Question

(1) Years later, Henry David Thoreau, a prominent transcendentalist writer, crafted an entire essay on the values of civil disobedience, and those opinions can be seen throughout the 20th century. (2) His ideas led to the most pivotal historical changes, however, in the Civil Rights Movement. (3) Leading figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks urged African Americans to spark social and political change through acts of civil disobedience. (4) They staged sit-ins, marches, and peaceful protests, all in the hopes of obtaining the civil rights they deserved. (5) Their success is clear in the many social and legislative changes that followed the Civil Rights Movement, one of the most notable being the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (6) I learned about all of this and more during my 5th grade field trip to the Civil Rights Museum, where I purchased a t-shirt with the quote: "Well-behaved women seldom make history."

The student is considering deleting the underlined text. Should the student keep or delete it?

a
Delete it since it detracts from the clear line of reasoning established in the paragraph.

b
Delete it since it is written in first person and the rest of the essay is in third person.

c
Keep it since it adds explicit support in the form of a powerful quote.

d
Keep it since it provides a personal connection to the previous historical information.

Answer 1

Although the sentence is not underlined on your question, I'm assuming the underlined portion is sentence [6] because it seems out-of-place.

Sentence 6 strays away from the main point of the paragraph, that:

"Henry David Thoreau... crafted an entire essay on the values of civil disobedience, and those opinions can be seen throughout the 20th century."

Sentence 6 describes a personal story about museum shirts, which really does not any essential information to the paragraph.

So, my guess would be A, since it detracts from the clear line of reasoning established in the paragraph.