Directions:

Questions about the material from weeks 5, 6, and 7 are posted in this discussion board. Each question is in a separate discussion thread.

Each student is to make four posts: two posts answer questions I pose in the discussion threads (due Monday 12/2); two posts reply to a classmates (due Wednesday 12/4). The posts that answer assigned questions are not full essays but contributions to answering parts of the question in least one paragraph. The replies must offer additional information, analysis, perspectives, and/or connections to today or other historical events.

Discussion posts must:

1. Make an historical claim. (Why is a person or event important? How does this material connect to another topic of the class or current events? What was the cause and/or effect of someone or an idea or an event? etc.)

2. Support your claim with factual historical evidence. Using the textbook and/or online resources in the class is required. Including additional outside sources is optional; however, students are to use qualified, professional sources only.

3. Include proper citation of borrowed material (textbook, online lesson resources, outside resources).
a. You must include citation at the end of each sentence (or group of sentences) that contains quotes, paraphrasing, and / or statistics.
b. You must also include correct bibliographic information at the end of your post listing the sources you used, in alphabetic order.
**See “Citation Assistance Resources” in the “Syllabus & Course Information” page of the class website for online help with citation.**

**Students may not add additional discussion threads. Students may ask questions within the discussion threads and answer one another’s questions.**

Discussion Rubric: Maximum Score = 100 Points

*Each discussion is worth 100 points. (Up to 25 points will be assigned to each of the two responses in a discussion for a total of 100 points.) The rubric below is a guide for grading the posts in the discussions. Grading will be based on the quality of the work, not simply minimum word count for each post:

• Responds, meets requirements (minimum 125 word response), analyzes, uses examples from reading, but also opens discussion for further inquiry; offers new ideas, connections, or applications; responds with depth and insight: 20-25 points
• Responds, meets requirements, but also analyzes, uses examples from reading: 15-19 points
• Responds, meets requirements, but informs or simply reports: 12-15 points
• Responds but does not meet requirements: 0-11 points
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  Role of Religion in Interactions in Africa

  COLLAPSE

  What roles did religion play in the interactions between Africans and the Europeans and Middle Easterners with whom they increasingly interacted between the 1400s and 1800s? (Consider different religions and different regions. In your answer, perhaps focus on one or compare two.)

• Slavery in the Americas

  COLLAPSE

  Why did the primary source for labor in the Americas (North and South America) become slave labor from Africa? (Consider economics, demographics, geography and logistics, among other factors.) What other sources of labor were also utilized early in the colonial period?