Schedule of Events

World War I became the first industrially advanced war, and brought to a close the alliances of the League of Emperors.  Commonly, research and argument on World War I is centered around European cause, participation, and effect, rather than globally. Although fighting took place primarily in Europe, the war impacted the lives of diverse peoples around the world economically, socially, and militarily. Although DEI and ethnic studies are an emphasis of the state of California’s curriculum, older textbooks still make that incorporation difficult.  In this case, primary sources will be used to introduce and explore the variety of multi-cultural contributors to the First World War.  These academic primary sources will discuss and convey the causes and effects of World War I in the international sphere, taken from a wide international array of academic sources to explore various non-Western opinions and arguments on the War, like involvement and opinions from Japan, China, and the Middle East.

The Civil War marked a significant turning point in the history of the United States.  It separates the divisive post-colonial era from the progressive, unitive era seen during Reconstruction and decades after.  The war is perhaps best known for pitting the feudal South with its history of African bound labor against the industrializing North committed to exploiting wage labor.  Often, the personalities of the combatants are lost in the larger issues of military movements and slavery.  However, for the ideas of diversity, equity and inclusion from more than a century in the past to relate do a culturally mixed classroom,  it is imperative to include the variety of participants in the era of the Civil War.  This research will include the variety of people and genders involved in the war through analysis of primary course documents and artifacts.  This broader vision will include different socio-economic and ethnic groups, including immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and Asians.  This will allow for a more inclusive and personal scope of learning, as opposed to focusing on just the politics and military engagement of the Union and Confederacy.  

In December of 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) dissolved, ending the nearly half century “Cold War” between the United States, its European allies, and the USSR. The abrupt disintegration of the former superpower shocked the world. In the intervening years, historians debate the internal conflicts that plagued the Soviet Union in the latter half of the 20th century. Surprisingly, mothers of the Soviet Union are consistently featured as they protested against Moscow’s leadership and rallied in opposition to the state. Largely, they protested the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989), a contributing factor in the eventual collapse of the USSR. An examination of the various versions of the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers reveals that women in the aggregate, and mothers in particular, represented a powerful protest voice from the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to the post-Cold War Ukraine battles of 2022. 
This project seeks to shed light on the women who faced the censure of the government fighting for the lives of their sons in the military, beginning with an overview of the 20th century through primary sources and artifacts, and then elaborating on the mothers’ response to the Soviet-Afghan War. Soviet/Eastern European mothers fought propagandized versions of themselves and rose up in every Soviet-bloc nation.  Observing the ultimate failed experiment of the Soviet Union and highlighting through CIA documents the contribution Soviet mothers made to ending not only the Soviet- Afghan War, but the Soviet Union, opens new paths to explore the power of women and mothers.

The First World War began in Europe in July 1914. For four years, millions of soldiers from the most powerful empires of the time fought each other on a scale yet unseen in the history of warfare. It was also the first time in war that battles were fought simultaneously on the land, the sea, and in the air. Throughout the century after the war’s end, historians have extensively covered the conflict. A key aspect of the war that is often neglected in common knowledge, however, is how so many men and women were called to serve their countries.
This exhibition answers that question with a case study of one British city’s recruitment efforts. In October 1914, Horatio Kitchener – Field Marshal of the British Army – commissioned the city of Newcastle upon Tyne to raise a battalion of volunteer soldiers. The Lord Mayor of Newcastle – Sir Johnstone Wallace – was then recognized by the War Office as the official raiser of the new Tyneside Brigades. Soon, thousands of Irish and Scottish men in Newcastle joined the new battalions. In this exhibition, the story of the Tyneside Irish’s raising is told through a collection of Sir Johnstone Wallace’s personal effects, as well as other curios from the First World War.

Affectionately referred to in China by his writing alias “Zhongshan,” few figures have been celebrated in modern Chinese history to the extent enjoyed by revolutionary and political thinker Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. To this day, Sun Yat-Sen remains unique as one of the few figures in modern China who is venerated on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Both Kuomintang dictator Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong claimed the mantle of Sun Yat-Sen’s legacy over the course of their careers. Similarly, Sun is referenced by name in the constitutional preambles of both the People’s Republic of China, as well as the exiled “Republic of China” government in Taiwan as "father of the nation." Sun’s perceived importance to Chinese political culture in this way naturally raises questions as to what role he played in creating Modern China.  
The purpose of this research was to determine the role Sun Yat-Sen’s political career played in shaping the direction of China in the twentieth century. Research consisted of analysis of both contemporary sources from the period of Chinese history which corresponded with Sun Yat Sen’s political career, alongside subsequent secondary literature written after his death. Based on these sources of evidence, it was concluded that Sun Yat-Sen fundamentally transformed the direction of Chinese history in the twentieth century in the way that his leadership of the nationalist movement served to facilitate the end of Qing rule of China, while also directly enabling the internal and ideological conflicts which would eventually culminate in the Chinese Civil War.

In 1492, the Spanish extended their empire into the Western Hemisphere when Christopher Columbus made landfall.  Twenty-seven years later, Hernan Cortez arrived in modern-day Mexico. His arrival established what would be the Viceroyalty of New Spain and began three centuries of Spanish rule that followed the conquest of the Mexica (Aztecs). Historians tend to embrace defined historiographical interpretations of the conquest, including the Spanish Black Legend, the Spanish White Legend, Revisionism, and Historical Objectivity.  As is common in history, answers are seldom either black or white; answers are often more nuanced.  Therefore, a reexamination of primary sources, including texts such as The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Letters of Cortes by Hernan Cortes, and those written by Francisco de Salazar and Andres Cavo, among others, yields a more diverse interpretation of the events. Due to the nature of empire building in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the interpretation of events took on slanted and charged points of view. A less politically fraught investigation suggests that the conquest and governance of New Spain was neither totally good nor bad. Instead, the conquest did not differ greatly from the conquests of other civilizations within Central Mexico itself, as well as demonstrated that the Spanish conquest relied on the infrastructure and traditions of the Mexica and created more of a “fusion” culture than a  “replacement” culture in Central Mexico, retaining Native American heritage and institutions.

As the “Guns of August” roared in 1914, the Russian Army faced the German Army in the Second Battle of Tannenberg, near a place now known as Olsytyn in modern-day Poland.  The battle resulted in virtual destruction of the Russian First and Second Armies.  The suicide of the primary general and the Russian inability to recover from the loss caused the battle to be labeled “the greatest defeat of the war.” This project evaluates the Russian Military Leadership during the First World War, as well as the weaknesses of the entire military organization.  By 1914, the Russia army was in some disarray, not faring well in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/1905 and being forced to accept the Treaty of Portsmouth. That loss resulted in the First Russian Revolution of 1905, much as the Battle of Tannenberg would contribute to the Russian Revolutions of 1917.  Primary sources allow a look into different aspects of the army by examining specific military leaders, their use of ammunition,as well as how the Battle of Tannenberg was the first indication of a serious weakness. The memoirs of the battle written by General Alexei Brusilov, and Major-General Max Hoffmann (who provides a German perspective), as well as Nicholas Golovin (a veteran of the battle), will explore these facets and their impact on future Russian/Soviet power. 

With the onset of World War II, America’s Chinese community faced a momentous change of judgment in the United States. For decades prior to the great war, Chinese peoples were vilified in America, especially in California – the main hub of anti-Chinese sentiment. Eventually, due to negative public sentiment, Chinese immigration ended with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act; however, the Chinese left in America found themselves as the hated minority in America. Although, the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changed the American notion of China and Chinese Americans. By this time, Chinese personages went from being known as the “heathen Chinee” to a vital ally in the United States’ war against the Japanese. The second-generation Chinese Americans joined the United States army, fought against German and Japanese armies, and participated in defense-related industries in the States, which allowed them to assert their Chinese identity and claim American citizenship amid the war. This case study examines one of the 13,499 Chinese men who fought during the war and brought to light the personal and systemic challenges many Asian-Americans faced during the early 20th century. Through primary sources and material artifacts, the exhibition will examine the shift of the Anglo-American perception of Chinese Americans from discrimination to acceptance, exemplifying their opportunity to gain social and economic standing in mainstream America.

Historians and forensic scientists believe the Black Plague arrived in Europe via a Genoese trade center in the Black Sea in the mid-fourteenth century.   However, modern evidence suggests that the first plague symptoms appeared much closer to 1300 and probably in China.  From there it hitchhiked on caravels and caravans, along sea lanes and silk roads, to become the Black Death of Europe so often discussed in books, film, and television. Although DEI and ethnic studies are an emphasis of the state of California’s curriculum, older textbooks still make that incorporation difficult and that is especially true when one moves from American history to World History.  However, it is possible to follow the trail of the Black Plague through primary sources and material artifacts to its footholds in both Asia and Africa.  The idea of a more inclusive study is to make the history relevant to every child in the classroom, not just those with European roots. For this project, I will be connecting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to the topic of the effects of the Black Plague in the fourteenth century. I will be analyzing different primary and secondary sources to find different viewpoints of the effects on the population, including marginalized groups of the period as well as other cultural groups on other continents.

Since the early sixteenth century, trade defined the West and China’s relationship, however, this trade was also accompanied by contention. This contention stemmed from the enforcement of Chinese law on Westerners, a tradition dating back to the 1520’s, when several Portuguese subjects were held captive and killed by Chinese authorities. From this point forward, Western commentary on the Chinese judicial system emphasized that it was draconian. For example, a French Jesuit of the seventeenth century described the harshness of Qing China’s judicial punishments, while an Englishman published The Punishments of China: Illustrated by Twenty-Two Engravings: With Explanations in English and French, emphasizing Qing China’s lack of the trial rights, use of torture, and brutal forms of capital punishment. Thus, by the nineteenth century, Western powers who curried trade with China thoroughly feared rumors of judicial torture and execution said to be common within the country. By 1821, Chinese actions, including the strangulation of an English sailor for the accidental killing of two Chinese subjects in Canton and the execution of a sailor onboard an American vessel following a contentious trial, did little to relieve these fears. China’s several centuries-long history of imposing its judicial will on Westerners led Western powers to search for a method by which they could guarantee the safety of their subjects residing in China. Therefore, in the mid-nineteenth century, when China’s power waned, the West would impose the concept of extraterritoriality upon China as a protection against what they viewed as barbaric practices.

This paper explores the feminist movement in Post-Revolutionary France into the 21st century. Beginning in 1789 and ending with female enfranchisement in France, this paper also emphasizes the impact of feminist works created at the beginning of French government reform. By connecting strong female leaders in the social realms of France, this paper explores how Olympe De Gouges, George Sand, Sarah Bernhardt and Marguerite Durand used their public platforms to establish equal rights and opportunities for women. Methods of research used to explore this topic included newspapers, biographies, and autobiographical works. Intended to explain the significance of forgotten feminists to the Women's Rights movement in France, this paper recognizes foundational figures to female equality. 

“The Shifts of Warrior Culture and the Rise of the Merchant Class” delves into a period of Japanese History that bridges the medieval to modern history. The peace time of the Edo period was a time where the market economy could thrive and slowly replace the warrior culture of old. This society subjugated the warrior class by its bureaucracy and kept the great daimyo families from being able to build military might. It was sparked by a system created by the Tokugawa to drain the financial resources and power of the daimyo by forcing them to partake in elaborate rituals to elevate social standing. The constant strain on the samurai’s finances, coupled with rising inflation, had turned the once great and lucrative warrior class into paupers after generations. The period also made many lower class samurai pivot to artisanal and mercantile activities to maintain social standing. This led to a new class rising its way out of the woodwork and into the forefront: the merchant. The paper tells the story of the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate’s actions to severely limit the power of the daimyo. They had achieved this by exacerbating their finances and thinning their power to accommodate for the new market economy and style of government. This forced the warrior class to diversify their income into the new economy. This phenomenon of a developing market economy had led to the rise in status of the merchant class as the captains of industry in the new peace.