Interesting essay question

Essay 2 is an excellent opportunity for you to focus on the learning that is most important to you from this class by choosing two writers who are special to you.  The centerpiece of the essay is this:  You must convince the staff of the museum that you have selected the right quotes from your reading this semester, quotes from one male and a female writer whose life and writing will help fulfill the museum's goals. While you are writing, be sure to use research and your own analysis to support your argument that both the author and his/her words will represent its mission to “use African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American.”  

 Your job is to persuade the museum that these are the right quotes.  That will necessarily involve some biographical research, but at the core this is an argumentative paper, not a biography of two writers.  You should, of course, use their biography as a part of your case for why these should be included, but your main goal is to convince the museum (and me) that these are the right quotes to place in front of the museum.  It might even help to imagine you are writing a letter to the museum!

Please review the guidelines carefully and ask me if you have questions!

Further directions and authors with their writings to choose are in attachment.