essay

Common Assignment Essay

Objective of this Assignment: This assignment will be used to evaluate student progress on the

course learning objectives. The assignment will be uploaded as a file on Blackboard.

Instructions: Students will follow the process outlined below to guide them in the development of a comparative essay. The essay should be approximately 700-1000 words, and should include footnotes.

➢ Step One: Essay Purpose / Relevance / The Task of a Historian

o Purpose: Students should consider why the topic of memorializing the Mexican

American War is a contemporary problem facing historians.

o Task of a Historian: Your work should clearly communicate the purpose of public history

sites (museums / battlegrounds / memorials), the current struggle between art and truth,

the reasons why this event has been ignored by previous generations / administrations,

and the societal impact of neglecting a major historic event.

o Relevance: Your work should consider the current facilities and public history sites

dedicated to honoring this event and its participants, as well as the funding and

supporters associated with those sites. (At a minimum you should examine the facilities

in Texas, however, there are links provided to steer you to other state /federal facilities).

Furthermore, you should consider the message provided at those sites / exhibits and

whether this message is satisfactory given the mission of public historians.

o You may copy and paste sections of your source analysis from the previous essay, just

pay attention to flow and be sure to utilize footnotes.

➢ Step Two: You must use these two sources. Read these first so you can understand the war,

and how it has or has not been remembered.

o REQUIRED SOURCE--"1848/1898: Memorial Day, Places of Memory, and Imperial Amnesia" by Amy Greenberg in JSTOR

o REQUIRED SOURCE--"The Annexation of Texas and the Mexican War" by Z.T. Fulmore in JSTOR

➢ Step Three: Study the information on current Mexican American War exhibits, battlegrounds,

monuments, dedications, etc. I have organized the suggested resources, emphasizing Texas

sites in the highly suggested category.

o Highly Suggested Sources:

▪ Palo Alto Battlegrounds: https://www.nps.gov/paal/learn/historyculture/places.htm

▪ Brazos Veteran’s Park: http://www.bvvm.org/photos/

▪ Mexican American War Exhibit for BVVM: https://www.theeagle.com/news/local/new-

memorial-at-veterans-park-honors-marines-valor-at-the/article_7b08cdbb-5899-5a12-

bdcd-014ebd3514fc.html

▪ Capitol 360 View of Mexican American War acknowledgement:

https://tspb.texas.gov/prop/tc/tc-spaces/spaces09.html

▪ Capitol Monuments: https://tspb.texas.gov/prop/tcg/tcg-monuments/index.html

o Potentially Useful Sources:

▪ Artist Motivation: https://www.insitebrazosvalley.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/j-payne-lara-

sculpting-a-soul/

▪ Smithsonian: https://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/printable/section.asp?id=4

▪ West Point: https://history.army.mil/museums/IMCOM/westPoint/index.html#about

▪ http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mexican.htm

▪ https://www.revolvy.com/page/List-of-Mexican%E2%80%93American-War-monuments-

and-memorials

▪ Maryland Monument: http://www.mdhs.org/underbelly/2013/01/24/to-die-is-gain-

memory-and-the-u-s-mexican-war-in-maryland/

▪ *There are other articles available in the EBSCO-affiliated databases. For instance,

there are articles related to funding of the Palo Alto Battlegrounds. You may want to

search the library databases for more useful source material.

▪ **Don’t be afraid of social media. What does #MexicanAmericanWar (twitter) offer in

terms of posts, conversation, etc.? Are there attempts to create digital public history

spaces to supplement the lack of physical memorials?

➢ Step Four: Study scholarly views regarding memorials / museums. All three sources are

located in JSTOR. At least two of these sources should be referenced in your essay.

o Hacker, Barton C., and Margaret Vining. "Military Museums and Social History." In Does

War Belong in Museums?: The Representation of Violence in Exhibitions, edited by

Muchitsch Wolfgang, 41-60. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2013. http://0-

www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/j.ctv1wxr1z.6.

o SODARO, AMY. "MEMORIAL MUSEUMS: Promises and Limits." In Exhibiting Atrocity:

Memorial Museums and the Politics of Past Violence, 162-84. New Brunswick, Camden,

Newark, New Jersey; London: Rutgers University Press, 2018.

doi:10.2307/j.ctt1v2xskk.11.

o Crane, Susan A. "Memory, Distortion, and History in the Museum." History and Theory

36, no. 4 (1997): 44-63. http://0-www.jstor.org.libcat.sanjac.edu/stable/2505574.

Formatting and Organization: The essay must be typed and follow college writing standards, e.g.

no fragments, use appropriate grammar, develop an introductory statement and provide a conclusion,

etc. No title page necessary. Your font should be either 11 or 12 pt. Your spacing should 1.15 or 1.5

and margins should be reasonable. Do not use texting language. Spell out numbers.

Your sources should be both footnoted and included in a works cited section at the end of your essay.

A footnote should exist at the end of a sentence ONLY when a quote has been included in the

sentence, otherwise, the footnote should exist at the end of the paragraph. Any acronyms or data that

need to be further clarified may also be included in the footnote. See the screenshots and tips file for

more assistance.

Sources should be provided in Chicago Style format. I have provided the citation for the museum

scholars in Step Four, so just copy and paste where appropriate. You should have the citation for the

required sources in Part Two. If you use web-based articles or ebooks, then you should provide the

full web address. Purdue is a useful online site to assist with formatting citations.

• Purdue Citation Resource:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_

style_guide/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html