History of the Americas I Summer Research Project
Juniors - Summer 2016
Course Overview
History of the Americas is a two year study of history that includes studies of the United States, Latin America, Canada,
as well as the world during the twentieth century. This course will delve into the who, when, why, what, where, and
how of many specific topics. You will write an internal assessment, a research paper, during your senior year as the part
of your final grade for this course. Your final assessment (IB exam) will be given at the end of the second year and will
be in the form of 3 essays:



Document based assessment with 4 short answers
2 questions (from 30 choices) covering 20th century world topics
3 questions (from 25 choices) covering US, Latin America, and Canada
These answers will require detailed knowledge of the subject areas as well as a critical analysis. This means that you will
test on information that you have learned during your junior year.
Summer Research Project
In an effort to prepare you for your senior year, you will write a practice internal assessment during your junior year.
This will teach you the process, making your senior year internal assessment much easier. This means you will write 2
internal assessments over the next two years. One of the diploma requirements is an Extended Essay, and many
students will often select a topic for this paper in the realm of history. If you select an extended essay topic in history,
none of the 3 essays (2 internal assessments and extended essay) can cover the same topic. This summer project will
help you begin researching topics that are of interest to you. The idea is to begin building a plan that you will use during
the next 2 years. This is not a binding plan, and you will be able to change it as ideas grow due to your new experiences.
DIRECTIONS
Extended Essay
1. Think about what subject that you might like to write your extended essay. IF this subject is history, think
about narrowing this choice to a specific topic. You will be able to change this topic as necessary until
early the second semester of your junior year. This is just a rough plan to make these choices easier.
Internal Assessment
2. Select 2 history topics that interest you for your internal assessments (1- jr; 1- sr). These topics should be
different from each other, and they cannot be the same topic selected in task #1 (if the EE subject is
history). Take the time to do some initial research on these topics to ensure there is enough information
to write about. Recommended topics are listed on pages 3 and 4.
3. For task #2, write a brief paragraph for each topic, briefly explaining what you found during your research
that drew you to select the topics. Also list at least 5 resources that you found in your initial research for
each topic. Identify what type of resource they are and rank them from best to worst. List all of the
resources you found to assist you when you begin writing the paper. See example on page 2 for the
format.
4. Turn in your 2 short paragraphs – typed - on the first day of class in August. You will select one of these
topics during the first weeks of school to begin working on for the practice internal assessment.
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Johnny IB Student
History of Americas I – Summer Assignment
1. Extended Essay Topic -
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2. 2 Internal Assessment Topics –
a. Causes of the Great Depression
b. The US Supreme Court’s role in the Civil Rights Movement
3. Brief paragraphs for each topic –
Causes of the Great Depression
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Resources: (Minimum of 5)
Title
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Stock Market Crash
Letters from the Depression
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Type
Secondary
Primary
Rank
2
5
The US Supreme Court’s role in the Civil Rights Movement
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Resources: (Minimum of 5)
Title
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Civil Rights and the Court
Brown v. Board of Education Summary
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Type
Secondary
Primary
Rank
3
1
2
History of the Americas I Summer Research Topics
Emergence of the Americas on global affairs 1880 - 1929
 Spanish American War: causes and effects
 US foreign policy: applications and impact
o Big Stick
o Dollar Diplomacy
o Moral Diplomacy
 World War I: Neutrality to involvement
o Reasons for US entry
o Wilson’s peace ideals and struggle for ratification of Treaty of Versailles
o Significance of war for US’ hemispheric status
o Canada’s involvement and participation in World War I
o Impact of World War I on US and Canada: economic, political, social, and foreign
The Mexican Revolution 1910 - 1940
 Causes of the Mexican Revolution: social, economic, political
o Role of Porfiriato regime
 Revolution and its leaders: ideologies, aims, and methods
o Madero
o Villa
o Zapata
o Carranza
 Achievements and failures: Constitution of 1917, nature and application
 Construction of post-revolutionary state
o Obregon
o Calles
o Maximato
 Lazaro Cardenas and renewal of revolution 1939 – 1940: aims, methods, and achievements
 Role of foreign powers (US) in outbreak and development: motivations, methods, and contributions
 Impact on arts, education and music
o Siqueriros
o Rivera
o Orizco
o Impact on Vasconcelos education reform
o Development of popular music
o Literary works on revolution
The Great Depression and the Americas 1929 - 1939
 The Great Depression: political and economic causes
 Natural and efficacy of solutions in the US
o Hoover and rugged individualism
o Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
o Critics of the New Deal
 Great Depression in Canada
o Mackenzie King
o RB Bennett
 Latin America’s response to the Depression – Any Latin America Country
 Impact of the Great Depression: African Americans, Women, and Minorities (US)
 Great Depression and art: photography, the movie industry, radio, and literary (US)
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The Second World War and the Americas 1933 - 1945
 Hemispheric reaction to the events in Europe
o Cooperation and neutrality
o Good Neighbor policy: application and effect
 Diplomatic and/or military role of US and Canada
 Social impact of World War II conscription on African Americans, Native Americans, and women
 Treatment of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians
 Reaction to the Holocaust
 Impact of technological developments and beginning of the atomic age
 Economic and diplomatic effects of World War II on any country in the Americas
 Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
The Cold War and the Americas 1945 – 1981
 Truman
o Containment and its implications
o McCarthyism and effects on domestic and foreign policy
o Cold War impact on society and culture
o Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
 Korean War
o Reasons for participating
o Military developments
o Diplomatic and political outcomes
 Eisenhower and Dulles
o New Look and its application
o Characteristics and reasons for policy
o Repercussions for the region
 Vietnam
o Reasons for and nature of
o Involvement at different stages
o Domestic effects and end of the war
 Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress
o Cuban Missile Crisis
 Reagan
 Cold War in Canada
Civil rights and social movements in the Americas
 Native Americans and Civil Rights: US, Canada and Latin America
 African Americans and the Civil Rights Movement: Origins, tactics, and organizations
o Supreme Court and legal challenges to segregation 1955 - 1965
 Martin Luther King, Jr.’s role
 Radical African American activism 1965 – 1968
 Black Panthers
 Black Muslims and Malcolm X
 Black Power
 Role of government
 Youth culture and protests in the 1960’s and 1970’s
o Characteristics and manifestation of a counterculture
 Feminist movement
Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Strom
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