National History Day 2016 Topics: , Encounter, and Exchange

 1960 Election - the debate between Nixon and Kennedy is the first to appear on public television, exploring and encountering a new era of media attention on politics  Aborigines of - a very interesting and harrowing story as to how the native group of indigenous met the white convicts sent to Australia  Amelia Earhart - the first woman to fly across the Atlantic meets a mysterious ending  Andrew Jackson, , and the Adams-Onis Treaty - America steals and then buys the Sunshine State  Asa Packer - an industrialist who founded the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, becoming a major business tycoon in coal and railroads; also built Lehigh University and ran for president (albeit unsuccessfully) in 1868  Bermuda Triangle - the mysterious place where many ships sank to the bottom of the Atlantic  Brigham Young and the Church of Ladder Day Saints - it's amazing to think that this "American Moses" picked up his people and moved them to Utah, saving them from persecution  's Time Zone - Since 1949, China is the largest country in the world to only have 1 time zone (it should be 3); since exploring this "unifying measure," they've encountered plenty of problems  Christmas Truce - and Allies explore a time of peace amidst World War I, exchanging gifts, and encountering humanity  Climbing Mt. Everest - the ultimate human achievement back then is becoming a polluted dumping ground today  Committees of Correspondence - the Internet of its day, a great way for the colonies to encounter problems together and exchange thoughts on how to move forward  Commodore Matthew Perry and the Opening of - once a secluded, private nation, an American explorer visits, encounters the Japanese emperor, and begins a system of global exchange  Cuban Embargo - when Castro overthrows the American-friendly regime, the encounters, exchange, and exploration of Cuba greatly change  Custer's Last Stand - the boldest military officer goes out to meet military glory; in underestimating the Indians, he loses the battle - and his life - instead  - a British man who explores the interior of (and dies in the process)  Ellis Island - processing millions of people in just a few decades, making America a more immigrant-looking nation  Encounter with alcohol - the temperance movement in America to ban booze  Exploring the / - some great stories of those who pushed the brinks of cold for exploration  Explorers - have fun looking through this list of explorers  Fernando Cortes and the - a man idolized as a God conquers a culture  Gandhi's Salt March - the famous Indian leader fasts and draws media attention on this call to civil disobedience, kick-starting the campaign for independence  George Washington & Ft. Necessity - Washington explores the NW Pennsylvania in order to meet and greet the French; instead, he begins the 7 Years War (French & Indian War)  Gold Rush of 1849 - how pick up and move to in hopes of finding riches  Harriet Tubman - a former slave woman goes back to free at least 30 of her friends and family; discussion about having her replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill  Hart Island - a fantastic story of an island north of City that has nearly a million people buried there (most unnamed) and is completely off-limits to the public today  How Smallpox decimated the American  Immigration to America - what brought (insert a specific group like Amish, Germans, Irish, , Japanese, etc.) to America?  Impressment - Britain and France force American sailors to work for them, triggering problem after problem  Island hopping - during WWII, the Americans "hopped" from island to island to free them from the rule of imperial Japan  Japanese Kamikazes - exchanging one's life for the dive-bombing encounter with the enemy and the Japanese mission  - the first white man to explore Hawai'i and the Oceanic islands  - Constant struggle between Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land  Julia Archibald Holmes - a fantastic woman who served as an abolitionist with John Brown, the first famous American female explorer, and a women's suffragette  King Philip's War - The Deadliest (Percentage) War in American History  Leif Ericsson - one of the first whites (Viking, have you) to come to  Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery - the first white men who set to explore the Missouri and the (as a bonus, I have tons of sources!)  Louie Zamperini's story from Unbroken - if you haven't read this book about a Navy bombadier who is lost in the Pacific for 40+ days and then survives in a Japanese POW camp, you need to buy the book yesterday.  Manifest Destiny - the exploratory idea that the USA should stretch sea to sea  - the Italian who ventured to China and opened up a whole new level of global understanding  Minersville School District v. Gobitis - a major court case that require Jehovah's Witnesses to salute the American Flag and began an onslaught of Jehovah Witness persecution; overruled 3 years later  Movement during WWI - Christians and Muslims resettled throughout the world to be more "with their own people" - focus especially true with Greece and  Nazis plan to move Jews to - if you don't believe it, read more by clicking here  New York Stock Exchange - the stock market begins a new era of investment and capital  Pablo Picasso / George Baraque exchange ideas, explore cubism, encounter criticism from artists and critics  Paul and the Early Christians - the early prophet travels the ancient world to export his message  Richard Nixon Visits China - the infamous president enacts his most famous and controversial policy, opening up the country in 1972  Scalawags - a group of northerners move south to reconstruct in the post-Civil War era  Settlement of - the unique backdrop that allows Holland / England to legislate racism in a foreign land  Settling Liberia - in the 1820s, there's a movement to send freed slaves back to Africa  Sherman's March to the Sea - a grand way to pulverize and punish the South  Sigmund Freud - exploration and encounter of modern psychology  - the link between China, , , and the was the very first link of cultures  Space Exploration - can take many vantage points on this, like the first mission, Apollo 11, failed space , the Space Race, etc.  Spanish Flu of 1918 - killing 50-100 million people (3-5% of the world's population), this killed more people in a year than all those who died in WWI; can look at  St. Augustine - the first town in North America, as created by the Spanish in what is today Florida  The Articles of Confederation - the new nation explores its founding and encounters many problems before exchanging the document for the Constitution  The Beatles Come to America - the greatest band to walk the comes to America, and music is never the same  The blending of races - as people meet and reproduce, they make for new cultural groups that have unique characteristics all their own  The Columbian Exchange - the foods and diseases that were shared between the Old and after the Age of Exploration  The Conquering of Mecca & Medina - Muslims conquer the land of the covenant  The Destruction of the American Bison - Americans killed more than 90% of the thundering beasts in less than 20 years  The Erie Canal - linking the and was a great achievement for its time  The Galapagos / Madagascar Islands - the unique encounter with these awesome islands that seem to be so foreign compared to the neighboring lands  The Great Migration - where black Americans move (in millions) from farms in the South to cities in the North  The Mason-Dixon Line - two men explore the land that separates Maryland and Pennsylvania / Delaware, and, in turn, create a border between North and South  The Monroe Doctrine - James Monroe and John Quincy Adams seek to limit the exploration and exportation of European ideals in greater America  The Open Door Policy with China - the world's fastest growing economy today was once dominated by western interests  The search for the - this mythical place that supposedly would make the the world highway cost many men their lives  The Transcontinental Railroad - America connects from sea to shining sea, but not without conflict  The Triangle Trade - slaves, goods, and finished products being exchanged between Africa, Europe, and the Americas  The Underground Railroad - enslaved Americans find a way to seek freedom  Thomas Paine's Common Sense - a British immigrant explores the encounter between his home country and his new one, thus setting it up for an exchange of ideas (and war)  Trail of Tears - Andrew Jackson forces the Cherokee off their lands to the Indian Reservation (Oklahoma); thousands die on the walk  Transcontinental Railroad - linking the East and West helps to cut down on travel time and uniting a nation  USS Monitor and CSS - the first two steel battleships fight to a duel in the Civil War  William Penn and the Delaware Indians - how our state's founder set-up this land after working with (not against) the Indians here  Words Make War: How John Brown's Trial Caused the Civil War - the famous abolitionist has an incredible story traveling the U.S., driving up support for black freedom in New York, Kansas, but most of all at his trial following the failed Harper's Ferry Insurrection  - the man after Lewis & Clark who explores the Southwest and is captured by the Spanish