Explain how do these first-hand accounts shape and/or reshape what you are learning/believe about their larger contexts (the ideas and arguments found in secondary sources)?

Your first of two short papers this semester will ask you to develop an interpretive thesis about primary sources. An interpretive thesis is a judgement that you make about the relevance (historical, political, social, or economic) of a primary source. Remember that primary sources are first hand accounts or testimonies of an historical event or moment that is being studied. Piri Thomas’ memoir, for example, is a first-hand account from the Puerto Rican independence movement in New York City during the 1960s. As a writer and artist from that time period, Thomas’ autobiographical work provides us with insight about poverty and racism for the Puerto Rican and larger Latinx communities of New York City during what is known as the Post-Civil Rights Era. Your task, then, is to examine 3-4 primary sources and develop an argument about why they are historically, politically, socially, and/or economically relevant. The essay’s organization should center around the interpretive thesis — usually a sentence or small group of sentences — that specifically and explicitly state(s) your judgment about these sources and your reason(s) for reaching it. It also connects these primary sources by pointing out ways in which they connect to one another. Ultimately, your judgment should address the larger question surrounding first-hand accounts: how do these first-hand accounts shape and/or reshape what you are learning/believe about their larger contexts (the ideas and arguments found in secondary sources)? Primary sources from a moment or event of historical significance from your academic or professional area. These will vary from field to field and event to event, so make sure that you review your annotated bibliographies.