College Essay On “Colorism”
Your essay assignment involves responding to and taking a position on the term “colorism” and “anti-blackness” and how these ideas still impacts the social and racial dynamics within the construct of not only people of African descent and their communities, but other people of color such as LatinX, Asian, Filipino and Pacific Islanders, respectively. This is an opportunity for you to make connections regarding intersectionality across all color-lines, and to demonstrate the similarities and the difficulties various ethnic groups deal with in navigating, the issue of color discrimination. Your essay must be five double-spaced pages specifically addressing the topic given below. Refer to your “Formal Essay Guidelines” handout for details about essay policies and formatting guidelines. Carefully reread the documents provided which discuss colorism and anti-blackness. Make sure to prepare yourself to use information from those online pdfs to help you support and clarify your own points and ideas. To help you with developing and organizing ideas for your essay, plan out your ideas on your Planning & Prewriting Worksheet (handout) before writing your first draft. Feel free to discuss your ideas and drafts with me and/or a tutor, and go to the Writing/Reading Lab in the Learning Center (Bldg. 5) to get additional assistance on your essay.
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ESSAY TOPIC
The concept of colorism within various communities of color has plague those with darker skin complexions and afforded others with lighter skin tones with privilege and the ability to use their lightskinned privilege to navigate a world of racial and identity politics. In your essay, demonstrate how complex issues around colorism proposes on both sides of the spectrum. What are the overarching themes and concerns that presents itself with color being at the center of social, cultural, political and economic opportunities in our society. Present in your essay, why most people tend to cater toward lighter-skinned individuals versus darker-skinned individuals and how this provides a hierarchy of racial positionality, and a level of social status and privilege
Show through quotes, analysis, and the use of other sources how colorism and anti-blackness work as a contrived system to incarcerate black and brown people from a mental and psychological perspective. Draw upon historic evidence to support your claims. Carefully consider all the readings you have critiqued, and used
them as a point of entry to make your position. In your essay of five pages, discuss whether or not you believe colorism negatively or positively impact black in brown folks in society at large.
Remember to do the following in your essay: 1) state your own position in your thesis statement; and 2) support your thesis by discussing specific points that address your position in any article or academic journal use from your research. All in all, your essay will include a combination of your own ideas, analysis, observations, and examples/details as they relate to the main points of your selected readings.
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Your final draft will be graded on the following:
1) an insightful thesis statement that clearly reveals your response to and position on colorism and your main argument
2) accurate use of information (examples, details/specifics, quotes, etc.) from journals and articles researched to provide strong opinions/ideas
3) thoughtful, sophisticated analysis and discussion of the details you’ve included from academic journals and books (Show your own insight and ideas! Do NOT simply repeat and retell what your readings have already stated.
4) development of your own ideas with coherent and clear explanations in a minimum of 4 body paragraphs (Again, do NOT simply summarize the details from the book. Use details from all sources in conjunction with your own ideas/observations/opinions. Your own insight and ideas are needed to explain why you have the opinions you have and how the details in the book relate to your own opinions and ideas.
5) unity (Information, ideas, analysis, explanations and so forth must stay focused on supporting your thesis.)
6) coherence (Use transitions/strong connections to link ideas between your paragraphs and within your paragraphs.)
7) organization (Ideas must follow a logical organizational pattern. Don’t jump around from one idea to the next. Have a clear, logical progression in your thoughts. Outlining/prewriting will really help here.)
8) clarity and presentation— crisp and clear word usage, sentences, logic, format, structure and so on
9) proofreading, editing, correctness, and sentence sophistication—correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar, as well as varied and sophisticated sentence structures—Get help outside of class! Final drafts should be error-free.
10) accurate and correct citations and formatting of quoted material and Works Cited page using MLA standards
11) an original and creative title for your essay
12) Use 5-6 sources (e.g. three credible book sources and three scholarly journal)
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