3. RESEARCH PROJECTS & sample papers

An 8-10 (or more)  page research paper or equivalent service learning report counts for 35% of the course grade. Students will produce a paper of no less than 2,500 words (8 double-spaced pages of text in Times Roman 12 point with standard margins). The paper must  be on an approved topic and based on research in both primary and secondary sources. I would like you to select one of the approved topics listed below. A one-page description of your project is due Wednesday, April . The final paper is due Friday, May  26 at midnight.

TOPICS:

•  Knights of Labor and Anti-Chinese movement.   You will read about events in online newspapers from the 1880s.
• 1918 Influenza Pandemic:  This project involves reading the newspapers of either Seattle, Tacoma, or Portland in the fall of 1918 when the pandemic struck the region. You will write about the experience of one of these cities and also think about the journalism of a century ago compares with the journalism of today. Find details on link above.
• Seattle 1919 General Strike.  The Seattle General Strike was one of the most significant events in the city's history, a dramatic showdown that brought Seattle to a standstill for six days in February 1919  as 60,000 workers represented by 101 unions walked off the job. 
• Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).  Founded in 1905, the IWW was committed to revolutionary unionism, and was one of the first labor organizations to organize Black and Asian workers as well as Whites. You will read about the organization’s activities and explore the hostile newspaper coverage  in online contemporary newspapers from the 1910s. 
• Red Scare 1917-1921. The campaign to suppress radicalism escalated during World War I and escalated further in 1919. A variety of topics related to this are possible. In each case you will be evaluating media perspectives as well as detailing events.
• Emma Goldman and Mother Earth magazine. You will read issues of the magazine.
• Unemployed movements 1930-1933.   Movements demanding jobs and relief payments were active in many cities in the early years of the Great Depression. Many were led by the Communist Party. You will read about the movements and explore press coverage in online newspapers from the 1930s. 
• Violence against Filipinos 1929-1939. Filipinos found jobs mostly as agricultural workers in the 1930s. As you will read in America is in the Heart, they contended with  extreme violence and discrimination.  The object of this assignment is to explore episodes of violence and to evaluate the media coverage of these events.  
• African American activism 1935-1941. The  1930s and 1940s were pivotal in the history of civil rights movements. African Americans formed new movements like the National Negro Congress  and the NAACP launched new initiatives. An uprising in Harlem in 1935, which newspapers called the "Harlem riot,"  made an impression on politicians. The key breakthrough came in 1941 when the March on Washington Movement forced the hand of the Roosevelt administration causing FDR to issue the  landmark Fair Employment Practices executive order.
• Fascist movements in 1930s America. After Fascist and Nazi movements seized power in Italy and Germany, similar movements appeared in the United States. The largest were the Silver Legion and the German American Bund. Choose either of these movements. 
• United Negro Improvement Association.   Marcus Garvey founded UNIA in 1916 to fight for Black pride and economic self-determination in America and create a new nation in Africa. You will read about activities and explore press coverage  in online newspapers from the 1920s.
• Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. SNCC was the most creative of the 1960s civil rights movement, organizing sit-ins and voter registration drives in the early 1960s, leading the turn to Black Power in 1967.  
• Big strikes. You are welcome to research and write about various 20th century strikes provided we can locate newspaper articles and secondary sources. 
• The Great Recession Financial Crisis 2007-2008:    This project involves researching the collapse of Washington Mutual (WAMU) and the largest bank failure in US History. You will read newspapers from 2007-2008 as well as secondary sources and write partly about the way journalists reported the early months of the crisis. Find details on link above.