Posted: September 13th, 2017

Looking at "The New Negro"

Looking at “The New Negro”

Instructions from Professor:

Reading Visual Sources:
During the first two weeks of the course, we have practiced close reading primary texts as well as engaging the arguments of secondary texts. All of our work has focused upon formal, written texts. In this assignment, you will analyze a different medium of expression: a visual text. Here, the text I want you to analyze is ?The New Negro,? (the cartoon that appears on the attached pdf.).

This cartoon first appeared in a book entitled, The Negro in Chicago, 1779-1927 (1927), published by the Washington Intercollegiate Club of Chicago. Known as the ?Wonder Book,? the text celebrated the achievements of black Chicagoans. The Intercollegiate Club was, as its name suggests, an organization for Chicago?s black upper crust. The reading deals with the relationship between old and new settlers in Chicago; the author argues that poor southern migrants drove changes in black religious life during this period. The comic presents a distinctively different perspective.

The goal of this short paper is to have you close read the text and, through this careful engagement, to construct an argument about what this text does. I am less interested in the ?truth? of your argument, than I am in your ability to engage with elements of the picture and relate them to the ideas, challenges, and goals surrounding Negros of the time.

While you will want to think through all of the questions discussed in relation to primary sources, you will also want to consider the specific type of media that you are looking at. How do visual texts differ from written ones? In preparation for making an argument, it may be helpful to spend some time simply describing the elements of the picture. Once you have a good handle on the visual elements in the picture, you may find it easier to think about what they mean.

In thinking about the comic?s meaning, the goal is to think about what the picture would have meant in 1927. Understanding this requires you not only to think historically about the various visual elements of the picture, but also to think about the conditions of its production.

A successful paper will:

– Engage in close analysis of the primary ?text? (here, a cartoon)
– Articulate a clear, concise, and interesting argument anchored in the primary text
– Support that argument with evidence

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT