Using Primary and Secondary Sources to
Compose a Historical Argument

After you have completed any required reading, lecture notes review, and quiz for Unit 3, you are ready to
delve into the Unit 3 written assignment. Your assignment will have you use Iowa PBS video content and
primary source document excerpts from SAS Curriculum Pathways. You will critically evaluate primary and
secondary sources about Franklin Roosevelt’s relief, recovery, and reform initiatives to end the Great
Depression and the impact on African-Americans. In particular, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is
highlighted. Once you review the primary (document) and video (secondary) resources, you will answer the
question: Does the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) represent a significant improvement in the
government’s policy toward African-Americans?
Steps
1 Watch the Iowa PBS video on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XJkxJ–EtM (7:03) for context that includes some valuable oral history
interviews with men who were part of the CCC. Note, however, the absence of the black experience in this
resource.

2. Read critically and take notes on the five primary source documents provided in the SAS Curriculum
   Pathways PDF packet for this unit’s writing assignment.
3. The textbook reading and lecture materials, the sources outlined in steps 1 and 2 above, and any additional
   and optional research you wish to do combine to help you answer the guiding question: Does the Civilian
   Conservation Corps (CCC) represent a significant improvement in the government’s policy toward African-Americans?