choose one of these topics and write and essay about it
Inquiry Questions (2 page brief paper)
Students are required to select only one from the list and complete a 2 page brief narrative paper.
(Include a “Works Cited” page with 2-3 sources)
1-Who were the “Carpetbaggers?” (subject: Reconstruction)
2-Who was Booker T. Washington? (subject: activist)
3-Who was Ida B. Wells and how did she use the media of the day to expose racism? (subject: Activist)
4-What was the Pinkerton Agency? (subject: Detective agency)
5-What were the circumstances involved in President James Garfield’s Assassination? (Politics)
6-What was Tammany Hall and how did they operate? (subject: Political machine)
7-Briefly describe the Homestead Strike of 1892. (subject: Labor Union)
8-What are the origins of the Statue of Liberty? (culture)
9-What was Morgan Robertson’s 1898 book, Futility, about and why is it ironic within historical events? (subject: HMS Titanic tie-in)
10-Who was Jane Addams and how did her establishment of Hull-House assist American urban society at the turn of the century? (subject: social work)
11-What was significant about the trial, conviction, and execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti? {The Trial of the Century/Sacco & Vanzetti trial} (subject: Crime)
12-Brief overview on the importance of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. (subject: culture/literature)
13-How did new wartime technology account for the high casualties of World War I? (subject: war)
14-What was the so called “Blacksox Scandal” of 1919? (subject: sports)
15-Who was Charles Lindbergh and why was he known as “Lucky Lindy?” (subject: culture & aviation)
16–Who was Amelia Earhart? (subject: culture& aviation)
17-What was the Bonus Expeditionary Force (BEF) and why did President Herbert Hoover drive them out of Washington D.C. in 1932? (subject: Politics)
18-What was the cultural impact of the 1925 “scopes Trial” in Dayton Tennessee? (subject: culture/evolution)
19-Describe and analyze any major U.S. battle within World War II (ex. Battle of Tarawa, D-day, Battle of the Bulge). (subject: war)
20-Who was Glenn Miller and what were his contributions to pop bulture and the war effort? (subject: music/war)
21-What contribution did Jackie Robinson make to baseball in 1947? (subject: sports/civil rights)
22-What was the significance of the 1945 Yalta Conference? (subject: Foreign Policy)
23-Why were the Rosenbergs (both Julius & Ethel) executed? (subject: Politics/cold war)
24-Who was Marilyn Monroe and how did she become an American icon? (subject: pop culture)
25-Why did President Truman remove General Douglas MacArthur as commander of all U.S. forces in Korea in 1951? (subject: politics)
26-How did a cocker spaniel, named “Checkers,” save the political career of Richard Nixon in the 1950s? (subject: politics)
27-What was Sputnik and why did it concern America? (subject: politics/cold war)
28-Who was Cesar Chavez and what was his contributions to migrant labor? (subject: civil rights/labor)
29-Describe President John Kennedy’s Administration’s involvement in Vietnam in the early sixties (subject: covert operations/politics)
30-What went wrong during the U.S. sponsored Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961? (subject: covert operations/politics)
31-Analytical overview of a civil rights activist (ex. Ella baker, Malcolm X, James Farmer. & Martin Luther King. (Subject: civil rights)
32-Who was Andy Warhol? (subject: pop culture)
33-describe the meteoric popularity of Elvis Presley. (subject: pop culture)
34-What was the Battle of KheSanh in Vietnam in 1968? (subject: war)
35-What was the story behind Neil Armstrong’s statement: “that was one small step for a man and a great leap for mankind.” (subject: space)
36-Who was Mark Felt and what role did he play in the Watergate Scandal? (subject: politics)
37-Bridfly describe the rise and fall of Disco during the late 1970s. (subject: pop culture)
38-How did the Energy Crisis affect the U.S. in 1973? (subject: politics/economy)
39-Describe the origins of “Earth Day” (April 22, 1970). (subject: environmentalism)
40-What was a 1980s era Yuppie? (subject: pop culture)
41-How did the 1999 shooting spree at Columbine high school in Littleton, Colorado change America? (Subject: crime)
42-What sort of terror attack occurred in Oklahoma City in April of 1995? (subject: terrorism)
43-What was the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s? (subject: politics)
44-What was the circumstances behind President Bill Clinton’s Impeachment? (subject: politics)
45-What was the Y2K scare? (subject: culture/technology)
46-select a popular top ten song that served as a direct commentary of the times of which it was produced. In other words it reflected the times (1960s-2000). Example: Bob Dylan’s “Times are achanging” / (subject: pop culture)