Racial Justice in West Virginia—Fact or Fiction?

An essay contest for high-school students from Berkeley County

The Berkeley County NAACP is pleased to join Shepherd University and the WV Humanities Council in sponsoring an essay contest for Berkeley County high school students. Our goal is to encourage students to think, research, and write about racial justice. 

ESSAY GUIDELINES

• All high school students whose residence is in Berkeley County, West Virginia, are eligible. This includes those attending public schools, private schools and those who are home-schooled. 

• The length of your essay should be at least 1000 words, but do not exceed 1500 words. Resources listed on a separate Works Cited Page are not to be included in word count. 

• Do not include in the essay any identifying information, such as your name or name of your school. 

• Use an easy-to-read font such as 12-point Times New Roman or Arial. You may single or double space. 

• You may use Microsoft Word or a PDF file to save your essay using the title you give it. 

• Attach your essay to an email message and submit electronically to NAACPEssay2021@gmail.com by the deadline of midnight on April 16, 2021. In the body of your email (but not in the essay itself) include your name, your school, your home address, and your phone number. If a teacher encouraged you to enter the contest, please include your teacher’s name. After submitting your essay, you will receive by return email an acknowledgement that your essay has been received. If you do not receive the acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, please let us know by email at NAACPEssay2021@gmail.com or by calling 304-267-3120.

• You are encouraged, but not required, to use sources of information that provide you with facts and varying perspectives. Sources may include academic journals, newspapers, books, governmental documents, interviews, or professional organization publications. Encyclopedias or general online references, like Wikipedia, should not be used. Quality, rather than quantity, is more important in selecting resources. Use the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers to cite your sources. 

• Students are encouraged to seek the counsel of their teachers or other experts, but the essay must be your own work. Any material or quotations taken from external sources must be clearly cited as such. Plagiarized essays will be disqualified. 

• Refer to page 2 for a list of suggested topics and the rubric that will be used for judging. Page 3 provides examples of appropriate resources. 

• Teachers, we encourage you to integrate this contest in a lesson related to what you teach. If you do so, please limit your submissions to the best essays. You may submit the essays for your students, but be sure to identify the writers of each in the body of your email. Please let us know the total number of students who submitted an essay to you. 

A cash prize of $500 will be provided to the winner with prizes of $300 and $150 for the second and third runners-up respectively. 

SUGGESTED TOPICS 

You may choose to write a narrative about a personal experience and reflect on that experience. 

You may interview a person of color, an adult who was a teenager in another era, a government official, a policeman, or social worker asking insightful questions and reflecting on what you learn from the interview. 

Your essay may focus on an historical event, a person, or a contemporary public policy issue such as income, health, or housing inequities, voter disenfranchisement, African Americans in various careers including law enforcement or politics, or the Black Lives Matter movement. 

You may select a literary work (novel, memoir, poem, op-ed) and analyze and reflect on it. 

Feel free to be creative with your own approach to the topic. Just remember that whatever approach you use, your essay should focus on (1) racial justice, (2) in West Virginia, and (3) whether it is a reality or not. 

JUDGING CRITERIA 

Originality:  My essay is unique, shows creativity that works, and is exciting and fresh. 

Organization: My writing has a compelling opening, an informative middle, and a satisfying conclusion. 

Development: I use specific details, facts, and clear and logical reasoning. I stick to the topic and focus of my essay. 

Voice and Tone Word Choice: It sounds like I care about my topic. I tell how I think and feel about it. The words that I use are striking but natural, varied, and vivid. 

Sentence Fluency Conventions: My sentences are clear, complete, and of varying lengths.  I use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. 

Research: If I use resources, they are credible and well chosen. I give credit to resource(s) used by including a Works Cited Page and following MLA guidelines. 

EXAMPLES OF APPROPRIATE RESOURCES 

You’re welcome to use these recommended resources, but you will find many more in your school and public library and on the Internet. Be sure any source you use is credible. 

African American History Month: Young Adult Books 

The Autobiography of Malcolm X 

Begin Again by Eddie Glaude 

A Brief History of the West Virginia Human Rights Act 

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson 

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin 

The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist 

Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons by Ann Rinaldi 

"The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman 

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin 

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison 

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson 

The Legacy of Sundown Towns in WV 

Midnight Rising by Tony Horowitz 

The Negro in the Making of America by Dr. Benjamin Quayle 

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore 

Poems of Paul Lawrence Dunbar or other African American poets such as Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Phillis Wheatley and Gwendolyn Brooks 

6 Times West Virginia Was Vital to Civil Rights Movement 

State of Working West Virginia 2020: The State of Racial Inequality 

A Timeline of African American History in West Virginia 

25 Amazing Books by African American Writers 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 

Vigil for Wayne Jones Held in Martinsburg, WV 

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 

WV Adds 3 Sites to Civil Rights Trail 

WV Conference, United Methodist Church: Let's Talk About Racism 

West Virginia Has a Complicated History with Race and Civil Rights 

WV Public Radio Episodes on Racism 

WVU Vows to Combat Racism 

YWCA: Racism is Not Dead

The Berkeley County NAACP appreciates the financial support of the WV Humanities Council and the academic guidance provided by Dr. Chiquita Howard-Bostic, Chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Criminal Justice at Shepherd University. 

For questions, contact Dr. Richard Mier at 304-267-3120 or via email at NAACPEssay2021@gmail.com.