Q.1 – The construction of what noted historian Howard Zinn called “the Color Line” – the arbitrary social observation of how a race is treated, based on skin color – has most methodically been applied to African Americans and persons of African descent in the United States, despite the wide range of populations who live here. If this “line” is arbitrary, subjective and legally unsupported in American culture, why does it continue to exist in the US in the present? In your answer, reflect upon what you learned from the videos by Nina Jablonski and Stuart Hall, and The History of Slavery in America, Part I. Refer to a wide range of Week 2 sources to analyze how and why you think the color line was drawn in the past and has been systematically kept in place towards persons of African heritage in America over time. Q.2 – In the Nineteenth Century, Andrew Jackson claimed that his soldiers were “advancing civilization” and that “their violence was an instrument of progress.” He insisted that he wanted to be “just” and “humane”; however, he justified Indian removal by explaining that because “efforts to civilize Indians had failed” he had to protect them from the “mercenary influence of white men.” He also stated that if “these children” refused to accept his advice, they would be responsible for the consequences. For this question, consider the following: How have American Indians been imagined in the master narrative? What does this master narrative ignore? What does the master narrative justify in the treatment of the American Indians, past and present? In your answer, reflect on what you saw and learned in Week 2 video, “The Trail of Tears.’ Sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1RbUxQv4E https://youtu.be/QOSPNVunyFQ https://vimeo.com/87470149 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qalhDKLrWEQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTuqs4YOHT0 Textbook: https://www.academia.edu/43188269/A_Different_Mirror_A_History_Of_Multicultural_America
