Sample Assignment A: Evidence, Context, and Function
Sample Course
Pan African Studies 271. African-American History to 1865
Survey course examining the themes and issues in the history of the African peoples in America up to 1865.
Sample Assignment
As a group or as individuals select one of the primary sources listed below and displayed on this page. Write a brief essay (500 words minimum, 800 words maximum) in which you:
- Identify the item you've chosen.
- Determine the type of document, its creator, when it was created, and where.
- Determine the reason for the document's production.
- Determine the author or creator's relationship to Abolitionism in the United States in the decades leading up to the Civil War.
- Explain how the item contextualizes Abolitionism with respect to assigned course readings.
Sample Assignment Resources:
Available in Making of America Journals (Cornell)Available in Special Collections and ArchivesAvailable in Special Collections and Archives4. Affidavit of Freedom, 1830Available in Special Collections and ArchivesPart of Legal and Financial Documents on Slaves and Slavery in the United States Collection, 1756-1869Available in Special Collections and Archives
Learning Outcomes
- Students learn to identify and evaluate primary sources
- Students engage in critical and analytical thinking with regards to primary sources
- Students intellectually connect primary and secondary sources
Contents of this path:
This page references:
- John Brown Letter, 1855
- Affidavit of Freedom, 1830, Free Status Affidavits Collection, 1817-1857
- "Schedule of Property Appraised This Day . . .," Legal and Financial Documents on Slaves and Slavery in the United States Collection, 1756-1869
- Illustration from "Harper's New Monthly Magazine," vol. 10, no. 50 (December 1854): 7.
- Pro-Slavery Pamphlet, 1838 (E 449 F64 1838)