History Day 2020: Breaking Barriers in History
Stories from Connecticut Explored to inspire and inform your project!
Women Breaking Barriers
“Audacious Alliances: Mary Townsend Seymour,” Summer 2003
https://www.ctexplored.org/audacious-alliance-mary-townsend-seymour/
“Mary Hall: Breaking the Legal Barrier,” Spring 2010
https://www.ctexplored.org/mary-hall-breaking-the-legal-barrier/
“Women Who Changed the World, “ Summer 2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/women-who-changed-the-world/
Women at work: “The Steno Pool and the Factory Floor,” Winter 2013-2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/women-in-the-workplace-from-steno-pool-to-factory-floor/
World War II Refugees: “A Godmother to Ravensbruck Survivors,” Winter 2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/a-godmother-to-ravensbruck-survivors/
Ida Tarbell, early female journalist: “A Muckraker Retreats to Easton,” Fall 2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/A-MUCKRAKER.pdf
“Greenwich Women Face the Great War,” Winter 2014-2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/greenwich-women-face-the-great-war/
“Katharine Hepburn, Local Girl,” Spring 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/sample-article-katharine-hepburn-local-girl/
Maria Sanchez: “Godmother of Puerto Rican Community,” Summer 2003
https://www.ctexplored.org/maria-sanchez-godmother-of-hartfords-puerto-rican-community/
“Connecticut Women Fight for Reproductive Rights,” Fall 2017
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-women-fight-for-reproductive-rights/
Co-founder of Hartford’s NAACP chapter: “Mary Townsend Seymour: Audacious Alliances,” Summer 2003
https://www.ctexplored.org/audacious-alliance-mary-townsend-seymour/
Jewish women reformers: “The Handkerchief Brigade,” Fall 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-handkerchief-brigade/
Women innovate: Pepperidge Farms: “Healthful Bread Builds a Business,” Winter 2015-2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/pepperidge-farm-healthful-bread-builds-a-business/
Women innovate: Bigelow Tea: “A Connecticut Tea Party,” Winter 2015/2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/bigelow-tea-a-connecticut-tea-party/
Connecticut’s first female governor: “The Education of Ella Grasso,” Fall 2004
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-education-of-ella-grasso/
“Connecticut’s Irish Domestics,” Fall 2013
https://www.ctexplored.org/sample-article-connecticuts-irish-domestics/
“Piece by Piece: Stitching the History of Litchfield’s Female Academy,” Summer 2007
“Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Connecticut’s Feminist Prophet,” Winter 2011
African Americans Breaking Barriers
African Americans fight in the Civil War, “the 29th Regiment Colored Volunteers,” Spring 2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-black-civil-war-regiment/
“Southern Blacks Transform Connecticut,” Fall 2013
https://www.ctexplored.org/southern-blacks-transform-connecticut/
Dr. Martin Luther King’s introduction to Connecticut—as a student tobacco worker. “Laboring in the Shade,” Summer 2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/laboring-in-the-shade/
“Tuskegee Airman: I wanted to Fly” Fall 2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/tuskegee-airman-i-wanted-to-fly/
“Ebenezer Bassett’s Historic Journey,” Winter 2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/ebenezer-bassetts-historic-journey-2/
Connecticut’s first African American female pharmacist “James Pharmacy,” Spring 2007
https://www.ctexplored.org/james-pharmacy/
Ann Petry, best-selling female African American novelist, “Just Like Georgia Except for the Climate,” Fall 2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/JUST-LIKE-GEORGIA.pdf
“Cast Down on Every Side: the Ill-fated Campaign to Found an African College in New Haven,” Summer 2007
https://www.ctexplored.org/cast-down-on-every-side-the-ill-fated-campaign-to-found-an-african-college-in-new-haven/
African American actress “Marietta Canty,” Spring 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-marietta-canty-2/
Coach Doc Hurley, “I Called Him Mr. Hurley,” Fall 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/i-called-him-mr-hurley/
Co-founder of Hartford’s NAACP chapter: “Mary Townsend Seymour: Audacious Alliances,” Summer 2003
https://www.ctexplored.org/audacious-alliance-mary-townsend-seymour/
Hartford Chapter of the NAACP: “100 Years in the Freedom Struggle” Fall 2017
https://www.ctexplored.org/greater-hartford-naacp-100-years-in-the-freedom-struggle/
Artist Ellis Ruley: “Embracing Ellis Ruley,” Winter 2018-2019
https://www.ctexplored.org/embracing-ellis-ruley/
“Peace Train’s Breaking & Popping All Stars,” Winter 2018-2019
https://www.ctexplored.org/cover-story-peace-trains-popping-breaking-all-stars/
Breaking the color line in golf: “The Midway Golf Club,” Summer 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-midway-golf-club/
“African American Greats in Connecticut Baseball,” Summer 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/african-american-greats-in-connecticut-baseball/
Early African American entrepreneur “Isaac Glasko Forges a Life” Summer 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/glasgo-isaac-glasko-forges-a-life/
First Female African American Lawyer to practice in CT: “The Trailblazing Bessye Bennett,” Spring 2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/BENNETT.pdf
African American actress Gwen Reed, “From Fields to Footlights,” Summer 2004
Slavery and Freedom: “A Life’s Work: James Mars,” Summer 2004
“A Family of Reformers: The Middletown Bemans,” Winter 2008-2009
Immigrants Breaking Barriers
“They Came Here as Fishermen,” Fall 2013
https://www.ctexplored.org/they-came-here-as-fishermen/
“Connecticut’s Irish Domestics,” Fall 2013
https://www.ctexplored.org/sample-article-connecticuts-irish-domestics/
“Chinese Exchange Students in 1880s Connecticut”
https://www.ctexplored.org/chinese-exchange-students-in-1880s-connecticut/
Jews in Connecticut “Making their Presence Known” Summer 2005
https://www.ctexplored.org/jews-in-hartford-making-their-presence-known/
“Hebrew Tillers of the Soil,” Spring 2006
https://www.ctexplored.org/hebrew-tillers-of-the-soil/
Breaking Technological Barriers & Invention
“Making Connecticut” Summer 2011
“Sikorsky—Still Revolutionary,” Spring 2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/sample-article-spring-2014/
Nuclear power: “Connecticut’s State Ship,” https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-state-ship/
Spring 2014, and “Full Speed into the Nuclear Age,” Winter 2015-2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/electric-boat-full-speed-into-the-nuclear-age/
History of Timex watch and clockmaker; “Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking,” Winter 2015/2016 https://www.ctexplored.org/timex-takes-a-licking-and-keeps-on-ticking/
Pepperidge Farms: “Healthful Bread Builds a Business,” Winter 2015-2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/pepperidge-farm-healthful-bread-builds-a-business/
Bigelow Tea: “A Connecticut Tea Party,” Winter 2015/2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/bigelow-tea-a-connecticut-tea-party/
“Full Steam Ahead: Steamers Revolutionize Travel of Long Island Sound,” Spring 2009
Native Americans Face & Break Barriers
“Exploring and Uncovering the Pequot War,” Fall 2013
https://www.ctexplored.org/exploring-and-uncovering-the-pequot-war/
“New London’s Indian Mariners,” Spring 2009
https://www.ctexplored.org/new-londons-indian-mariners/
“Native American Cuisine Saves the Colonist,” Spring 2006
https://www.ctexplored.org/native-american-cuisine-saves-the-colonists/
“Breaking the Myth of the Unmanaged Landscape,” Spring 2012
https://www.ctexplored.org/breaking-the-myth-of-the-unmanaged-landscape/
Labor Breaking Barriers
“The Labor Movement in Connecticut,” Winter 2013/2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-labor-movement-in-connecticut/
“New London’s Indian Mariners,” Spring 2009
https://www.ctexplored.org/new-londons-indian-mariners/
“Child Labor,” Summer 2004
https://www.ctexplored.org/child-labor/
Puerto Rican tobacco workers, Fall 2002
https://www.ctexplored.org/tobacco-valley-puerto-rican-farm-workers-in-connecticut/
Breaking Barriers in Politics & Government
One man-One Vote: “Reflections on the 1965 Constitutional Convention,” Spring 2014 https://www.ctexplored.org/reflections-on-the-1965-constitutional-convention/
Connecticut’s socialist mayor: “Bridgeport Votes for a Change,” Fall 2012
https://www.ctexplored.org/bridgeport-votes-for-a-change/
“Father of American Copyright Law,” Fall 2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/noah-webster-father-of-american-copyright-law/
Political freedom/McCarthyism: “Al Marder: A Life of Conviction,” Spring 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/al-marder-a-life-of-conviction/
“Stamping Out the Reds,” Fall 2005
https://www.ctexplored.org/stamping-out-the-reds-the-palmer-raids-in-connecticut/
Jewish rights: “Gaining Religious Equality,” Spring 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-gaining-religious-equality/
Breaking the Standing Order: The Constitution of 1818, Fall 2018
https://www.ctexplored.org/fall-2018-200th-anniversary-of-the-constitution-of-1818/
Connecticut’s first female governor: “The Education of Ella Grasso,” Fall 2004
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-education-of-ella-grasso/
African American voting rights: “No Taxation without Representation,” Spring 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/no-taxation-without-representation-voting-petitions-in-connecticut/
Women’s suffrage: “The Long and Bumpy Road to Women’s Suffrage,” Spring 2016 https://www.ctexplored.org/the-long-road-to-womens-suffrage-in-connecticut/
“Senator Brandegee Stonewalls Women’s Suffrage,” Spring 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/senator-brandegee-stonewalls-womens-suffrage/
Women’s Suffrage: “Josephine Bennett: Setting the Watch Fires of Liberty,” Fall 2005
First Jewish governor and congressman: “Abraham Ribicoff Turns Connecticut Blue,” Spring 2016 https://www.ctexplored.org/abraham-ribicoff-turns-connecticut-blue/
“Yale’s Chaplain Takes on the Vietnam War,” Winter 2014-2015
Political activism: “Ralph Nader: Rapscallion or Redeemer?” Winter 2008- 2009
Political activism: “A Legacy of Nonviolence in Voluntown,” Summer 2019
“How Segregation Happened in West Hartford,” Summer 2019
Breaking Barriers in Sports
Boxer Kid Kaplan pulls himself up by his boxing gloves, “The Meriden Buzzsaw,” Fall 2009
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-meriden-buzz-saw-kid-kaplan-pulls-himself-up-by-his-boxing-gloves/
Breaking the color line in golf: “The Midway Golf Club,” Summer 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-midway-golf-club/
“African American Greats in Connecticut Baseball,” Summer 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/african-american-greats-in-connecticut-baseball/
Breaking Barriers in the Arts
Jazz musician: “My Dad, Jackie McLean,” Fall 2008
“Art on the Edge at Real Art Ways,” Fall 2017
https://www.ctexplored.org/art-on-the-edge-at-real-art-ways/
Modern art: “Josef & Anni Albers in Connecticut,” Winter 2018-2019
https://www.ctexplored.org/josef-anni-albers-in-connecticut/
“Tom Thumb and the Age of Celebrity,” Spring 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/tom-thumb-and-the-age-of-celebrity/
Ann Petry, best-selling female African American novelist, “Just Like Georgia Except for the Climate,” Fall 2014
https://www.ctexplored.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/JUST-LIKE-GEORGIA.pdf
African American actress “Marietta Canty,” Spring 2015
https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-marietta-canty-2/
Artist Ellis Ruley: “Embracing Ellis Ruley,” Winter 2018-2019
https://www.ctexplored.org/embracing-ellis-ruley/
“Peace Train’s Breaking & Popping All Stars,” Winter 2018-2019
https://www.ctexplored.org/cover-story-peace-trains-popping-breaking-all-stars/
Gay poet: “Poet James Merrill’s House ,” Summer 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/stonington-poet-james-merrills-house/
African American actress Gwen Reed, “From Fields to Footlights,” Summer 2004
LGBTQ Breaking Barriers
“An Early Advocate for Connecticut’s Gay Community,” Summer 2014
Gay poet: “Poet James Merrill’s House ,” Summer 2016
https://www.ctexplored.org/stonington-poet-james-merrills-house/
Breaking Barriers: Health and Disease
Raising awareness of the homeless and indigent people and reforming treatment of. “Had too Much,” Spring 2004
Curing polio: “The Home for Incurables,” Spring 2004
Preventing the spread of smallpox: “Hospital Rock,” Spring 2004
https://www.ctexplored.org/hospital-rock/
“The Discovery of Anesthesia,” Spring 2005
Breaking Barriers: the Environment
“Connecticut Forest & Park Pioneers,” Winter 2016-2017
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-park-and-forest-pioneers/
“Why We Need Beavers” Spring 2019
https://www.ctexplored.org/why-we-need-beavers/