U.S. History Honors - Biography Project

The purpose of this project is to see history through the lens of individual experience, while further developing your research and analytic writing skills. Through interviews, primary source material, and secondary research, you will write a biographical essay that brings your subject to life on the page as well as sets him/her into a broader historical context of 20th-century U.S. history.

STAGE I: SELECT A SUBJECT.

1. Find a person over 60 years old. He or She CANNOT be someone you know well.

2. Describe the project, per the paragraph at the top. Be clear that you will be writing a biographical essay, rather than a comprehensive biography of his/her entire life.

3. Talk to your potential subject to ensure he/she will be an appropriate person to interview for this project. Consider the following criteria:

• someone who has stories to tell, who is eager to talk to you -- ESSENTIAL

• someone easily accessible to you -- you must interview them IN PERSON

- available for an initial 2-hour interview, in person

- available for follow-up questions: could be in-person, or via phone or e-mail

- be clear how the interview works: you will have a range of questions about their life and their thoughts about different aspects of the 20th-century in the United States; however, they can skip any question/topic for any reason

• someone whose life experiences allow you to explore some key aspect of 20th-century U.S. history

- be explicit with him/her upfront to ensure this required component will work

- you will be doing library research on a topic relevant to his/her life

- it can be something they participated in directly (e.g., one of the Freedom Riders, WWII veteran or an anti-war activist during Vietnam) or it can be some aspect of U.S. history that had a significant impact on his/her life, (e.g., affected deeply by growing up during Watergate/McCarthyism or impact of his/her admiration for FDR, Rachel Carson, or Cesar Chavez)

- it must be something that they can discuss with you in some detail, in terms of how this topic (event, person, movement, etc.) affected his/her life/beliefs/values, etc.

4. Turn in a Typed Subject Choice Description that includes two paragraphs:

- one paragraph with

-- the full name of your subject

-- his/her current location and connection to you

-- what you already know about significant developments in your subject's life

- one paragraph on why you chose this particular person