1. Sample One

As a culmination of my studies in both African and African American history, the study of the emergence of the pan African movement as a force for social change in these respective environments, that is the Americas and Africa, provides for a link between the majority of what I've studied within the department.

I intend to examine how the concept of a pan Africanism was originally developed and how it has manifested itself around the "African" world. Within the Americas, particularly, but not exclusively the United States, my goal is to observe it's role within the context of the civil rights movement. By using explicit examples such as Marcus Garvey, and the "back to Africa movement," and modern figures such as Molefi Kete Asante, and his Afrocentricity ideology.

I also intend to use less obvious examples with the intention of showing how pan African ideology has latently permeated into the rhetoric of a plethora of twentieth century civil rights activists including, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Karenga, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Assata Shakur, and Jesse Jackson. I hope to also expose this link within the arts through poets like Langston Hughes and Nicolas Guillen.

Within Africa I want to explore the role of pan Africanism in the development of nationalistic ties in order to overthrow the dominant, white colonial governments in nations such as Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. I hope to get added insight on the pan African role in independence and the consequent nationalism in Zimbabwe, where I will be spending this semester.

Through the study of each these environments and their struggles to combat racial injustice in the form of slavery, segregation, apartheid, and colonialism, through pan Africanist ideology, I intend to show how the Americas looked to Africa for inspiration and solidarity and, consequently, how African nations in search of independence looked to the Americas for example and support in combating racial injustice.

I plan to write my Senior History Thesis on the subject of Richard III of England (b. 1461, d. 1485, ruled 1483-1485) and the reputation afforded him by the Tudor historians and their successors. In the years following Richard's death at Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485, rumors abounded that sullied the name of the usurped monarch, leaving a lasting image of a scheming and corrupt despot for the last five centuries. I sincerely believe that Richard did not deserve the reputation of being a regicidal, unfaithful, usurping, hunchbacked, misanthropic demon that was depicted in More's chronicle, Shakespeare's famous play, Richard III, and the majority of histories and literature that followed.

As my thesis progresses, I fully intend to show the problems and contradictions that lie in many of these "historical" accounts of Richard III. The combination of a need to legitimize the Tudor position, the mistaking of St. Sir Thomas More as a contemporary, and a host of other factors should serve to undercut any previous notions of Richard the Scoundrel. Richard has been charged with a number of considerable crimes, placed on trial by society and historians. I will answer to the accusation of Richard as the murderer of his nephews Edward V and Richard Duke of York in the Tower of London, the usurpation of the English throne, charges that he directly contributed to the death of his wife Anne, etc. by showing arguments in his defense.

Richard of Gloucester may not have been the ideal monarch. However, this by no means makes him a devil. The time has come to set things right as to what sort of man Richard III was, and this can only be accomplished by removing the five hundred years of tarnish that his name has received.

For my thesis advisor, I have selected Professor Niall Brady, as I feel that he will be the most qualified to help me in my pursuit of the character of Richard III. As a medievalist historian, I feel Professor Brady is the best choice for an advisor, considering the subject matter of my research. Of the Trinity History faculty, he is arguably the more familiar with the period I am concerned with, and will be able to provide me with the necessary guidance and insight to produce a thesis of the highest caliber.

3. Sample Three

I am considering a study on the resurgence of retributive criminal justice in the United States from the 1960s to the present. I have spoken to Professor Leach about my ideas, and he suggested that he and Professor Fulco of Political Science supervise the project.

In the last 25 years the number of America's prisoners has skyrocketed. At the same time, legislatures have gutted prisoners' education programs, scholarships, and rehabilitation initiatives. Even more important, since the Supreme Court's ruling in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), states all over the union have reinstated the death penalty despite its prohibitive cost, racially unequal application and lack of deterring effect.

What are the philosophical, religious and ideological origins of the new culture of revenge? How did Americans come to lose their religious and humanistic faith in human redemption? What are the consequences for the future? These are some of the questions I will address in my these.

I plan to begin my research this summer at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. I may also be doing research and writing for the Capital Punishment Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.

4. Sample Four

One of the most controversial political figures from the second half of this century is Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Though he is best remembered for his role as one of the principle architects of the Vietnam War, McNamara played a significant part in shaping the foreign policy of the Cold War era and in reorganizing the Defense Department.

I intend to focus on McNamara's tenure as John F. Kennedy's Secretary of Defense. In doing so I will discuss how Kennedy came to choose McNamara for the position, McNamara's education in the ways of Washington, his relationship with John F. Kennedy and how in the Kennedy administration, he was seen as the principle foreign policy advisor, a role usually reserved for the Secretary of State, and how he came to be Kennedy's most trusted advisor, after his brother. I plan to examine McNamara's contribution to United States policies toward Berlin, Cuba, and of course, Vietnam, along with other areas of foreign policy that were important during that time. I will discuss McNamara's position on nuclear disarmament and the role he played in the development of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. I will also examine how he reorganized the Defense department, focusing upon the new system of numbers and analysis that he learned in the army and while at Ford Motor Company, that he and his set of "Whiz Kids" brought to the Defense Department.

I will conclude with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and discuss how McNamara's role as Secretary of Defense was transformed when Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the Presidency.

5. Sample Five

I plan to write about the Ulster rebellion of 1798. The paper will be an examination of the key revolutionary groups that participated in the rebellion. I will show how their fundamental incompatibility contributed to the complete failure of the rebellion. There are two dominate revolutionary groups that I will be focusing on. The first is the Defenders, they are the peasants most without land and some farmers. The second is the United Irish Men, they are a well-educated and well-traveled group. The two groups were united for a goal: to overthrow the British. However, they were not in agreement on any other point, and this let to the collapse of the rebellion. These groups were opposed by the ascendancy class. Even though there were many different groups in this class, they did not fragment. This is why they recorded such decisive victory. Their cohesiveness led to total success.

6. Sample Six

This spring I was enrolled in an Italian independent study called "On the Nature of Texts." In this course I wrote a final paper entitled "Editing and Printing the Orlando Furioso in 16th Century Venice." In the paper I addressed questions of how the poem was perceived by both contemporary scholars and the general reading public; and how the poem was portrayed by the publishers of one particular edition at the Watkinson Library.

There is, I think , a great deal of study left to be done on this topic. What was the general reading culture of Italy like in the second half of the Cinquecento? To answer this questions, I would first have to define who the reading public was at the time (a very tricky proposition) and then try to get a sense of exactly what it was like to read one particular book, the Orlando Furioso in that period. I would like to study the print culture of Renaissance Italy, especially Venice, and I would like to do so by concentrating on a few printed texts from the period.

7. Sample Seven

I would like my thesis to center on the American intellectual response to the Holocaust. I would like to approach the topic as a philosophical questions, framed within the response of American intellectuals to the horrifying attempt at genocide in Nazi Germany. There is a large number of resources on this subject, including responses of both Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals during world War II and after the discovery of the concentration camps and the plans for the Final Solution. Because my topic is very general right now as a result of my lack of detailed knowledge of the Holocaust I plan to start research over the summer. I plan to use the New Haven Holocaust Archives in addition to the Trinity Library. I have discussed my topic with Professor Chatfield, and he has agreed to be my instructor. I hope to use this summer to focus my topic and enter into the fall semester with a clear idea of what direction I would like my thesis to take.

8. Sample Eight

I intend to research the SPD from the time of its adoption of a Marxist platform at the Erfurt Congress to its dissolution by Hitler in 1932. The central thesis of my work will be that the SPD was in practice, if not theory, a liberal party and its policies, although often criticized by the far left, were actually progressive. I intend to examine the domestic Policies of the SPD as the primary means of proving this thesis. Although my thesis will by no means by a Marxist critique, I will examine the attitudes that the KPD and Stalinist Russia took towards it.

To demonstrate the progressive nature of the SPD, I intend to cover the social/domestic policies that the SPD developed in depth. This section of my thesis will deal primarily with the period of the Weimar Republic. I hope to elaborate on the infrastructure and sub-culture that the SPD created for its members, as well as the reasons why it did so.

The double burden of the SPD will be central to my thesis. The SPD was caught between the perception of being a Marxist party by the right and the rejection of the left. I wish to examine the feasibility of the SPD adopting a truly Marxist platform given the economic, social and ideological make-up of its demographics. Each one of these categories will be dealt with individually.

Ideally I hope to use as many primary sources as possible. Documents from the Soviet Union and KPD will form the bulk of the outlining of the critique and SPD documents will supplement the discussion of internal party politics.

Although my paper is not intended to be in support of the Sonderweg thesis, I hope to demonstrate why the peculiarities of the SPD and its double burden affected the liberal democratic tradition in Germany.

The SPD has received a great deal of criticism for its role in German politics before 1932. While I am not attempting to purge the SPD of all responsibility I wish to call into question whether or not the questions about the SPD are being asked under the correct lens. I hope to demonstrate that the SPD, although not faultless, has received undue judgment. The idea that the SPD was a liberal party is not particularly new, but I plan to approach it in a different manner (domestic policies, how it affected the common man) as most historians have done before.

9. Sample Nine

The Origins and Rule of the Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazi Party)

Towards the end of the first World War, a sense of revolution began to spread throughout Germany. One of the Effects of this revolutionary period was the Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) or Nazi party, an obscure radical right group which began to preach the importance of German unity, nationality, purity, and loyalty. Although this group was formed in 1919 under the title, Deutsche Arberpartei, its true underlying thematic origins were already much older, dating back at least to the 19th century and maybe much earlier in Germany's history. In the party's beginnings, many members of the NSDAP were people who were very angry at the defeat of Germany in World War I, possessed a strong sense of nationalism, and longed for a very pure Germany, devoid of foreigners, certain religions, and the so-called "weaker races." Some of the group's major themes included a strongly racist and anti-Semitic nationalism, calls for strong political leadership, centralized government, interventionist social and educational policies, and an economic anti-capitalism which included demands for land reform, profit sharing, nationalization, the abolition of 'interest bondage' and unearned incomes, and the creation of a health middle class (Mittelstand).

In 1919, a failed artist with a talent for public speaking named Adolf Hitler, joined the NSDAP. He felt that by yoking the power of the masses under the influence of strong German nationalist unity, the NSDAP would be able to topple the new Weimar Republic and rule Germany. In November of 1923, the attempted putsch on the government by the NSDAP failed, landing Hitler and other party leaders in prison. While in prison, Hitler revised his strategy for taking over the government. He decided never to attempt anything without the backing of the army and never to use force against opponents of the party, although this would turn out to be untrue.

This would serve as a turning point for the party and marked the beginning of their maturity as a political presence in German politics. The true break for the Nazis came around 1928 when the world was shaken by the Great Depression. Germany, barely back on its feet after the first World War, began to slip into economic trouble once again. This became the point when the famed Nazi propaganda machine and policies worked to their fullest to get the Nazis into power.

This senior thesis will be based upon the origins of the party, which I have given a brief summary above, and the rule of the party upon coming into power in 1933, to the end of the second world war.

10. Sample Ten

Over the past three years at Trinity I have developed an interest in the study of history and architecture. During my senior year I would like to formulate a thesis which merges these two field in order to expand my grasp of a particular phenomenon. The historical topic I wish to explore is the divergence of cultural standards between the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. My aim is to come to understand how art and, more specifically, architecture was used by Nazis as a catalyst for the "conservative revolution" and by the S.P.D. In order to create a sense of liberal progressivism.

I have come to understand that Germany is unique in its inherent aspiration to return to an imaginary past. In response to Germany's innate cultural standards, late 19th century German philosophers such as Lagarde, Langbehn, and Moeller advocated this rational: Germany should look to its past to realize its true greatness. This rather arrogant German theory has often been referred to as the "sonderweg," or "Special way." These men despised liberalism, and saw modernity as a cause for the corruption of mankind. Ultimately, the Jew was castigated as the root of this evil form of civilization. Fritz Stern wrote that these men, like many other Germans, "indulged in nostalgic recollections of the uncorrupted life of earlier rural communities, when men were peasants and kings true rulers." The Weimar republic seems to be the only period German history which represents an effort to escape this ideological position. Clearly, this effort was overwhelmingly crushed by the conservative nationalists of the Nazi Regime. By contrasting the architectural developments of the Weimar Republic with those of the Third Reich, I hope to see how this form of art was applied to shape Germany's cultural attitudes during the two aforementioned periods.

I have taken the following courses which I see as relevant to my base of knowledge in this particular area: Exploration in Comparative History between Communism and Fascism, Europe Since 1715, History of Germany, 19th Century Architecture, 20th Century Architecture, Issues in contemporary Architecture, Architectural Drawing I & II, Sculpture I & II.

I am confident that through the study of certain architectural examples, such as the Bauhaus and Hitler's plans for Berlin, I will be able to understand the close relationship between Germany's physical structures and her cultural dynamics. The following chart shows the opposite nature of both cultures:

    S.P.D.      vs.       Nazis

Gesellschaft   vs.   Gemeinschaft

(Society)       vs.   (Community)

Modernism    vs.   Traditionalism

functionalism  vs.   Aestheticism

Capitalism      vs.   Moral economy

Individualism   vs.  Conformity 
 

I hope to come up with a number of examples to demonstrate that these differences are typified in the architectural styles of the period. Wagner wrote about the amazing power of art and how it possesses the ability to instigate revolution. Architecture, the most popularly viewed art form in the work, had that same kind of influence over its audience. This is why I am so intensely interested in exploring the Architecture of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich for my senior thesis