Chapter 5 Option 1 for Chapter 5: Property ownership offers a path to wealth acc

Chapter 5
Option 1 for Chapter 5: Property ownership offers a path to wealth accumulation. In addition to blocking minorities using illegal tactics such as redlining drove property values down which prevented emerging middle class minority families from accumulating wealth at the same rates as white homeowners. It is also argued that this led to “ghettos” and other enclaves where poverty became rampant. If we look at what is happening today with continued housing segregation, it has been said that ending residential segregation in the United States is going to require a “moral commitment” from white America to make different choices about where to live. What is meant by “moral commitment,” and why is this commitment necessary from white America in order to end segregation? Of the three possible causes of segregation discussed in this chapter (economic factors, personal choice, and housing discrimination), which one do you think is the primary, or most important, cause of segregation today?
Chapter 6
Option 2 for chapter 6: After Japanese fighter pilots bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, prejudice and paranoia directed at Japanese Americans boiled over, and Japanese Americans were seen as “the enemy within our borders.” Compare and contrast the treatment of Japanese Americans following Pearl Harbor with the treatment of Arab Americans who were labeled as “Public Enemy #1” following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Chapter 7
Option 1 for chapter 7: The “Booker T. vs. W.E.B.” Contrasting perspectives on the best role of education for African Americans is one of the most notable historical debates with long running implications on this topic. Compare and contrast Booker T. Washington’s and W.E.B. Du Bois’s positions on the role of education in addressing racism and racial inequality in society as you understand it from the reading. From Du Bois’s perspective, why was Washington wrong about the issue (consider not only the question of access but also changes in culture, technological needs, etc. that have made vocational training highly coveted)?