PAPER THREE

For the third and last paper in HSTAA 303, you will perform a close reading of the source embedded below and put it in conversation with ONE of the sources from your earlier papers (either the Puck cartoon or the Medina deed of sale). This paper should be 5-6 pages in length and respond to the comments and feedback you have received on the earlier two papers through necessary adjustments to structure, analysis, style, etc.

The new source you will be considering is a clip from the first five minutes of the long-running conservative news and commentary program, Firing Line, hosted by William F. Buckley and running on public television from 1966 to 1999. The clip features conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and Ann Scott of the National Organization for Women presenting their views on the Equal Rights Amendment.

In the paper, closely read and analyze this source and compare/contrast it to one of the two sources you wrote about before to address the following questions:

How has citizenship been defined and redefined in the United States during the twentieth century? How have prevailing defintions been constructed (through policy, media, culture, etc.) and how have they been contested?

Keep in mind that contestation of prevailing ideas can come from the right end of the political/cultural spectrum as well as the left.

Some general reminders about primary source analysis of relevance to this Firing Line piece:

• Consider the source as a product of a particular time and place.  Analyze how its approach, tone, or visual content reveal values and opinions about particular people, groups, or institutions. 
• Consider who is creating the source, what’s going on at the moment of its creation, who or what is its subject, who is its intended audience, and how and why the perspectives of author, subject, and audience might differ. 
• Note the curatorial/archival context in which it is being presented, and the messages that the preservation and presentation of the document give us about the document’s perceived historical value.  (You Tube is one place where this clip can be found. What does its presence tell us about the state of historical archives and 'reliable sources' in the age of the Internet?)
• Identify what is surprising about this source, and where it might challenge prevailing historical interpretations of a period.
• Draw upon class readings and lecture notes to contextualize the document, using parenthetical documentation when citing particular passages or arguments from the readings.  Lectures do not need to be cited.

You may find it useful to do some background research on William F. Buckley, Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum, and the sequence of events that led to the failure of ERA ratification.

Firing Line with William F. Buckley, Jr., "The Equal Rights Amendment," originally telecast April 15, 1973