Elizabeth Sederstrom

The Colombian Exchange of the 15th and 16th centuries fostered the Atlantic slave trade. The effects of this on Africa were immense and brutal. The capture and forced deportation of young, healthy...

In the simplest terms, the legislative branch makes the laws and the executive branch enforces them. Let's use the United States as an example. The legislative branch, which is led by Congress...

Opal forgets about Winn-Dixie because she's so preoccupied with saving her outdoor party from a sudden thunderstorm. She and Gloria Dump threw the party together, and the impromptu downpour...

Madison believed that the government should have the power to tax American citizens as much as it wanted because of what those taxes would be used for: national defense, the protection of the...

The XYZ Affair affected American taxes and trade. Following Talleyrand's demands for bribes and loans, John Adams got Congress's blessing to expand the United States Navy through the construction...

The stakes are high for Steve: 25 years to life in prison, if he's found guilty of felony murder. The audience knows more than the prosecution does in Monster, though, and I'm going to address your...

One of the biggest causes of post-colonial conflict in Africa is the partition of countries that was created by the European powers' arbitrary borders. These borders were created with little or no...

What type of thesis statement you create depends on what aspect of Cisneros's short story you want to focus on. If you want to zero in on the theme of family, for example, you might make a claim...

The Trojan War is in its tenth grueling year when The Iliad takes place, which is significant because it's a catalyst for the desperation and in-fighting amongst the soldiers. The Trojans are still...

The Georgia Constitution guarantees the individual's right to an education; the United States Constitution does not. More specifically, the Georgia Constitution stipulates that: All citizens have...

Gulliver is an English surgeon who loves to travel, and doesn't seem to enjoy spending much time with his family. On a solo trip to the South Seas, he gets caught in a nasty storm and washes up on...

Kaffir Boy shows readers that it doesn't take an over-the-top stunt or grand gesture to affect social change and better your position in life. Sometimes, all it takes is hard work. The government...

Liesel could be described as resilient. Over the course of The Book Thief, she shows a great capacity for survival; she can cope with anything. When we first meet her, she's riding the train with...

Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter" was the inspiration for an episode of the first series of Tales of the Unexpected, where Dahl, himself, cozied up in front of a roaring fire, introduced the...

Foils are two characters whose attributes enhance one another's characterization through their contrast. In Look Back in Anger, Jimmy and Cliff are foils. Jimmy is fiery and intelligent. He's also...

The Black Codes were introduced to limit the freedom of African Americans following the Civil War, and they infiltrated almost all aspects of African Americans' lives. Mississippi was the first...

It's one of the most famous lines in literature: All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players . . . This famous saying comes from Shakespeare's play As You Like It, and it's...

Mr. Fezziwig is a character in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. We're introduced to him as Scrooge travels back in time with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Fezziwig is Scrooge's former boss, and...

On the surface, the students of Hailsham value creativity and art skills because of the social status they infer. Tommy, for example, gets made fun of by his classmates because of his lack of...

Lack of money makes life harder for the Greasers in The Outsiders. Superficially, they don't wear flashy clothes, and they drive beaten-up cars. Psychologically, they're looked down upon by...

Rabindranath Tagore's poem "Where the Mind Is Without Fear" was written at the turn of the twentieth century, when India was under British rule. The poem takes the form of a prayer, where the...

As an adult, Angelou recognizes Mrs. Flowers as a mentor. They may not have worked together for long, but it was Mrs. Flowers who introduced Angelou to the power of written language and the spoken...

Believe it or not, anybody can trademark a word or phrase. When you trademark a word, you essentially make it your commercial property. It doesn't mean you're the only one who can use it; it means...

Dana and Alice have a cosmic connection. (Time travel just has a way of enhancing bonds like that.) They may come from different time periods and points of view, but they're both African American...

The Meiji Restoration and the Self-Strengthening Movement prove that all military-industrial plans for modernization aren't created equal. The Meiji Restoration catapulted Japan into modernity and...

While Enlightenment-era writers embraced reason and logic, Keats and his fellow Romantics said "Thanks, but no thanks" and got emotional. As a meditation on life's stages, "The Human Seasons" fits...

Let's make one thing clear: Odysseus's arrogance is one of his least admirable traits—but it is part of what makes him heroic. For starters, it imbues him with great confidence. Being confident is...

Roughly 2.7 million people are from Chicago, but not all of them are from the Wrigley Field bleachers, a cloud of Stony Island bus exhaust, and their aunt Janine's tamales. It's that same sentiment...

World War I wasn't just the first world war, it was the first total war. Total war is when all parts of society are mobilized for the fight. Shoe and rubber cement factories turn into gun and...