Description
Journals are opportunities for students to exercise their sociological thinking in connection to course
topics / concepts / materials. The options for journals will include tasks like: evaluating media or
cultural artifacts, engaging in personal narrative analysis, reviewing sociological research on course
concepts, and more.
Complete TWO of the following options for unit 1, Studying the Social Construction of Dominant /
Minority Relations. Fulfill all prompts within the option; make connections to the Healey, Stepnick,
and O’Brien text. If you want to expand on a prompt, or change the option somehow, contact me.
Formatting (for each journal): 2pgs, 12pt Times, double-spaced, 1-in margins
Personal Reflection
What do you know about your ancestors’ experiences in the United States? When did your family
members arrive in the US? From which countries, and under what contexts? What do you know
about the assimilation / integration experiences of your ancestors? How does your ethnic heritage
matter in your daily life? Make connections to course content.
Expand on Supplemental Materials
For each chapter, I have posted supplemental materials: readings, articles, podcasts, investigative
segments, documentaries, and more. Feel free to review any of the supplemental readings;
summarize and make connections to course content.
Content Analysis of Media
Explore stereotypes in media. Watch episodes of a television (or streaming) show or a film, and
describe the stereotypes (generalized, often negative, assumptions/portrayals) of people in different
statuses: race/ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and the like. For
your journal, describe the cultural artifact and provide specific examples of stereotypical portrayals.
Prejudice and Discrimination
Review the report from Pew Research Center: On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and Whites
Are Worlds Apart.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/on-views-of-race-and-inequality-blacks-and-whites-areworlds-apart/
For your journal, describe the main findings from the report, especially those related to beliefs about
financial situations (getting ahead), individual discrimination, and institutional racism. Make
connections to course materials.
Films about Dominant-Minority Relations (historical)
Students can watch films/movies about dominant-minority relations, either documentaries or
fictionalized accounts. For journals about films, students need to describe the aspects/events that
relate specifically to course content / concepts / terms.
Options include: Gangs of New York (2002), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Django Unchained (2012),
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007), In America (2002), Brooklyn (2015), Hunger (2008),
Gbravica: The Land of My Dreams (2006), In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), Hotel Rwanda
(2004), Sometimes in April (2005), My Neighbor, My Killer (2009), Sarafina! (1992), Cry Freedom
(1987), Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), The Color Purple (1985), Red Tails (2012), The
Help (2011), Mudbound (2017), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Green Book (2018), Sorry to Bother
You (2018), Get Out (2017), Avatar (2009), and more. Contact me if you have other options!
25 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity with Students
In 2017, the New York Times created 25 short documentaries (ranging from 1m-7m) about issues of
race, bias, and identity. Students who choose this option need to watch all of the short films within a
particular category, and then in the journal, summarize the key information and make connections to
course content.
A Conversation on Race (8 films)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/your-stories/conversations-on-race
Who, Me? Biased? (6 films)
https://www.nytimes.com/video/who-me-biased
Hyphen-Nation (9 films)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/storywall/hyphen-nation
PBS To the Contrary – Teaching Slavery in School
Watch the following segment, starting at 14:20, Teaching Slavery in School. In your journal,
summarize the key discussion topics, and make connections to course content (ch4 and ch5 in the
textbook, the supplemental reading from Washington Post).
http://www.pbs.org/video/metoo-and-working-women-teaching-slavery-in-school-42lido/
Assimilation
Read TWO of the following articles about political discussions / policies regarding assimilation of
immigrants in the United States. In your journal, describe the key points from the articles, and make
connections to course content.
The Atlantic: Should Immigration Require Assimilation?
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/should-immigration-requireassimilation/406759/
The Atlantic: Will Immigrants Today Assimilate Like Those of 100 Years Ago?
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/will-immigrants-today-assimilate-like-those-of100-years-ago/495746/
NPR: The Huddled Masses and the Myth of America
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=497091179
Vox: Trump Claims that American Muslims Don’t Assimilate. The Data Shows He’s Wrong.
https://www.vox.com/2016/6/15/11943160/donald-trump-muslim-assimilation-us
PBS – Reconstruction
Watch TWO of the segments from the PBS series on Reconstruction. In your journal, describe the
key events and people, and make connections to course content.
All four segments are available here:
https://www.pbs.org/weta/reconstruction/episodes/
Ida B. Wells-Barnett – Lynching in America
Read some of the works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, an activist and investigative journalist who
analyzed the epidemic of lynching in the United States. In your journal, describe her reports, and
make connections to course content.
Read this article from Vox, “Ida B. Wells used data journalism to fight lynching”
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/16/8979771/ida-b-wells-lynching-data
Then read TWO of the following:
“Lynch Law in America” (1900)
http://www.americanyawp.com/reader/18-industrial-america/ida-b-wells-barnett-lynch-law-inamerica-1900/
“Lynch Law” (1893)
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/wellslynchlaw.html
“Lynch Law in All its Phases” (1893)
http://www.blackpast.org/1893-ida-b-wells-lynch-law-all-its-phases
“Lynching: Our National Crime” (1909)
http://www.blackpast.org/1909-ida-b-wells-awful-slaughter
PBS – The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
Watch TWO of the segments from the PBS series on the Jim Crow system. In your journal, describe
the key events and people, and make connections to course content.
Episode 1 – Promises Betrayed
Episode 2 – Fighting Back
Episode 3 – Don’t Shoot Too Soon
Episode 4 – Terror and Triumph
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Learn about the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a site for people to gather and reflect on
America’s history of racial inequality, terror, and progress.
Go through (at least TWO of) the following articles/clinks about the memorial. Summarize the
content and make connections to course content.
60 Minutes – Inside the memorial to victims of lynching
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/inside-the-memorial-to-victims-of-lynching/
PBS News Hour – A national memorial confronts the terror of lynching
Vice – The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kzxvgm/americas-new-lynching-memorial-is-gut-wrenchinggruesome-and-beautiful
Equal Justice Initiative – the organization behind the NMPJ
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial
The Case for Reparations
Watch the episode from PBS Point Taken. Then read ONE of the following articles. Summarize the
content, make connections to course content.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/point-taken/should-us-pay-reparations-black-americans/#watch
PBS News Hour – UN panel says the US owes reparations to African Americans
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/reparations-african-americans-un
PBS News Hour – Georgetown students vote to add fee to pay reparations
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/georgetown-students-vote-to-add-fee-to-pay-reparations
Nebraska State Historical Society – Brown Bag lecture on Omaha 1919 race riot
Watch the following illustrated lecture by Barbara Hewins-Maroney (UNO), “Will Brown: A Lynching,
A Lost Identity, and Urban Unrest in Omaha, 1919”
Summarize the lecture and make connections to course content.
PBS Frontline: Documenting Hate
There are two investigative documentaries from PBS Frontline and ProPublica about white
nationalism / supremacy in the United States. Watch ONE of the segments, summarize and make
connection to course content.
Documenting Hate: Charlottesville
“… investigate the white supremacists and neo-Nazis involved in the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the
Right rally – and reveal just how ill-prepared law enforcement was to handle an influx of white
supremacists from across the country.”
Documenting Hate: New American Nazis
“In the wake of the deadly anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, [we]
present a new investigation into white supremacist groups in America – in particular, a neo-Nazi
group, Atomwaffen Division, that has actively recruited inside the US military.”
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