In 1926, Langston Hughes wrote the poem “I, Too” Links to an external site. as a response to Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.” Hughes felt that Whitman’s poem sang America’s praises but failed to address the inequality and oppression that many Americans experienced throughout the 17th-20th centuries. In “I, Too”, Hughes describes his experience as a Black man in America, as well as his hope for the future. In our first essay, we will do the same. Now that you have read several texts that offer a poet’s view of America, it’s now your turn to offer a 21st century college student’s view of America. What is your dream for America? Consider the following guiding questions as you think about this topic: What does an ideal America look like to you? What do you want America to look like, sound like, feel like? Why is this dream important? How will your dream make a better nation? How can we achieve this dream?
Requirements: This essay must have the standard elements of an essay: introduction/thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Your introduction and thesis statement should focus or set up the main idea or main argument of your essay. Then, each body paragraph should provide evidence to support your thesis and should stay on one topic at a time. The conclusion should answer the following questions: SO WHAT and NOW WHAT. The “so what” is why this topic should matter to your reader. The “now what” (sometimes referred to as the “Call to Action”) is an explanation of what we should do now that we have read your essay. This essay must follow the conventions of good writing and will be graded on the basis of these conventions: organization, focus, development (support/details), clarity of ideas, and grammatical correctness. Since this is a personal essay, you may use the first person point of view (I, me/my/mine, we/us/our/ours). This essay must have at least five (5) paragraphs and must be at least two (2) pages in length. Please do not exceed three (3) pages. This essay must be written in proper MLA format. This essay must be an original work of your own and not plagiarized in any way. This essay does not require you to use class readings or outside sources in the essay itself. However, if you do, you must cite those sources correctly in MLA format
