I have slight knowledge of the 1930s through the many history classes I have sat through in High School. Class discussions about the Great Depression, and the New Deal only strengthened my understanding about these topics. Class also helped me learn more effects these topics had on the American population, rather than the World as a whole. Though the information technology/ digital humanities part of the lectures were new topics to me. I learned about the production of the first computer, and the introduction of the first computer web browser. I am very interested in using many of these online tools to research more about the digital past, and learn more about technology.I hope I can help expand my understanding about America’s past and learn about how “history might be repeating itself.”
I have been assigned to the “Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project,” written by faculty, community groups, undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Washington. The idea of this project is to bring attention to Civil Rights in Seattle, also to the labor movement. Throughout the 1900’s civil and labor Unions and Radical organizations have shown proof of giving critical support to racial justice. This project uses a variety of different tools to relay information, such as oral histories, film & slideshows, and research reports. The data that was collected was well presented, it included extensive well written research. Each Historical Essay cited within this project is about interesting issues and incidents. Some topics include immigration rights, Native American land rights, segregation, women’s rights, etc. Each Historical Essay is fully equipped with photos, and clippings of Newspapers. The Film & Slideshow tab of this site has proven to be incredibly useful. Being able to watch and listen to individuals who have personally experienced these conflicts helped solidify my understanding of the issues. Also cited on this site are different Civil Rights Organizations that were present in Seattle at the time, and the efforts they extorted to help support this movement. Unfortunately, some of the links listed on the site were expired, or not found. So I was not able to fully explore this exhibit.
Sites
“Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, 2004, http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/.
Hey Brooke, your project sounds like it was interesting one to analyze. I can imagine that these topics are very intense, so it makes a lot of sense that they should be presented in ways that convey the true emotion and impact behind them. This makes me grateful for the digital project methods available to us, as it allowed the creators of the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project to share meaningful firsthand content.