English Composition

English Composition Study Guide

©2018 of 84 slavery, which the city chose to honor, “It was dedicated in 1964, the year Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” Creating a monument to a man whose endeavors would have kept people enslaved had he succeeded on the same day as the honor of a Nobel Peace Prize was presented to Dr. King, who fought against so much of Davis’ principles, was an insult to Dr. King and to the Civil Rights Movement. Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder and first of the Ku Klux Klan, a group devoted to making the “white” race the better one; used his group to perform cross burnings, lynching, threats, terrorism, and murder simply because people had darker skin than theirs. Despite being such a horrible person he still received a status in Memphis, TN – again a predomenatly black community. This monument stood in a public city park for more than a century. Although it has since been removed. Brent Staples says, “A Tennessee state law passed in 1969 still requires the governor to issue a yearly proclamation commemorating July 13 as a day to honor Forrest.” A law that honors someone who encourages just horrible acts is the opposite of the principles on which America was founded. The city of Memphis finally removed both the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis. While there are people who believe that the removal of these monuments is a violation of their own civil rights, the fact of the matter is that the horrors represented by the images of Forrest and Davis should never be condoned, especially not by the government whose job is to protect ALL people! Their faces should never give the impression that they are an indication of the history that this country or the state of Tennessee is most proud. Brent Stapes sums it up best in his final paragraph of “Monuments to White Supremacy” by stating, “Tennessee lawmakers can no longer plausibly deny the white supremacist origins of the Confederate monument movement”. It would be a mistake for legislators to get upset by the public wanting to remove the monuments of Forrest from Memphis by further limiting the rights of towns that want to be rid of Confederate memorials. If lawmakers take that approach, then TN will and should be mocked for trying to turn back the time to the 1900’s when slavery was still okay; which it should have never been in the first place. Average Response Analysis: The introductory paragraph provides the reader with a clear understanding of the stance the writer is taking in the argumentative response. While it does not address counter claims in the first paragraph, it does a good job of making one clear point. While the body paragraphs of the writing are answering the prompt, there is not sufficient evidence or analysis to truly develop the points being made and sway the reader to agree with the argument. The writer correctly cites examples from the text, but generally only one example per body paragraph is used, leaving the argument weaker than if the writer had included additional examples. The body paragraphs would be stronger with a clear topic sentence, multiple examples to support the argument, and a clear concluding statement at the end of each to help transition to a new idea. The writer also fails to address the other side of the argument. The argumentation essay should mention the opposing argument, and then provide support to prove why that stance is wrong. Weak Response Example: So the topic is Monuments to wite supremacy. I think that there are a cuple of reasons why we should remove those monuments: • They remind us of a bad time in our history Achieve Page 73