Critical Thinking Essay
Objective:
The purpose of this essay is to make explicit connections that draw from the material presented
in lecture, film screenings, and readings for that week. Students papers will be graded on the
criteria below. We are not simply looking for a regurgitation of the material, rather a rigorous
attempt to place various sources of information in critical dialogue with one another.
Each essay must have the following criteria:
❏ Cover page with original title, student name, name of section instructor, name of course
instructor, and date.
❏ Must be 1.5 pages long or 300¬-500 words, single spaced, and 12 pt. Times New Roman
Font.
❏ Thesis must begin with: “In this paper, I argue …,” “This paper argues …,” or something
similar to signals to the reader your argument.
❏ Must reference both films that were screened in lecture that week.
Film 1: Race: The Power of an Illusion (2003)
Film 2: The Only Good Indian (2009)
❏ Must provide one quote from one of the readings for that week.
❏ Must make one reference to material presented in lecture.

Prompt:
We began this course discussing the way knowledge is constructed. In this essay, students
should reflect on racial constructions that emerged as the U.S. was emerging as a nation¬state.
The process of building nation¬ states demands that notions of citizenship become clearly
defined. At a time when the U.S. was expanding it’s territory, did perceptions of Native
Americans and African Americans change, if so how, if not, why not? Reflect on how the nation
reconciles with the practice of slavery at a time when it proclaims that “all men are created
equal.” Furthermore, demonstrate how the Indian boarding school experiment was a
manifestation of an institutionalization of conquest for Indigenous people and how does this
process challenges the “myth of conquest” that was presented in lecture