The readings we have done in this second section of class have focused on race, social class, and gender (Pygmalion, The Souls of Black Folk, Up from Slavery, Quicksand, Life in the Iron Mills, Jury of Her Peers.  For this essay I would like you to think about your own identity-in-progress, and reflect upon the ways that social and cultural positions have helped to shape the way you experience what it is to be “yourself.”  In a sense, this essay is about telling the story of how you have come to be you by using the lens of the social and cultural settings we grow up inside of.  Your essay should think about such matters as race, class,  and gender as you consider the various ways you’ve been taught to think about who you are.