Prep Memo #2: Where Do We Go From Here? The Unfinished Work of the Civil Rights Movement

Assignment Overview

In this two-part assessment, you will analyze and compare Bayard Rustin’s “From Protest to Politics” and Martin Luther King’s “Where Do We Go From Here?” Both authors are writing in the immediate aftermath of major civil rights legislation and both argue that the movement’s work is unfinished. However, they disagree, sometimes sharply about what that unfinished work actually is and how it should be pursued.

Part 1: Prep Memo

Due: Wednesday, April 8 at 11:59 PM
Length: 3–4 pages
Format: Chicago

Sample Prep Memo

Guiding Questions

Your memo should address all of the following:

Historical Urgency

What specific historical problem is each author confronting? What does each author see as the central remaining crisis?

Core Claim

What do Rustin and King each argue is the next necessary task for the movement?

Textual Evidence

Select one passage from each text that you believe is doing the most important argumentative work. In two to three sentences explain why this passage matters to the overall argument.

Tips for Success

Ground your analysis in specific passages from the texts. Use direct quotation to support claims about what he is arguing and what he is inheriting.
Distinguish between what each author explicitly states and what he assumes or implies.
Attend to the differences not just in strategy but in diagnosis.
Attend to nuance. Avoid reducing each thinker to a charicature.

Part 2: Graded Seminar Discussion

Date: Thursday, April 9 (Full Period)

In seminar, you will defend your analysis, engage with peers’ interpretations, and develop your genealogical thinking in real time.

Evaluation Criteria

Your seminar performance will be evaluated according to the following three dimensions:

Evidence of Deep Reading (40%)

Ability to cite Rustin and King with accuracy
Use of evidence to support claims rather than assertion alone
Distinction between authors’ explicit arguments and his underlying assumptions

Quality of Argument (30%)

Clarity and specificity of your position
Ability to give reasons, not just conclusions
Responsiveness to the quetions being asked and debated

Intellectual Honesty (30)

Acknowledgment of complexities and tensions in both arguments’s argument
Willingness to revise thinking based on peer contributions
Distinction between genuine inquiry and performance of knowledge

What to Prepare

For the memo: Close, annotated reading of King’s and Rustin’s essay. Have specific passages marked that you might cite.
For the seminar: Be ready to discuss, listen carefully to peers, and ask clarifying questions.