Final Examination Study Guide – US History Since 1877
Fall 2008

Unlike the other exams to date, there will be two parts to the final, an identification section and an essay section.

Part I - In this section, I will give you five of the terms below and you will identify three of them.  A good identification will include three elements: 1) historical context, 2) historical facts, and 3) historical significance.  Typically, this will mean writing one or two full paragraphs, although the trick here is to be thorough as well as concise.  You should use all relevant sources (lectures, discussions, books, films, etc.) to identify the given terms.  Each identification response is worth a possible 20 points, for a total of 60 points.  

Truman Doctrine
Taft-Hartley Act
Acid Rock
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
GI Antiwar Movement
CORE
SNCC
Freedom Summer
Brown v. Board of Education
Civil Rights Act
Black Panther Party
John F. Kennedy
Geneva Accords
Stagflation
Elvis Presley
Woodstock
Hollywood Ten
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Voting Rights Act

Part II - The second section of your exam will consist of one of the following open-ended essay questions (I will not give you a choice).  The emphasis here is on your ability to make a persuasive historical argument, writing a coherent response that marshals evidence for one or another interpretation.  This requires a good deal of independent, critical thinking on your part.  As with the first section, you should use all relevant sources (lectures, discussions, books, films, etc.).   Your response is worth a possible 40 points.

1 - Speaking to members of Congress in 1947, President Truman emphasized the importance of helping “free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes.”  Did US foreign policy and military intervention in Vietnam reflect a commitment to these principles?  If so, how?  If not, what is evidence to the contrary?

2 – In the introduction to his 1903 book Souls of Black Folk, WEB Dubois wrote, “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.”  How did African Americans address the problem of racism (in its various manifestations) from the start of World War II to the late twentieth century?  What organizations did they establish for the purpose?  What tactics did they use?  What goals did they seek to achieve?  How did these organizations, tactics, and goals change over time?