Basketball and Black Freedom Movement
Prompt:
- To what extent was basketball (and basketball players) a meaningful part of the Black Freedom Movement of the 1950s and 1960s?
An outstanding essay will:
- have a clear and forceful argument in your opening paragraph in which you explicitly answer the above question;
- as part of that answer (and throughout the essay) you clearly explain what you mean when you describe basketball as a meaningful (or not meaningful) aspect of the Black Freedom Movement;
- will support and develop that argument by using evidence and examples drawn from lectures and course readings (see more below);
- will present counter- evidence—that is, it will explore why one might answer the question counter to the way you are, but then explain why your interpretation is more compelling (counter-evidence might be interspersed throughout the essay or you might concentrate your counter-evidence in one paragraph—the paragraph right before your conclusion is an appropriate place in which to consider your counter-evidence).
EVIDENCE REQUIREMENT: As one of the skills of the historian is using sources as evidence for one’s claim, in this paper you must (a) explicitly reference Game Changers in such a way that demonstrates that you have read and considered the entire book; and (b) explicitly reference at least two other readings or assigned on the syllabus between 23 February and 18 March.
By “explicitly reference” we DO NOT mean that you should throw a quote into your prose and let it speak for itself. By “explicitly reference” we DO mean that you need to introduce the quote or information that you are using and, once you have provided that information, explain how it bolsters your argument.
Formatting Guidelines: Your essay should be 4-6 pages in length (an essay shorter than four full pages is too short; an essay longer than six full pages is too long). The essay must be typed, double-spaced, use 12-point font (we suggest Times New Roman), and have one-inch margins.