2008 Theme: The Individual in History:

Actions and Legacies

Suggested Topic List

This link provides an extensive, although not exhaustive, list of possible topics for this year’s NHD theme. The words “action” or “legacy” have not always been added to the topic but the student should address actions and lasting legacies that were involved in the topic. It is also encouraged that students take a broad interpretation of the word “individual” when thinking about the theme. For example, George Washington or King Henry VIII were ‘individuals’ that initiated some action that created some legacy but ideas or events can effect the way individuals, even groups of individuals, think about themselves. Let’s take the story of Athens during the time of the ancient Greeks. The legacy of Athenian Democracy affected the way we think about the role the individual citizen plays in the function of government and community.  Another example might come from Machiavelli’s ruthless instruction manual on how a ‘prince’ should rule. Did not that book impact the methods used by later power-hungry individuals?  What about individuals in a collective sense? Isn’t an army made of individuals? The stories of the common soldier at Valley Forge or in the Civil War certainly have had a lasting impact. And what about the individual in a totalitarian system like the former Soviet Union where the individual was powerless compared to the all-powerful state?  What actions were taken by the state to neutralize the individual?  What actions, no matter how small, did individuals take to maintain their individuality? I am sure there are even more ways to interpret the legacy of the individual in history.

One last thing about this list (and the list of South Carolina topics); usually a specific individual’s name has been attached with an event but a completely different name might be associated to the same event. For example, instead of Mathew Brady and the Photography of the Civil War, I may have listed Alexander Gardner and the Photography of the Civil War.  If the History Day student wants to focus on another individual that played a big role in an event other than the one listed, by all means make that change or, if a student wants to do a completely different topic than one on these lists, that is fine, too, just remember that the topic needs to have four components:  It needs to be focused on

• the individual (however you define the term),
• it must take place ‘in history’ meaning stay away from events that have happened since 1990,
• it must have an action or actions (this means that something happened and it could be as vague as the introduction of a new idea), and
• there needs to be a legacy or legacies (an impact) meaning simply something changed because of the action.  Your finished product must explain how an individual left a legacy because of their actions or how certain actions had a lasting impact on the individual.