Browse Exhibits (7 total)

Boston Massacre

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The eruption that broke out on March 5, 1770, was really a clash of two differing opinions. On one side was a number of American colonists that had had enough of King George III and his sudden attempt to gain revenue for Britain by heavily taxing the colonies that he had all but neglected for the majority of their existence. On the other side were British soldiers, loyal to the Crown, who had been sent over to the colonies to put down those that were rising up against the King. After all, the colonies existed for the purpose of bettering the mother country, and Britain was in need of money after fighting the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War). On March 5th, a group of Bostonians, irritated with the British soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House, decided to throw debris at them. Understandably agitated with what had occurred, the soldiers proceeded to fire at the crowd of colonists. Five colonists were killed, and news of the event spread like wildfire in the days following. Paul Revere printed Henry Pelham’s image of the clash and titled it “The Bloody Massacre”.

Looking at the facts that historians have collected surrounding the event in 1770, it’s clear that it was not a “massacre” in any way. However, this exhibit looks at Pelham’s famous image along with newsaper articles and other art portraying the Boston Massacre, and pushes us to consider how multiple people can experience the same exact event and yet take away something completely different from it. As human beings with our own experiences, it’s impossible for us to look at an occurrence with total objectivity. Therefore, this leads us as historians to question what agenda the artist or writer had and what kind of reaction he was attempting to pull from the public. And furthermore, what did it mean in the 1700s to bring people information about something that happened when there was no modern technology to instantly capture the event? 

Congressman Stephen F. Lynch

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Democratic Congressman Stephen F. Lynch is an American politician. He served in the Massachusetts Legislature as a Representative in the United States House of Representatives for Massachusetts since 2001. After high school, he worked alongside his father; then he became an apprentice ironworker. He was the only boy out of six children, and he was very attached to his father’s path. He enrolled at Boston College Law School and graduated in 1991.

The experience of working with ironworkers and as a lawyer has given him a deep concern for social problems. He became interested in politics at a young age after he became president of The Workers Iron Union when he was only 30 years old, the youngest person to ever do so. He entered politics by winning a seat as a Representative in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives, and then he became the Senator in the Massachusetts State Senate. He married in 1992 to Margaret Shaughnessy. They have a girl named Victoria, and they also raised Lynch’s niece, Crystal.

Stephen Lynch attended and graduated from South Boston High School. Afterwards, he pursued a career for almost two decades as an ironworker, attending night school to earn an undergraduate degree from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Construction Management. He became very involved with his local union and became the youngest President of it. He then attended Boston College in pursuit of a law degree and began practicing law in Massachusetts and New Hampshire shortly after. He became involved in public service and politics during his career as a lawyer. After he was elected to both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and State Senate he attended Harvard University and received a Masters from the School of Government for Public Administration.

 

Bibliography

 

 

Rep. Stephen Lynch. Twitter, 2015. Web. 16 March 2015.

Representative Stephen F. Lynch. Facebook, 2015. Web. 16 March 2015.

"Stephen F. Lynch." 2015. The Famous People website. Mar 12 2015, 08:51.

"Stephen F. Lynch for U.S. Senate." Stephen F. Lynch U.S. Congressman. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.

“Voting Record.” Stephen F. Lynch U.S. Congressman. n.d. Web. 16 March 2015.

Vive la France: Women's Role in the French Resistance

Women’s Unrecognized Role in the French Resistance

Under the grip of Nazi Germany, Vichy France collaborated with their Fascist allies, and with this collaboration, an extensive underground resistance was born. A signifigant part of the resistance was the women who fought alongside men against Vichy France. This begs the question:

To what extent was the contribution of women in the French Resistance recognized by society after the war? 

Unfortunately, Despite having taken an equally important role in the French resistance alongside their male counterparts, after the war, most former female French resisters reverted back to their traditional roles and did not receive recognition for their services until years later. 

To show the scope the involvment resistance, we have focused on the stories of four individuals as they lived under foreign occupation, working towards the goal of liberation. Their lives, actions and outcomes define a signifigant part in the fight against the Third Reich.

Nuremberg Trials

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 Socially and economically distressed, following it’s defeat in World War I, Germany sought a new political reign; placing democracy, along with the Treaty of Versailles, at the root of it’s suffering. Despite momentary improvement, continuous economic downturn and political unrest resulted in the country’s rise of fascism under Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. As the leader of the largest elected party, Hitler was successfully appointed chancellor, initiating the transformation of the Weimar Republic to Nazi Germany, a single-party totalitarian form of government based on the ideology of National Socialism. Determined to recreate Germany as the strongest country in Europe and enforce socialist ideology, Hitler, using acts of aggression and violence, initiated the next global infringement: World War II (WWII).

WWII was a three-front war waged by Nazi Germany on land, sea and air. It caused the destruction of entire countries and the desolation of supposed undesirables. Supporter and follower of Adolf Hitler, Martin Bormann, joined the party in 1926, obliging fully to the acts planned and committed by the Nazi regime, thereby submitting his participation in the acts against humanity during WWII. As a result, many, including Martin Bormann, the man considered influential in Hitler's rise to power, were charged and put on trial for their unjust acts in the Nuremberg Trials. Bormann, in light of his recent disappearance, was tried in absentia. The question to be considered is why was he tried in absentia?

In this exhibit we will examine Martin Bormann and his relevance to the Nuremberg trials by providing necessary background and historical information, and investigating the aspects surrounding his Nazi career, war crimes, trial and disappearance. Utimately reaching the overall conclusion that Bormann was charged in absentia to symbolically and legally provide closure for those affected his crimes against humanity.

 

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The Impunity of the Salvadoran Civil War

This exhibit was created to examine the effects of the civil war in El Salvador (1980-1992) on the Salvadoran people. Our team uses the information presented to illustrate how the Salvadoran people were continually ignored and exploited due to the balance of powers and anti-Communism.

 The historical Salvadoran civil war is often relayed in the United States thorugh the perspective of U.S. foreign policy, the murders of six Jesuit priests, or the democratic transition of the country's politics. We hope to honor the people of El Salvador through presenting their story in the best of our abilities admist limited time and resources.

The exhibit begins through providing a brief historical background of the Salvadoran civil war, followed by information the what life was like for Salvadorans during the war, continued with the official end of the civil war, the climate of like in El Salvador in the immediate after-math of the civil war, and the later effects of the civil war on the Salvadoran people.

Our team has worked to create this exhibit as a gateway of public history to honor our responsibilities as historians.

Research question: What were the effects of the El Salvador civil war on the Salvadoran people?

Thesis: The Salvadoran people remain exploited and disenfranchised after the civil war due to the priority of preventing the spread of Communism.

Napoléon Buonaparte: Le Grand Homme

     This exhibit explores how art was used to affect public perception of Napoleon Bonaparte throughout Europe both during and after his rule. Through his own commissioned depictions as a heroic and charitable leader, cartoonist's satirical political cartoons, and post-Napoleonic historical paintings we see many sides of this French emperor. Napoleon affected the course of art history in Europe through being an inspiration to artists of all mediums and alliances to create and evolve their craft. With this analysis we intend to see how European artists preserved Napoleon's legacy to either glorify or demonize the emperor.