20th Topic Selections
As with most topics, they change frequently, or more gems are discovered. Therefore, they are housed in one location here on my site rather than on the class platform. Please message me if you see a topic or keyword we should add.
Welcome to your Topic Selections Resources page. Students can use this as a springboard for a topic for their in-person presentations. For this project, students survey old newspapers to learn more about a topic of their choice. After researching the topic, grabbing JPEGs, and deducing its mood, they will introduce our class to the topic via a visual presentation. The students are not limited to any topic, but to help prime the mind, we have a few below to help.
Also, you can view this document from previous students concerning Turning Points in the 20th Century. These topics are from student suggestions and course materials.
Our objectives for this activity:
Students will demonstrate an understanding of cultural experiences by exploring other cultures through film, literature, museums, festivals, interviews, rituals, etc.
Examining the background information to better understand the subject in question allows us to analyze rather than summarize what we are studying.
Conducting research using old newspapers to examine and analyze the historical contextual framework of the topic.
Topics by Subjects
(These represent a few topics from previous students or late-night readings.)
Other: Topic Not Listed (message professor so we can add it)
Abuse Cases
Angels Burnt: Middle Eastern Collection (rated R for mutilated faces due to acid)
Animals
Alien Lifeforms & Space
War of the Worlds audio
Battle for Los Angeles by UFOs
Aliens and UFOs
Art
Spotlight on art, book, artist, or movie
Chinese Calligraphy art
Boubou Design's Amazing Portraits Painted with Everyday Objects
Yellow peril art and movies (racism towards Asians)
Haitian Art Renaissance 1940s
Marina Abramovic, 1974, evil witch or victim?
Harlem Art
Automobiles
Auto industry through the years
Astrology and New Age
History of
New Age Communes
Beauty Standards
Beauty standards by gender / Culture
Book Related
Banned books, movies, etc
Clarence Leroy Holt (African Historian)
Business Related
Real Estate redlining: home prices & deeds
Advertisements of the 1950s
Wall Street Traders of the 80s
Casinos and the mobs
Hostile business takeovers (pick one)
Cave Exploring
Cave rescues or death
Censorship
Censorship in movies, music, or social media
Child Related
Beauty pageants: Scandals and/or praises
Bride Kidnapping of Ethiopia
Child brides or Comfort Women (such as Kim Bok-dong)
Dingo Ate the Baby (death of baby Chamberlain)
Civil Rights
Elijah Muhammad, Nation of Islamic, Demands Negro State like Jewish Israel
1942 St. Louis Small Arms Ammunition Plant protest / Kansas City Standard Steel v FEPC Supreme Court case
Brown Berets (Chola/Chicana movement)
Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, a Women’s Rights Activist
James Baldwin, Pride Community and African American Rights activist
Claudette Colvin (predates Rosa Parks)
Racial Covenants Barring Black families from owning homes (USA)
“The Color of Law” book
Jim Crow & Restrive Home Deeds
Corrigan v Buckley (Supreme Court case)
Hansberry v. Lee (Chicago)
Shelley v Kraemer
LGBTQI+ Rights by Country
Black Panthers
Murder of Dr. Huey P. Newton
Nation of Islam and New Black Panther Party
Korean Women
India Caste System
Sojourners for Truth and Justice
Depiction of an enslaved man, York, in the 1900s: (Lewis and Clark expedition)
Suffrages of UK / NY
Rose Lee Ingram and sons sentenced to the electric chair, GA. 1948
African Americans joining the military
Chinese indentured servitude: California, Peru: Coolies
Crashes (Auto, Plane, Train)
Coffee, Chocolate, or Tea industry
Brazilian coffee industry
Cooking, Chefs, Food Related
Cooking with hot sand
Cuisine of choice
Conspiracy Theories or Oddities
Midnight radio conspiracy show with Arthur William “Art” Bell
Bigfoot
Conspiracy theories (pick one)
Q-anon
Princess Kate Middleton of England Missing
Moon landing
Montauk Project; Stranger Things Conspiracy Theory
Cultures
Amish Culture
Generations (pick one, i.e., Boomers, X, Z, Millennials, etc.)
Comic book heroes (impact of, pick one)
Carnival Festivals (choose country)
Cultural Appreciation vs. Appropriation
Decades in Change: (spotlight a decade)
Tribal Belly Dancing
Death Penalty
Death Penalty (pick country or methods)
George Stinney Jr. (14 years old)
Dictators
Hitler
Mussolini
Mao
Drugs
War on Drugs: Nixon & Elvis
Opium Crisis
Kensington St, PA
Skid Row, LA
Diamonds
Blood Diamond mines in Africa
Disasters (Manmade or natural)
Chornobyl nuclear meltdown
Bhopal Gas Tragedy of India
Existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism and Literature (article)
Economics
Exercise
Eugenics
Education
Affirmative Action Repealed
Student strikes/protests (name schools/events)
India Women Struggle for Education and Freedom from Britain
(Source: Maryland Suffrage News., April 24, 1920, Page 27)
Textbook publishers changing history?
Segregation in US schools (pick a school to focus on)
Student Strikes at the University of Puerto Rico (2010)
Secularism in Western Schools 1940 and 50s
Expeditions
Toxic Tourism
Arctic expeditions
The Terror, Admiral Byrd, Hollow Earth Theory
Fascism
Fashion
Fashion (pick a decade or style)
Gas Shortages through time
Gas shortage of the (pick decade and country)
OPEC History
Ghost Hunting
Paranormal: Pick one
Queen Mary
Govt Relations
Founding Fathers (PDF)
Brexit
Venezuela & US Relations (1950s)
Sharecropping in the U.S. Southern States
Korea Split (North vs. South)
BRICS
Imperialism and Colonization (pick empire)
France vs. North Africa
The Wilcox Rebellion of 1888; US Gvt Steals Hawaii
ECOWAS
Great Depression (pick a country)
Gaddafi: Rise and Fall of Libyan Gold King
Govt vs. Rebels/Freedom Fighters
Nazi War Criminals and Argentina/North Carolina/NASA (pick person/place)
Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987 (led a coup, killed four years later)
Govt engrossed Fascism in America: German-American Bund (1930s)
CIA covert operations: Manchurian Candidate, Operation Northwoods, 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état
Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking (history of / pick a country/aspects)
Holidays and Customs
Holidays and customs (pick one)
Human Zoos
The sad case of Ota Benga; Ota Benja Orphaned
Historians
Georgie Washington Williams (first US African Historian in the US )
Dr. Clarence T Walker: Negros in Science, Entertainment, Arts circa the 1920s, (Source II) (III)
Marian Stokes: The Woman Who Recorded Everything (YouTube, 90 mins)
Internet
Comment Click Farms (YouTube)
Immigration
Darien Gap in South America
Laws (pick a country)
Migrant ships Europe
Deferred Action Child Arrivals (DACA)
Texas border issues
Sanctuary Cities / Plane Flights
The Great Migration & The Harlem Renaissance (video)
Immigration and Naturalization Act
Quota Act of 1924, or National Origins Act of 1924
The New Colossus (poem on the Statue of Liberty)
Immigration Timeline into the US by Acts
Colombian Immigration
Laws
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie (Frank Collins)
Indian Child Welfare Act - reversal
Reversal of Roe v Wade
Jim Crow Laws and Voting
Reversal of Affirmative Action
Modern Marvels: Architecture
Murders (infamous)
George Stinney: 14 y/o boy person executed by the electric chair
Pearl Concubine of the Forbidden City
Medical
Rebel Woman: Margaret Sanger (Planned Parenthood)
Psychological experiments (pick one)
Second Heart (PDF)
Age Reversal Pill Telomir (Video)
Germ Warfare in 1950s Korea (PDF clipping)
Minamata Japan Mercury Zombie Outbreak (1953)
Healthcare (pick an aspect of interest)
Dr. Max Gerson, the Gerson Therapy controversial cancer treatment
Fall of the Midwifery Industry
1st Womb Transplant
Dogs Head Transplant (PDF)
Lalen and Laden, Iranian Conjoined Twins
Cigarettes: The Silent Killer
Birth Control History
Mental Asylums and Healthcare
Mental healthcare and asylums are fascinating topics, but they are frequently very challenging for those with a weak stomach. For this topic, students want to begin their research with the state of Mental Medicine circa 1890. Starting in the 1890s gives us a good base of information where most doctors tried to heal the mentally impaired with religious tactics called Moral Treatment. Next, I suggest jumping ahead to the mid-1950s with Perceptions of the Mind. Then, to rip off the bandaid, look into Willowbrook Mental Home. I follow that up with a decade-by-decade look into the atmosphere of mental care.
lobotomies on children as well. Howard Dully caught my eye during research.
The history of Informed Consent is a blight on the global healthcare community, with four legal cases: Mohr v Williams, Pratt v Davis, Rolater v Strain, and Schloendorff v Society of New York Hospital. In the case of Pratt v Davis
Rosemary Kelly lobotomized
Medical Marvel (pick one)
The flu epidemic of 1910
Cholera outbreak in Haiti (present-day)
Dr. Cornelius Rhoades: Doctor of Death in Puerto Rico
Darwinism and Eugenics
You will research US and German Doctors and specialists such as (but not limited to) Nathaniel Comfort, Karl Pearson, Lori Andrews, Sir Francis Galton, Charles Davenport, Edwin Black, Andrzej Pekalski, Buck v Bell, Thomas Morgan, the justifications during the Nuremberg Trials, Ashkenazi Jewish community, and unfit to reproduce ideals.
Social Darwinism: The Theoretical Justification for Imperialism
Social Darwinism: The Theoretical Justification for Imperialism
Charles Davenport, the Man behind American Eugenics (video)
A Dangerous Idea: The History of Eugenics in America (video)
A History of Eugenics (video)
Massacres / Genocides / Famine
Rwanda Hutu Massacre
Armenians
Columbine High School
Carandiru Prison Massacre
Serbian Concentration Camps
Namibia vs Germany 1904
Nanking Massacre
North Korean famine 1990s
Holodomor Massacres Ukrainian history
Hay Market May Day Labour Union massacre
Ocoee Voting Tragedy
Tulsa Mass Lynchings 1920s
King Leopold, the butcher king of the Congo
Movements
Nationalist Party uprising: Puerto Rico
New Culture Movement (Chinese)
Tell Your Story (YouTube Channel)
Stories from people who have survived PTSD and Trauma
Men’s Rights (history of)
Dubois’ the New Negro ideas
“The Sport of the Gods”
“Hagar’s Daughter”
Alain Locke
Women's Rights (history of)
The New Woman (1890s)“The Doll House”
Pride Community Rights (history of)
Movies / TV
Marvel: Modern-day Myths
Vampires (rise of in movies)
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (First African Americans owned movie studio)
Almost all Micheaux movies are uploaded to YouTube.
The Symbol Of The Unconquered (1920) (YouTube, 59mins)
Reactionary movie towards Birth of a Nation (Klan Movie)
Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood (YouTube, 9 mins)
Documentary
The Lasting Legacy of Oscar Micheaux (YouTube, 4 mins)
Who Is Oscar Micheaux? The Homesteader 1919 (YouTube, 5mins)
Blackface Films, which Micheaux was trying to fight against
Sex Symbols and Children Models
War Babies with Shirley Temple (Rated-R for vulgar display of children)
Popular shows (by decades)
Superman and the power of TV (1950s Christopher Reeves shot)
Music
Musical genre or artist of choice
Sock hops of the 1950s USA
Billboard Charting system controlled music
War of the Worlds broadcast
Woodstock and/or other Musical Festivals
Who Killed Tupac? SOLVED!!
Pagoda Music of Brazil
Russian Woodstock 1992
Summer of Love (1960s)
Rhythm and Blues history: such as (Roy Hamilton)
Practical movie effects (movie magic)
Patriotic music of WWI and II
Music Videos kill the radio star.
Discuss how music videos changed the music industry
Jazz: Jumpin Jive - Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers, 1943
K-pop and Kdrama and Khorror
Breakdancing Craze 1980s
Country OGs vs. Country Pop/Patriotic
Gangasta Rap of the 90s
Brazil Pagode, music of the people
Harlem Jazz/Art Renaissance
The Harlem Jazz Renaissance is one of the most inspiring times in African-American history. Notable items of interest will be Langston Hughes's powerful poems on the Black Identity, the Kansas City Harlem Museum, the New Negro, Zora Neale Hurston, All That Jazz, SpeakEasy, Jazz Band in a Parisian Cabaret, Gee's Bend Alabama, and the Quilt, Aaron Douglass, James Weldon Johnson, Jacob Lawerence, 92nd & 93rd Infantry Units & Lt. James Reese Europe, Ragtime, and the Foxtrot.
Harlem Renaissance Playlist (video)
Lena Horne and the Cotton Club (video)
A Raisin in the Sun (Video)
The Greats (Video)
Sterling A. Brown: The Last Of The Harlem Renaissance Greats (JSTOR)
Nature
Morocco's Blue City
Yemen Socotra Island (Dragon’s Blood)
Lack of access to State Parks for Inner-city Middle Schooler
Natural Disasters
Haiti earthquake 2010
South Sudan's epic flooding
Oceans
Deadly Diving: Oceans Blue Holes
Sinking of ships
Bermuda Triangle
Ocean Gate
Deadly Orca Attacks
Pirates
Prison Systems
US: Prison Reform of the 1900s
Siberian Prisons
Pirates
(Pick a group)
Psychology
Identity and Gender Norms (pick decades/person)
Harry Allen (1882-1922) - Famous for being sensationalized by newspapers of that era for petty crimes but one of the earlier exposures of someone who is transgender to the public media
Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) - Famous for sex reassignment surgery in such an early period of history
Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) - Famous for being the first one to "Throw the brick" during the Stonewall Riot
Male Sociability and the New Woman (JSTOR required)
Fin-de-siecle: Once More with Feeling (JSTOR Required)
Religious Movements
Religious wear
Religious customs, rituals, holidays, etc
Hindu Metei vs. Christian Kuki (present day)
Moral Majority of the 1980s
Reagan and Nancy, Censorship of Music, DARE program
Communes (pick one)
Cult leaders (select one)
Cult: Rael Maitreya
Race Relations
Pick Country or Era
Right to exist
Ruby Bridges: Through Her Eyes (video)
Religious Figures
Revolutions, Rebels, & Riots / Protests
Pirates of …. (Caribbean or Barbary)
Galvarino mapuche (Mapuche warrior with knives for hands)
Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 & Operation Wetb**k
Syrian White Helmets
Boxer Rebellion of China
Forsyth, GA Lynchings 1912- 1980s
Chicago's Chicano community of the 1910s
Guyana Revolt of 1905
Hard Hat Riots of NY
Independence Gained (by country)
The White Revolution of 1963, Iran
Revolt of the Lash (Brazil)
Wall Street Bombing 1920
Russian Revolution of 1917
Iran Revolution (2022)
Latino Revolution in CA (1980s)
Robotics
Theseus the AI Maze Mouse | IEEE Races
AI usage in farming
AI usage in medicine
Science
Time is relative (different calendars)
Space Cadets Hoax TV show of 2005
VR Chat (video game) vs. Meta
Space Race (aspects of)
Moonwalk: USA (1960s)
Moon Landing: India (2023)
Sputnik: Russie
Science Vs. Religion
Charles Darwin
The Monkey Trial
The Scopes Trial is a fascinating time in our history, repeated many times. Long story short, the government of Tennessee enacted the Butler Act, which mandated it was illegal to teach evolution in school. Many people residing in the state were agitated and contacted The ACLU. They decided it was not in line with their 1st Amendment Rights and wanted to fight it. What is Objective Education, and who determines it?
THE MONKEY TRIAL - 1925 (video newsreel)
Society & Sociology
Housewives of the 1950s (pick a country)
Quinceañera traditions
Religious holidays
Year of the Dragon meanings
Sports
Racing Sports
Rally
Motorbikes
NASCAR
Formula 1
Baseball
Futball history (pick a team)(this means soccer for Americans)
Symbols
Slave labour / Slavery
Congo Cobalt Slave Labour Crisis
Human Trafficking
Slave Labor in California and Oregon (PDF News clipping)
Debt slavery of the 1900s
Johnson v. McAdoo: Cotton tax lawsuit (1915)
Ex-slave reparations litigation
Ex-slave pension bill of 1890 (H.R. 11119)
Callie House
Unions
IWW (International Workers of the World), Eugene Debs, and his role with the unions.
Union Strikes in history (pick one)
Unusual Oddities, Events, Stories
Extreme tourism
New York 1977 Blackout
Kedareshwar Hindu Temple predicts the end of the world
Exploitation of Ringling Bros. Circus Performers
First high five: Baker and Burke, LA Dodgers
Writers and Authors
Magazine Revolution (origins of the magazine)
The Little Paris Group (1920s African-American, African-French writers)
Loïs Mailou Jones, Langston Hughes, Alma Thomas, Delilah Pierce, Richard Dempsey, Ruth Brown, Don Roberts
Lost generation (1920s writers)
John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.E. Cummings, Archibald MacLeish, Hart Crane
War Events & War Related (Civil Wars)
Bikini Island (Nukes)
Bomb shelters
Japanese Interment Camps (Executive Order 9066) (Source II) (Source III)
Russia V USA, Russia's Race to the Weapons
Triple Nickles ALL-Black Airborne unit
Stateless citizens: such as tribal societies, Tham fütbol team, etc
Refugees (pick one group)
Buffalo Soldier of the Civil War
Syrian Crisis
Berlin Wall: Rise and Fall
The Draft
Paulista War in Brazil
Rise of the KKK in the US
The Lebanese Civil War
Isreal v Palestine
Battle of Waterberg (Germany v Heroro/Namaqualand South Africa)
Child Soldiers (pick a country)
Concentration Camps (select one)
Indigenous American code breakers of WWI and WWII
Chinese vs. US
Harlem Hell Fighters
US vs. Russia
Russia vs. Ukraine/Georgia/Poland
Invasion of Haiti by the USA (1915 massacre)
Coup d'état (pick one)
Sudan: Russian/Us Proxy war
Fall of the Ottoman Empire (1922)
Rise of Global Terrorism 1980s
Vietnam War (aspects of)
Invasion of Puerto Rico by the USA
World Leaders
Assassination of …. (pick someone)
Death of (pick person)
These articles/topics do not reflect an overly accurate or comprehension examination of the topic. However, you can gain an insight into the media portrayal of the event in real time.
Topics by Subjects
(These represent a few topics from previous students or late-night readings. Could you send me yours, too?)
Ads
Bans or banning of 'something;
Turkey Bans Evolution (Website)
Communism & the Red Scare
Civil War
General Granger & the Negro Troops (PDF Clipping)
Syria vs Isreal (PDF Clipping)
Civilisation Exploring
Education
India Women Pleads for Education and Britain Removal (PDF Clipping)
Maryland suffrage news., April 24, 1920
Housing Discrimination
Housing Conference Detroit (PDF Clipping)
Indigenous Movements
Trail of Tears (1951) (PDF Clipping)
Jail
Oscar Wilde: Jailed for Homosexual Behaviour (PDF Clipping)
KKK
Media
Nazi Colonization Plans
Safety
Baby and Sibling Drowns (PDF Clipping)
Motorcycle and Speed (PDF Clipping)
Social Issues
Pro-Life in 1941 (PDF Clipping)
Veterans
Active Duty vs. Reserve (PDF Clipping)
Women
Young Girls Frighten Middle-Aged Women (PDF Clipping)
Venona Project - Woman Code Breakers (Website)
Suffragettes & Returning to the Home (PDF Clipping)
Suffragettes & Returning to the Home II (PDF Clipping)
Suffragettes & Returning to the Home III (PDF Clipping)
Topics & Keywords by Years
(Slowly, I am attaching links to the keywords)
1800-1899:
Industrial Revolution, Tenament Housing, Irish Housing
Child Labour Factory Workers
Women's Suffrage and gender equality, 19th Amendment
Spanish American War
Jim Crow, Black Codes, Andrew Johnson, and Radical Republicans, Plessy
American Civil War battles, general, soldier, etc.
Manifest Destiny, Imperialism, and Colonialism
Technological advancements, i.e., an appliance, factory item, or farming.
The development of photography
Titanic Sinking (PDF Clipping)
The American Western Cowboy, Ranches, Mexican Americans, Texans, and Indigenous Tribes.
Immigration trends and the experiences of immigrants during this period.
The emergence of new political ideologies and their effects on governance.
1900 - 1950:
World War I, Assassination Archduke Ferdinand, Sarajevo Anarchist (PDF Clipping)
WWI: Hitler, Himmler, Camps, warships
The Roaring Twenties: Jazz, flappers
Puerto Rico Elections in 1924 (Spanish) (PDF Clipping)
The Great Depression, Socialism, Communism, Red Scare, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism.
The Harlem Renaissance, African American, Latino, and Afro-Latino
William Wells Brown (Novalist) (PDF Clipping)
The Dust Bowl
Rise of Christianity, Great Awakening
The Manhattan Project and the development of atomic weapons.
Sweden Blast (PDF Clipping)
The Bracero Program: Examining the experiences of Mexican migrant workers during World War II and its aftermath.
The Zoot Suit Riots, Tulsa Massacre
The Puerto Rican migration
1950 - Present: (the papers only go to 1963, but some of these might have pre-history context for you)
Various Civil Rights Movements: Haitian, Feminin, LGBTQI, Hispanic, Irish, Indgidious American
The Space Race: the United States vs. the Soviet Union
Germany, Stalin, Berlin Wall,
Emancipation Topics
NAACP: Fugitive Story (PDF Clipping)
Decolonization in Africa (PDF Clipping) (PDF Clipping)
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Vietnam War and Korean War
The Digital Revolution
The Cuban Missile Crisis (PDF Clipping) (PDF Clipping)
The Duvalier Era: Haiti under the rule of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. (PDF Clipping)
Haitian Diaspora and Transnational Identity
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