Should Condeferate Monuments be kept up?

Paper Two Position Paper: What Shall We Do With Confederate Monuments?

This paper is a position paper that supports a specific point of view in a controversial setting. The model paper that we reviewed in class (Why Iran Should Get the Bomb) is a very good example of how to construct a position that argues fairly both (all) sides of the issue. You should do this in your paper.

What should we do with the Confederate statues and monuments commemorating Civil War figures?

National myths serve the purpose of telling the story of a people and what we should believe about ourselves. These stories are aided by symbols to help visualize, memorialize and even sacralize (make sacred, holy) that story.

One strong narrative is symbolized by the statues and monuments commemorating Confederate Civil War leaders, such as but not limited to Robert E. Lee. For your paper, first see the lecture one scholar’s coming to terms with the person and memory of Robert E. Lee in the video lecture from Ty Seidule, author of Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerners reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause (St. Martins Press, 2020)

Video to be viewed:

Then, in your paper make reference to this scholars examination of this narrative of the Myth of the Lost Cause. What is it, how and by whom was it shaped, and to what end was this narrative created? Examine this narrative more closely to discover the message behind the symbols. Here are some further general questions about the Confederate war monuments that should be examined:

-Where are most of the Civil War monuments in the US? What do they commemorate?

When, and by whom were the Confederate monuments erected and why?

What is the historical context of the erecting those Confederate statues?

What is the story (myth, narrative) that these statues seek to communicate, and who do they honor? Is this an inclusive message or does it seek to exclude or marginalize some?

What role do these symbols play today? Who should decide what happens to these Confederate monuments?

With this informing your view, offer your thoughts as to what should be done with these Confederate statues in light of Americas story and elaborate what narrative your suggested actions with the statues is meant to convey.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Papers will be 1400 10% words (double- spaced) essays.

Submit the paper to Canvas by the due date. Late papers will lose 5 points for each day late, up to 4 days. After 4 days the paper will not be accepted.

Students should use MLA style format.

. Work turned in that does not conform to recognized academic standards will be appropriately penalized.

Submit your papers without your name; use your Student ID number for identification. This is so that I can fairly grade your work without implicit bias as to who has submitted the paper. Be careful that if you are using the OU software, it often will put your last name in the header of your document.

Submit your paper in .doc or .docx format only, (not PDF) so that I can add comments to your work.

Name your document this way: by student ID number followed by the class number, then document option. Example: 081xxxx COR 302-00y Paper 2 (x indicates the remainder of your ID number, y indicates your section number)

Dont use first person references (e.g., I believe, I think). Argue instead from the data (e.g., the research demonstrates…). See the model essay on how the author makes his point, shares his view, without stating I believe or I think.

Note about sources:

Your paper needs to include 3 scholarly sources (i.e., reputable and acceptable by academic standards, such as peer-reviewed journals articles, chapters or portions from books, and other like sources).

E-Journal articles obtainable through our library search or Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) are acceptable.

Newspaper articles from reputable newspapers (not tabloids) are acceptable, but these usually reference a single event in time and are likely not very useful in giving an overview.

Wikipedia should not be cited as a source. However, Wikipedia is useful in two significant ways, namely, a) if you know little about the topic, it can introduce it to you, and b) the hyperlinks in the notes can lead you to good and reputable sources.

Accessing partisan (one-sided) websites is useful to find out about the arguments for and against your topic and can be cited with certain qualifications, usually acknowledging the partisanship of the source (example: referencing the Russian news service on the war in Ukraine). However, they should be only sparingly used, and need to be counter-balanced in a position paper.

I want you to use in-text citations and direct quotes from the scholarly articles attached.