History Student Papers

“Go, Going, Gone”: Anti-Chinese Sentiment in Washington Territory, 1885-1886

Naomi Eide — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:54:52 PDT

Unwilling to conform to the pressure set forth by the national government, the citizens of Washington Territory, during 1885 and 1886, united to purge the region of the Chinese through a systematic ethnic cleansing of two major territorial cities. Motivated by the desire to become active members of the federal government, Territorial leaders ignored the negative effects of population exclusion and led an active movement rallying around the cry that “the Chinese must go.” Not until the lawlessness of the rioters shut down the territorial government, did the political agitators acknowledge how outsiders perceived their drastic actions, realizing that the anti-Chinese agitation negatively affected Washington’s government and further postponed their bid to become a state in the union.

New World Rivals: The Role of the Narragansetts in the Breakdown of Anglo-Native Relations During King Philip’s War

Lauren Sagar — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:42:14 PDT

On June 28, 1675, King Philip’s War officially broke out between the Native Americans and English colonists of southern New England. The English immediately sought an alliance with the Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island due to their vast power in the area. However, English actions during this quest for alliance would ultimately turn the Narragansetts into enemies. The diplomatic and military encounters between the Narragansetts and English serve as a lens to understand dispossession, intercultural conflict, and colonialism during this period.

A Union Of Negatives: Ayatollah Khomeini and the Mobilization of Dissent in the Iranian Revolution of 1979

Nicholas G. Sumski — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:51:37 PDT

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 eradicated half a century of Westernization in Iran and installed Ayatollah Khomeini as the leader of Iran’s new Islamic Republic. However, the revolutionary forces were not strongly unified under Khomeini’s radical Islamic vision. Indeed, many facets of the opposition simply desired moderate political reforms to increase democratic participation in the government and opposed the imposition of a government directed under the auspices of Islam. By the late 1970s, though, these various moderate revolutionaries realized that the only legitimate means to overthrow the reign of the American-supported Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, would be to join the Ayatollah and his network of radical Islamic mullahs. Acting as a cunning politician, Khomeini kept his plans for post-revolutionary Iran purposefully vague in order to galvanize the maximum amount of support for his cause. Khomeini unified the various opposition groups and directed their anger towards overthrowing the Shah, blinding them to his true motives for the future. A complex relationship between economic crises, the effects of the Shah’s brutal police-state, and the mobilization of average Iranians by the intelligentsia and the Ayatollah’s organized network of radical mullahs all contributed to the Shah’s eventual downfall and the subsequent imposition of the first Islamic Republic. The well-being of the average Iranian citizen did not improve after the revolution. Khomeini’s government continued to utilize the repressive political tactics employed by the Shah, including the execution of political opponents, to safeguard the regime. The failures of the Iranian Revolution offers a cautionary tale to today’s current revolutionary fighters in the uprisings throughout the Middle East, collectively known as the “Arab Spring.”

Is Islam the Solution? The Muslim Brotherhood and the Search for an Islamic Democracy in Egypt

Erica Devine — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:15:57 PDT

Since the removal of President Mubarak in 2011, the role of the Muslim Brotherhood as a political force within Egypt has grown exponentially. These events have called into question the role the Muslim Brotherhood will play in the creation of a new government in Egypt. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Brotherhood underwent a gradual transformation of its ideology in the direction of democracy and political participation. The influence of such ideologues as Hasan al- Banna, Hasan Isma‘il al-Hudaybi, Umar al-Tilmisani, and Yusef al-Qaradawi provided the foundation for this transition and spurred the movement towards the blending of civil and religious agendas. Their promotion of a constitutional system of governance within the constraints of Islamic law is a source of hope for the Brotherhood’s future participation in a democratic state.

Shooting Arrows Through Myth and History: The Evolution of the Robin Hood Legend

Kathleen Rose Mulligan — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:15:53 PDT

This paper examines the development of the legends of Robin Hood through both historical and popular culture perspectives, analyzing the similarities and differences between the two fields as they evolved over the centuries. It studies the contextual influence of the history of each time period on the particular popular culture media as well as the historical works, and discovers when history and literature split paths with regards to the character of Robin Hood.

The Nature and Extent of the French Resistance Against Nazi Occupation During World War II

Jeffrey Folker — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:08:03 PDT

Comprehensively covers a very misunderstood and myth-laden part of the history of WWII. Folker makes it clear, from a comprehensive review of primary and secondary literature, that the resistance offered by the French to Nazi Occupation was largely insignificant and its effectiveness overblown during and after the war.