Paper instructions:
The fight for civil rights is often a struggle for social,

economic, and political visibility. By maintaining

negative stereotypes built around minority groups, the

hegemonic structure (usually, white heterosexual men)

creates an alternate image of these groups. As Pascoe

and Canaday have demonstrated, legislation and its

enforcement have a way of making certain groups

invisible to the broader society. Through this process,

exclusion of minority groups is seen as the product of

nature rather than politics. In order, to gain visibility,

and through a kind of “decloaking” process, these

groups must work to reframe social ideas and

prejudices. How groups choose to do this seems to

offer different types or rates of success. Why do some

groups receive first-class citizenship quickly—for

example, the Irish, Italians, Greeks—while other

groups seem to labor so long to lift off the weight of

prejudice and second class citizenship? Throughout this

course we have looked at the barriers to first-class

citizenship and the strategies used in the attempts of

minority groups to achieve equality. For this final exam

essay, you have two options for examining the

strategies used in fighting for and gaining civil rights.