups or lower working classes? If it was me, I would show how things transformed
(like how laws began to be racialized and then trace the differences of
experiences for difference groups) or show how they were not different. I would
use the historical context to explore the motives (greed, profit, etc.) or
power. I’ve given you a lot of resources for both of these questions.
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