Write an essay that describes and explains the evolution of race relations in U.S. society from 1941 to the present. You should focus on several areas of society that were influenced by ideas of race in this era. Of all of the factors influencing race relations that you wrote about, which one stood out as the most important for understanding race relations during this time period and why?

The evolution of race relations in the US from 1941 to the present is a long and complex story. There are, though, certain important events and developments in various areas of society that must be discussed in a quality essay on this topic.
To begin, and for example, 1941 was the year the US entered World War II, and it is important to consider that not only were the armed forces segregated at that time, but African American combat troops were held in reserve for most of the war and were not widely deployed in combat conditions until 1944–45. The story of the 761st Tank Battalion best conveys this history. These black troops spent most of the first part of the war training relentlessly in Alabama. Interestingly, Jackie Robinson (who would later break the color barrier in Major League baseball) was part of this battalion until he was court-martialed for violating Jim Crow (segregation) laws in the South. After D-Day (June 6, 1994) and the US led invasion of France, the 761st joined General Patton's 3rd Army and became the vanguard of this fighting force as it pushed across France and into Germany.
The experience of black soldiers in WWII and their subsequent return home helped spur the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s–1960s. How could they fight fascism, racism, and oppression abroad and then return to discrimination, unequal rights, and segregation at home?
Among the other topics that this essay should cover after the WWII discussion include: President Truman's desegregation of the armed services; Brown v. Board of Education; Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Little Rock and President Eisenhower; the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; the founding of SNCC and the student led sit-ins at "whites only" lunch counters in the South; the JFK civil rights agenda; the 1963 March on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; leaders and assassinations (JFK, Malcolm X, Dr. King, and Robert Kennedy); urban rioting in the 1960s; black militancy (the Black Panthers); and the "War on Poverty." Moving toward the present, the essay could discuss Rodney King; the failure of forced school integration (especially in northern cities); the "War on Drugs"; continued inequality in the justice system and workplace; income and employment disparities; the election of Barack Obama; and the "Black Lives Matter" movement.
There is ample, easily accessible research available on all these topics, and there are other issues that might be discussed. A solid discussion of the above topics, though, would constitute a quality essay on the evolution of race relations since 1941 in several areas of society.