Visiting Lenin in Red Square
By: Dylan Hebert (History ’17)
Vladimir Lenin may have died on January 21st, 1924, but to this day, his body remains on display in the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square. Lenin himself wanted to be buried at St. Petersburg’s Volkovskoye Cemetery alongside his mother, two sisters, and brother in law, but his request was not granted. The decision of whether or not to bury Lenin has frequently resurfaced in years since.
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Belgorod, Russia: Visiting the Battle of Kursk Museum
From February 16-23rd I was part of a USA hip hop delegation (‘Under the Curtain’) to Russia due to my role as a faculty advisor to the Trinity Chapter of Temple of Hip and the annual Trinity International Hip Hop Festival. Sponsored by the United States Embassy in Moscow, I accompanied Trinity undergraduate student Cam Clarke (Philosophy and Human Rights), three Hartford-based hip hop artists, and one hip hop organizer from World Hip Hop Market. We visited Moscow, Belgorod and Togliatti. Although our days were mostly filled with travel, lectures, and workshops, we did get the chance to tour each city and learn about their respective local histories.
History Department’s Senior Thesis Presentations 2016-2017
This academic year, the History Department has nine honor thesis writers. Elizabeth, Sedona, Callie, Dylan, Elm, Chelsey, Eleanor, Seth and Andrew will be presenting on their research on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. The presentations will take place at Seabury Hall 215 (Trinity College), starting at 9:00 a.m. History Thesis Writers, History Majors, members of the History Department, and members of the Trinity and Hartford community are invited and encouraged to attend this special event. A five minute Q+A will follow each presentation. For the full schedule, continue reading….
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A Historic Tour of Hartford: A Bucket List
By: Chelsey Crabbe (History ‘17)
As a senior inching towards graduation, I’m realizing that my friends and I still have not fully experienced Hartford. There are restaurants, events, and places still to be discovered in these shorts weeks leading up to the 21st of May. Specifically, my interest in history has largely been under-utilized within the Hartford context having never been to the Mark Twain House and many other historic locations. Trinity students never realize until the very end that Hartford does indeed have it…I’m not exactly sure what “it” is, but there is a certain charm to this place I’ve called home for four years. Especially in terms of history, Hartford was once an “it” town, a booming insurance capital, a place of both industry and creative, attracting literary giants like good ol’ Samuel Clemens. Therefore, I’ve decided to compile a bucket place of places to explore before my time here in Hartford is up. Hopefully, younger Trinity students will follow along and explore Hartford before they, too, are seniors nearing graduation.
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D.B. Cooper and the Hijacking of Northwest Airlines flight 305
By: James Barret (History ’17)
For my final paper in ‘HIST 344: America’s Most Wanted’ taught by Professor Greenberg (a course that all history majors should take), I will be writing about D.B Cooper’s infamous hijacking of Northwest Airlines flight 305 and extortion of $200,000. Although the Cooper case has many different elements, one that I will likely not be able to address in my paper due to the parameters of the assignment is the aftermath of the hijacking. The way I see it, the general public’s fascination with Cooper comes down to two major questions: Who was this man? And perhaps more importantly, did he survive his skydive into a cold rainy night somewhere in the woods north of Portland, Oregon? I will certainly work to answer these questions, or at the very least put together a guess in the final paper. But a third question has been bugging me lately and it is much more abstract. What exactly does the world gain from a story like Cooper’s? And furthermore, what would happen if there became definitive proof as to who this man was and what happened to him? Similar questions have been asked before, specifically by The New York Times Geoffrey Gray. Gray and I reach similar conclusions but differ slightly, I see Cooper as interesting because all the options are still on the table. Gray believes that Cooper enthusiasts will lose their drive if they know what all went down.
A Commitment to Advocacy: A Profile of Laura Lockwood and WGRAC at Trinity College
Written by: Caille Prince (History, Class of 2017)
March and April are important months for WGRAC. The Women Gender and Resource Action Center wears many hats on campus but is known as a safe space for all. The leader of this incredible resource for students is Laura Lockwood. As the director of WGRAC, Laura is known for being an advocate, a leader and a friend. Her presence is felt throughout the year, as she is involved all over campus through different outlets. Laura’s job extends far beyond her office and lounge located behind the Washington Room in Mather. Not only does she assist the Title IX Coordinator, but she is also the coordinator of the Sexual Assault Response Team. Ultimately WGRAC is an important part of educating the campus and ensuring that everyone feels welcome and supported at Trinity.
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“My Senior Thesis and its Portrayal in Pop Culture”
Chelsey Crabbe ‘17
I am a senior Thesis writer whose topic has been portrayed within a Hollywood movie, a scenario that even clouded my own judgment after watching the film. I am researching the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA), a military unit attributed with protecting and salvaging Europe’s greatest cultural treasures against the Nazi regime during World War II. My focus is on the subsequent cultural restitution, or return, that occurred after the war as the Allies found themselves with troves of Nazi loot. I found this topic to be quite fascinating since I am passionate about cultural heritage, a fan of Art History, and a student needing to satisfy her European interests with a topic that had some sources in English. Therefore, I chose to tell the story of the Monuments Men, the full story, and not just the one that would attract moviegoers.
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Members of Trinity Community Travel to Russia for Hip-Hop Cultural Exchange Program
Written by: Molly Thoms ’17
Hartford, Connecticut, March 20, 2017 – This year will mark the 12th annual Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival, an event that brings to campus hip-hop artists from around the world and seeks to educate members of the Trinity and Hartford communities about hip-hop culture. In preparation for the festival, which will take place from April 7 to 9 and will feature headliner MC Lyte, two members of the Trinity community involved in planning the festival recently visited Russia for a week-long program called “Under the Curtain: USA-Russia Hip-Hop Cultural Exchange,” sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Camryn Clarke ’17 and Seth Markle, an associate professor of history and international studies who teaches a global hip-hop cultures class and serves as faculty advisor to the Hip-Hop Festival, spent a week in February visiting the cities of Moscow, Belgorod, and Togliatti. They were accompanied by four other delegates from the United States: Khaiim Kelly ’02, aka Self Suffice the Rapoet, a hip-hop emcee, author, educator, and consultant for Trinity Chapter of Temple of Hip-Hop/Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival; John Manselle-Young, aka Tang Sauce, a Hartford hip-hop artist and musician who served as the host of the 11th Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival in 2016; Tiger Luangpraseuth, aka B-Boy Tiger, a hip-hop artist and world renowned breakdancer and educator from East Hartford; and Greg Schick, executive director of World Hip-Hop Market and coordinator of Nomadic Wax.
Read of the rest of this article HERE
The Future is Female! Profiles of the Women Senior Thesis Writers of 2017
Written by: Chelsea Crabbe (History, 2017)
In honor of Women History Month, I’ve decided to write a little bit about our female thesis writers, including myself. As Viginia Woolf insightfully claimed, “for most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” Now, not only are topics of gender becoming valued areas of research within the historical field, at Trinity, five women are exerting their talents within this area of study at the highest of calibers. I have always found some subjects to be gendered. For instance, math and the sciences have been predominantly a male-dominated field, for whatever reason. However, I have also categorized the subject of History as being historically male and with good reason. For centuries and centuries, our histories were written by men and, during this resurgence of women’s rights activism today, I am proud to say that we have five females writing not only histories, but challenging the field, a field that oftentimes can be rigid and traditional. Although our topics may be starkly different, we share a common bond as women within the field of History. While I am obsessing over lost paintings, Sedona is spending hours analyzing the movement of cows and Elizabeth is testing her limits by deciphering colonial manuscripts. Elly is encapsulated by her powerful women who love power and parties and Callie is wrapping her head around what do with a convicted Nazi. We’re committed to our topics and wouldn’t be in the library at all hours if we didn’t love history. I’m sure that my fellow peers would agree that we are history nerds and we’re proud! And you can be sure that our theses will certainly not be signed anonymous.