• What challenges did gay men face in the 1940s?
• What methods and institutions did heterosexual Americans use to discriminate against gay men in
the 1940s?
• What strategies and institutions did gay men use in the 1940s to hide their sexuality and/or express
it?
• Why did they use these strategies and institutions?
• Were some strategies more successful than others?
• Did these strategies contribute to or inhibit the possibilities of community formation and resistance
(or something in between)?
• How did heterosexual discrimination against gay men in the 1940s limit the possibilities of
community formation and resistance?
Please note: Your paper should not be a string of answers to these questions, but rather an essay that
advances an argument or set of interrelated arguments.
Format: These 5-6 pages should be double-spaced, with 12-point font and one-inch margins all around.
Your paper must include a separate cover page with your name, the date, and your paper’s title. This
cover page is not included in the 5-6 page paper count.
You must also include a separate page of endnotes that cites your source, in this case Brown. 1 This
endnote page is not included in the 5-6 page paper count. Endnote citations must adhere to the Chicago
Manual of Style. 2 For more information on Chicago style, see examples in this prompt. Also see:
https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/documentation/docchicago/
Additional Paper Instructions:
• You must cite information not only when you quote directly from a book, but also when you
paraphrase ideas that are not your own. Please refer to the handout “Avoiding Plagiarism:
Mastering the Art of Scholarship.” All work submitted in this course must be wholly your own
creation. In accordance with UCD’s Academic Senate policy and the UCD Code of Academic
Conduct, suspected plagiarism or cheating will be reported to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs.
• For advice on writing a history paper, see chapter 4 of A Pocket Guide to Writing in History.
• Writing tutors are available at the Student Academic Success Center located at 2262 Dutton Hall.
For more information, see their website: http://lsc.ucdavis.edu/tutoring.html
• Please review the “writing sheet” rubric on Canvas.
• YOU MUST RETAIN A COPY OF YOUR PAPER.
1
Ricardo J. Brown, The Evening Crowd at Kirmser’s: A Gay Life in the 1940s (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota, 2001), page number(s).
2
Brown, page number(s).
Sample Solution