Superheroes The 2016 History Project Symposium

Our theme this year is Superheroes. With the popularity of the Superhero genre in film, this theme seemed particularly contemporary, but its value for us goes much deeper. Indeed, fans of Superhero movies know that these stories touch the heart of the human experience. Superhero characters, and even the Bad Guys, both struggle with opposing forces of good and evil within themselves and struggle to overcome obstacles in the worlds they live in. Moreover, what is good and what is evil is not always entirely clear, but depends upon perspective and context. Thus, while Superheroes conjure up fantasy, they can also offer a way of thinking about history, with all of its triumphs, failures, and struggles for power.

Dr. Sherri Cash

Dr. Sherri Cash

Adam Tomblin

Fairies, Fury, and Freedom: The Struggle for LGBT Equality in Central New York

Famous gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk once said: “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” To understand Milk’s statement, one must understand the struggle for LGBT freedom and equality. My historical research paper, “Fairies, Fury, and Freedom: LGBT Rights Activism in Central New York.” This focuses on the activism in the LGBT community in Central New York and how localized movements sparked the beginning of the broader LGBT rights movement. My argument is that, without local grassroots movements, there would not have been a national or international movement to ensure the protection and equal treatment of LGBT persons. The grassroots are the reason for the success of the LGBT rights movement. Primary sources are critical to my research. The main primary sources I use are in-person interviews with local activists, who were instrumental in LGBT activism before it was more open and popular. The people I interviewed are incredible, both in resilience and just sheer gestalt. If someone asks me why I am doing this project, I will explain the importance of knowing where the struggle began, why it happened, where it has taken us, and what we still have left to do.

Adam Tomblin

Amanda Backer

Closed for Business: Boonville and Globalization

I have wondered about a building in my town that is considered to be an eye sore. It is a reminder of the good old days in Boonville: the Ethan Allen furniture company building. My curiosity about the building led to many questions about Boonville’s past. Looking for answers led to two key newspaper articles. One is a 1999 article about Ethan Allen’s 7.6 million dollar expansion of its Boonville plant and the creation of almost fifty new jobs. In an interview, the CEO stated that Ethan Allen was about keeping jobs local, in America, and that the company respected its workers and was optimistic about the future. Just five years later, another newspaper article announced the sudden closure of the plant, which put 250 Boonville residents out of a job. What would cause the company to spend 7.6 million dollars on an expansion project, only to close its doors a few years later? Like many companies, Ethan Allen was looking for a cheaper way to manufacture its products. It closed its American facilities and moved the jobs elsewhere. These two “cool sources” launched my research project and revealed how global economic competition could affect a small town in Central New York.

Amanda Backer

Zach Handy

The Corporatization of Education: How Big Money Corporations are Destroying the Teaching Profession in Gloversville and New Hartford, New York

Becoming an educator has always been a dream of mine. I am currently enrolled in Utica College’s teacher certification tract. When it came time for me to choose my topic for my senior history research project, I had no idea what I wanted to do. However, when I really thought about the things that I am most passionate about, teaching was one of the first things that came to my mind. The history of education caught my eye because all of the controversy that the profession is facing lately. The teachers are upset with the Department of Education, and many students are opting out of almost all of the state tests. I decided to research the history of standardized tests, as well as education corporations to show how the history of these things can cause the controversy we are seeing today. One of the primary sources that I am excited about is an interview with a Utica College education professor. This professor has knowledge of local education, as well as its history. I am expecting this professor to give me many first hand examples of how he reacted to standardized testing, as well as his opinion on the matter to compare with other educators I plan on interviewing. This particular professor, however, has a lot to say about educational practices that could potentially be doing more harm than good. I believe interviewing him will provide “one cool source” because he has so much knowledge about the subject, as well as so much

Zach Handy

Mike Belmont

The Italian Immigrant Experience in Frankfort

Have you ever thought about how you ended up where you lived? Or why your family ended up where they lived? Or how one group of people settled where they settled? One of the cool things about my research is getting to explore how people got to Frankfort, a small town in Herkimer County. One of my primary sources is an interview I had with an Italian immigrant who has lived most of her adult life in Frankfort. She grew up in Italy, under the rule of Benito Mussolini during the World War II, and moved to America after the war to join her father. In her teens and twenties, she lived in New York City, where she met her husband who is of Italian heritage and from Frankfort. Eventually, the two married and settled there. What makes her interview historically “cool” and interesting to me is that it is giving me the opportunity to tell the authentic story of an Italian immigrant who was living in fear and poverty in her home country, who then moved across the world to start an “American” life. The life of this Italian immigrant woman and a town in the Mohawk Valley reveal so much about the immigrant experience and the development of Central New York, the state, and the nation. People like her came not just for themselves but for their future families.

Michael Belmont

Alexis Holmer

Undiscovered Superheroes: Majkes and Bosnian Crypto-Matriarchy in Utica

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Men are what their mothers made them.” History has been more inclined to trace the history seen through men’s eyes, but what about our mothers? Immigrant women have no place to call home in history. Their history is fragmented in multiple disciplines of history, sociology, and anthropology. Locally, this is an issue. Institutions like Utica College, Hamilton College, and Colgate University all produced scholarly work on immigrant families and men. What about women? How about Bosnian women? Since the 1980s, over 4,000 Bosnian families immigrated to Utica. Possibly half of those people were women and mothers. What can Uticans say about our Bosnian majke (mothers)? Someone needs to prevent this historical goldmine from fading away. What did these women do to escape the war, how did they help their families through resettlement, did they work double jobs, how did they come out of a war and restart their families? We do not know because no one asked that question. By conducting interviews with these unknown but courageous women, a gap in history can be filled. Their stories are in our backyard, and we are letting them rust into nothing.

Alexis Holmer

Patrick Garrett

The Pitch that Brings Communities Together: Soccer and Central New York

The Coliseum Soccer Club was founded in 1978 by John Fornino and other Italian immigrants. Their families left Italy after World War II in hopes of finding better opportunities for themselves and their children in America. Even though they left their homeland, Mr. Fornino’s family and friends brought their passion for the game of soccer with them to America. Fornino said that being Italian meant that they had “soccer running through [their] blood.” The Coliseum Soccer Club was created to give Italian immigrants in the Mohawk Valley an identity while keeping a connection with their home country. The Roman Coliseum is the biggest landmark in Italy, which illustrates where their cultural roots are. In Fornino’s opinion, the Coliseum Soccer Club helps break down barriers by giving young athletes who are interested in the game a chance to play. “It does not matter what race, background, or religion that you practice as long as you treat everyone fairly and play the game the way it is meant to be played,” he says. Over the last forty years, Fornino has transformed the Coliseum Soccer Club from a men’s team into a soccer club that focuses on the younger generation of soccer players. His goal was to turn the club’s focus to producing homegrown players. The club places special emphasis on youngsters to help develop better game play and local talent. John said that his “goal has been completed, and it [is] a dream come true to see where the Coliseum Soccer Club is today.” Not only has Fornino turned his attention to the young athletes, but he also extended the club to immigrant communities in Utica. With all of the immigrants who have moved to the area as refugees, Fornino wants to expand Coliseum and its influence to these communities to help bring cultures together through their shared passion for soccer.

The History Project

After presenting his or her paper at the History Symposium, department faculty select the best papers for publication in an academic journal: The History Project. If you would like to learn more about The History Project, view full tables of contents or order previous editions, please click on the button below.

Made with Adobe Slate

Make your words and images move.

Get Slate

Report Abuse

If you feel that this video content violates the Adobe Terms of Use, you may report this content by filling out this quick form.

To report a Copyright Violation, please follow Section 17 in the Terms of Use.