History Fair assignment #1
What is this year’s history fair theme?
• Actions/Legacies
Eight questions to answer…
• 1) Do individuals make a difference in history?
• 2) Do only famous people make a difference?
• 3) How do unknown people play a part in history?
Continued….
• 4) Who are the important individuals in your life? Who has made a difference/impacted you?
• 5) What was an experience that had a big effect on your life?
And finally….
• 6) How do you think YOU could make a difference in the world?
• 7) If you could change something, create, invent…what would it be? Why?
• 8) Once you know that, list 3 things you’d need to do to achieve it and who might help you or oppose you.
List the 4 different ways in which you can present your findings.
• Exhibit
• Paper
• Live performance
• Video documentary
Some individuals who might make good history fair topics…
William Ogden
• Chicago’s first mayor• Helped Chicago recover
after a financial crash in the 1830s
• Designed first swing bridge across the Chicago River
• Donated land for Rush Medical Center
• Promoted canals and railroads
Frances Willard
• Served as dean of the Northwestern Female College in Evanston
• Worked as journalist and editor of Chicago Daily Post
• Helped establish the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1874 (anti-alcohol)
• Supported abolition of prostitution, prison reform, and women’s suffrage
Amos Alonzo Stagg
• Football coach at University of Chicago, 1892-1932
• Developed the tackling dummy, huddle, reverse and man in motion plays, lateral pass, uniform #s, and the awarding of varsity letters
Rachelle Yarros
• Set up an obstetrical and gynecological practice in Chicago in 1895
• Advocated birth control and sex education
• set up first birth control clinic in Chicago with the help of Margaret Sanger—this formed the root of the future Planned Parenthood clinics
Albert Parsons
• Joined the Socialist Labor Party with wife Lucy and edited radical journal Alarm
• Fought for 8 hour work day
• Executed after Haymarket Riot, though nobody knows who threw the bomb at that event
Jane Addams
• Founded Hull House in Chicago, 1889, to help immigrants
• Established English classes, soup kitchens, nurseries, playgrounds
• Promoted garbage inspection and first juvenile court in the country
• Legacy of peace activism, Nobel Peace Prize, 1931
Montgomery Ward
• Invented the first mail order catalog
• Helped link farmers to the city
• Fought to keep the lakefront “forever open, clear and free” in Chicago
• Took the city to court with his own money
Upton Sinclair
• Went undercover to Chicago’s stockyards and wrote The Jungle about what he saw
• Revealed horrible working conditions and disgusting meatpacking practices
• His work led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act
John H. Johnson
• Created a publishing empire that included Negro Digest, Ebony, and Jet magazines
• Also owned book publishing and cosmetics companies
• Made TV specials and owned a life insurance company
• Visited many countries on behalf of the US government
Rudy Lozano• Forged partnerships
among Latinos, African-Americans and other minorities, particularly in election of Harold Washington in 1983
• Regional director of Ladies Garment Workers Union
• Tried to organize workers at Del Rey Tortilleria factory
• Was killed in his own home
Florence Scala
• Resident of Little Italy who fought UIC expansion
• Lost the battle, but inspired others by her example
Frank Collin
• Led a neo-Nazi group in an attempt to hold a march in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie
• Claimed freedom of speech rights to do so
• ACLU won the case for him, but ultimately, his group did not march there
• There are many layers to this case…
Richard Nickel
• Tried to save historic Chicago buildings from demolition
• Saved the old Stock Exchange trading room floor, which was relocated to the Art Institute
• When he failed at times, he captured the buildings in pictures
• Died in a building that was being demolished
Al Raby
• CPS teacher who was active in the Civil Rights Movement
• Led Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO) and helped bring Martin Luther King, Jr. to Chicago as part of the Chicago Freedom Movement
• Marched for open housing
Bill Ayers
• Led a group called the Weathermen
• Was part of the “Days of Rage” in Chicago in 1969 to spread the anti-Vietnam War message
• Participated in other bombings, including that of the Haymarket police statue
• Now a professor at the University of Illinois
Some other topic ideas:
• Architects: Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe
City planners
• Ellis Chesbrough—water purification issues
• Daniel Burnham—Chicago Plan of 1909
Mayors/politicians
• Anton Cermak
• Richard J. Daley
• Michael Bilandic
• Jane Byrne
• Harold Washington
Businessmen
• Marshall Field• Oscar Mayer• George Pullman• Potter Palmer• Robert McCormick—Tribune• Robert Abbott—Chicago Defender• Ray Kroc—McDonalds• Charles Walgreen• William Wrigley• LEO BURNETT-advertising• Hugh Hefner--Playboy
Writers
• Theodore Dreiser• Nelson Algren• Ben Hecht• Richard Wright• Lorraine Hansberry• Studs Terkel
Musicians
• Louis Armstrong
• Muddy Waters
• Chess Brothers—recording label
Actors/theater people
• Bernard Sahlins—Second City founder• Gary Sinise—one of Steppenwolf Theater
founders, actor• John Malkovich—affiliated with Steppenwolf,
actor
Reformers/educators/unionists
• Saul Alinsky—stockyards area organizer• John Dewey—education reformer• Ida B. Wells—anti-lynching campaign• Jackie Vaughn—CTU activist• Fred Hampton—Black Panthers• Ben Reitman—Hobo College• Abbie Hoffman—anti-Vietnam War• Carl Hansberry—anti-redlining, segregation
And a few more ideas…more to follow soon
• Enrico Fermi—first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
• Wallace C. Abbott—Abbott Labs
• Walter Polovchak—Ukrainian boy given asylum by the US when he refused to go back home with his parents
• Abby Mandel—promoter of Cuisinart, local foods, and Green City Market founder