Essay Assignment
History 202
Due no later than 06:59pm Saturday , October 26,2024
How did the religious beliefs of white protestant Americans factor into the ways that they approached race relations and the issue of segregation in the mid-1950s?
Write an essay that addresses this question, relying exclusively on the following primary sources. You must substantiate your claims by relying on evidence from both assigned readings, and you must deal with both readings in a significant way. You must cite those sources using footnotes, whether you are paraphrasing the sources or directly quoting from them, and you should be doing both throughout your essay.
Primary Sources:
Billy Graham, “Billy Graham Makes Plea for an End to Intolerance,” Life, 1 October 1956, 138-151. Available online at:
G.T. Gillespie, A Christian View of Segregation (Greenwood, MS: Citizens’ Council Educational Fund, 1954). [posted on Canvas]
Students should not draw from any additional readings, including online material. Your essay should be based only on the above assigned readings. Do not draw material from the internet or any other sources beyond what has been assigned. Students who rely on sources beyond those assigned will receive an “F” on the assignment.
Once again, let me make this clear: your essays must be based on your own analysis of the two assigned texts—one by Graham, and the other by Gillespie—you are not to consult other sources. Your analysis must be based on your own reading of the two texts, not someone else’s analysis of the texts. Failure to follow this instruction will result in an “F” on the assignment, and there are no chances to rewrite the essay once you have submitted yours.
Your essays should be typewritten and double-spaced using standard 1” margins on all sides. For font choices, you may use either New Times Roman 12 pt font or Calibri 11 pt. font, both of which are available with Microsoft Word. Papers should be roughly 1,100-1,200 words, though some students may need more words than that to adequately support their argument.
To earn a good grade, essays must not only meet the quantity of words required, but also represent a high quality of work. It is possible to write 1,100 words and say very little of substance, and doing so will earn you a poor grade. Essays must be cogently argued, well-written, and conform to the guidelines and rules provided. You will need quality writing, not just the right quantity of words, to earn a high grade.
Essays should have a thesis statement in the opening paragraph. Your thesis statement should not merely address the subject of your paper; a thesis statement should state your argument—your position—in response to the question, “How did the religious beliefs of white protestant Americans factor into the ways that they approached race relations and the issue of segregation in the mid-1950s?” For this essay, you need to underline your thesis statement.
I am asking you to take both the content and form of the essay seriously. On the issue of content, that means your essay should be grounded upon firm positions backed up with sufficient, specific evidence to substantiate your claims, and should rely on material only from the assigned readings listed above.
On the issue of form, a number of things are required. You need to edit your paper thoroughly, eliminating statements written in the passive voice that make your writing unnecessarily wordy and unclear: use strong, active verbs. You also need to use correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Your paragraphs should flow nicely together through the use of strong transition sentences. You should edit your paper several times to avoid mistakes, errors, and typos, as these will negatively impact your essay grade. As this is a formal essay, do not use contractions.
When referencing readings, you should cite your sources using footnotes following the guidelines of Chicago Manual of Style. The History Department Writing Guide, located on the course Canvas homepage, details this format.
Again, your paper must follow the guidelines of the Chicago Manual of Style, and your citations must be in the form of footnotes, not endnotes. No additional bibliography is required for this paper, and student should only draw upon the readings assigned to them. There will be a 30 point penalty for not using footnotes formatted in the correct style. Do not consult other sources, whether print or internet sources for this paper: you have all the material you need to answer the question, so do not seek additional material elsewhere. Further, these are individual assignments, and you are not allowed to work with other students on formulating your essays, and students who work together on this essay will receive an “F” on the essay and face university discipline for plagiarism. This is not a group assignment, and each student must write their own papers without help from other students. If you have questions about the assignment, consult the professor, not other students.
Due Date: Students are required to upload a copy of their essays to the course Canvas page so that it can be analyzed by Turnitin. For full credit, essays must be uploaded before the window closes at 6:59pm Saturday ,October 26,, 2024. See the Late Paper Policy in the Syllabus.
Students may not collaborate in any way on the essay, and any indication of student collaboration will result in an “F” on the assignment.
Some Context for the Essay Assignment
Your sources for this essay sketch two very different positions, and your essay needs to make that clear. Don’t try to blend them into one unified white Christian position by overlooking their significant differences. These two men may have shared common ground on a lot of other issues, but when it came to the relationship between Christianity and legally enforced segregation, they took different positions, and your essay must analyze the very distinct differences in these two different stances. Your goal is to show your reader how white Protestants responded to efforts to integrate society, and these two sources force you to deal with a complicated historical problem: they didn’t all agree, though both of these sources claim to be approaching the question from the perspective of their religious beliefs.
Let me put these sources into context:
During the 1950s, white protestant southerners took a number of positions on the question of legally enforced segregation: a small number, like Graham, insisted that the Bible could not be used to defend the legally enforced separation of peoples based on the color of their skin; sadly, others, like Gillespie, convinced themselves that demanding the legal separation was good and best for all involved, and they even claimed that segregation wasn’t contrary to biblical values. Graham and Gillespie did not represent the approach taken by all white protestants: other white protestants were less vocal about their feelings–and that meant they stayed silent about the question of the morality of segregation, though at times some of these did speak up to condemn violence on the part of segregationists or the protests of the civil rights movement. But in your essay, you are dealing with two white southern protestants speaking directly to the question of the morality of legally enforced segregation. And they disagreed with one another.
Gillespie wrote his pamphlet only a few months after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. That meant the federal government was going to force southern states to integrate public schools so that black and white children could go to school together. Gillespie was terrified of that. He was making an argument against integration of schools—as well as other areas of southern life, including churches, etc. His goal was to keep whites and blacks apart. He claimed that a policy of racial segregation wasn’t contrary to scripture or necessarily prejudicial. But doesn’t his interpretation of scripture seem to twist the meaning of biblical passages to say what he wants them to say? Aren’t many of his other claims illogical?
Billy Graham, on the other hand, wrote his article a couple of years after Gillespie’s pamphlet had been published. Graham had earlier integrated his revivals, refusing to allow people to separate attendees based on the color of their skin. Graham was angry that other white Protestants (like Gillespie) twisted and distorted the Bible in order to defend legally enforced segregation.
Hopefully, this helps you make sense of what you are reading, and will be helpful as you revise your essays. Again, make sure you deal substantially with each source, and that your essay is a response to the essay prompt that addresses the contrasts between these two men’s positions.