Directions: The Smithsonian Institution is adding to its collection of museums on the National Mall. The new African American Museum of History and Culture, which is due to be completed in 2015, is planning to include some inscriptions on the outside of the museum, which will represent its mission to "use African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American." Since you are a student of African American literature, the designers of the museum have requested your help to identify quotes which will set the tone of the entire museum.

For this persuasive paper, you must select two quotes from our reading this semester-one from a woman and one from a man-and argue that these should be featured outside of the museum.

You must convince the staff of the museum that you have selected the right quotes from writers whose life and work will help fulfill the museum's goals. While you are writing, be sure to use research and your own analysis to support your argument that both the author and his/her words will exemplify the museum's mission statement.

SOURCES: I encourage you to draw on all of our class materials as you make your case. You must include at least 6 additional sources (only 2 www sources) in your essay.

I encourage you to make use of the library databases. Please refer to the Research Toolbox on the left menu for more information.

CITATION: Please cite in MLA format, using parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page. Please refer to the Research Toolbox on the left menu for more information.

LENGTH: This essay should be 1200-1400 words long.

FORMAT: This essay should be in Verdana 10 point font with 1 inch margins on all sides. Please use single spacing with a blank line between paragraphs. You must save your essay as DOC or DOCX format so that I will be able to open the file and grade your essay. PURPOSE This final essay encourages you to think critically about the material throughout the course. It also presents you with an opportunity to research 2 specific early African American writers and connect them with current scholarship.

MUST USE IN WORD QUOTES THROUGHOUT THE PAPER. The last paper completed here only had a work cited page and I had no idea on where in the paper the work was.