Introduction

Your Personal Reflection is meant to be more meaningful and introspective for you than the previous two major papers we’ve written. You are welcomed (and encouraged!) to make this as creative and unique as possible. I still ask that you meld this creativity with historical rigor. That means providing evidence for what you’re saying or arguing, but you can still present this evidence in a creative or unique fashion. You can use slang, infinite wit, sarcasm, screenshots and photos in the body of the paper, upload videos as supporting evidence, whatever you want.

PROMPT

This paper begins with a broad premise: select a personal artifact and connect that artifact to a broader history. The personal artifact can be anything that is currently, or once was, in your possession. Souvenir, clothing, photograph, book, computer, furniture, anything. Essentially, think of this as show-and-tell but for a college level history class.

Once you have identified your artifact, your Personal Reflection must do the following, although not necessarily in this order:

Tell the story of how you acquired the artifact.
Discuss the personal meaning of the artifact.
After some independent investigation and research, discuss how your artifact tells a larger history.
This can mean American history; West Indian history; Chinese history; labor history; history of race; music history; sports history; television history; any kind of history, so long as you make the connection.
SOURCES

In order to make that connection you must utilize sources outside your own memory. Remember this is a history class, we need to source outside material.

Sources can include:
The material we’ve used directly in class, such as our assigned books, readings, PowerPoints, videos, music, etc.
Material you’ve independently researched.
Family members or friends.
I imagine a lot of these artifacts were gathered in the company of others, so their oral histories and memories can help you out