Given the history of race relations in 20th century America, few voters born before the 1970s (regardless of race or ethnicity) ever expected the election of an African American as president of the United States to occur in their lifetimes. 1) What situations, conditions, or events occurring between 1900 and 2000 do you think contributed most to creating the social, political and economic environment that led to Barack Obama’s victory in 2008? 2) Did the election and the re-election of an African American to the presidency show that the United States is now a “post-racial” society? Explain why it has or why it has not.
REMINDERS ABOUT THIS ESSAY:
YOU ARE EXPECTED TO RESPOND TO BOTH PARTS (1 AND 2) OF THIS QUESTION AND YOUR RESPONSE MUST INCLUDE SPECIFIC SUPPORTING EVIDENCE (EVENTS, CONDITIONS, OR SITUATIONS, ETC.). YOUR EVIDENCE WILL, I’M SURE, INCLUDE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (1950s – 1960s) BUT YOU MUST ALSO COVER THE POST-CIVIL RIGHTS ERA (ex. 1980s – 2000s) AND THE 2008 NATIONAL ELECTION. DO NOT INCLUDE ANY EVENTS OR SITUATIONS PRE-1900 – IN OTHER WORDS, THIS IS NOT AN ESSAY ABOUT SLAVERY, THE CIVIL WAR, RECONSTRUCTION, OR THE POST-RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD.
