Potential History Day Topics

Potential History Day Topics

Below are some possible topics for your History Day project. Each photo is linked to a website with more information on the topic. Click on each photo to learn more!

Small clay humanoid figure with gauges in ears.

Adena Culture, ca. 800 BCE-10 CE

Effigy of a hawk claw cut from sheet mica.

Hopewell Culture, ca. 100 BCE-500 CE

Large, twisting mound of earth surrounded by trees.

Fort Ancient Culture, ca. 1000 -1750 CE

Map of the several nations of Indians to the Northwest of South Carolina

American Indian Cartography

Indigenous person holding an early version of a lacrosse stick.

History of Lacrosse, 1630s-present

Iroquois man dressed in a brown suit with a red feathered headdress.

Great Lakes Fur Trade & Beaver Wars, 1640s

Group of Spaniards violently enslaving group of Indigenous people.

American Indian Slave Trade, 1670-1715

Image of Indigenous person in large feathered headdress standing at a table, signing a paper with a person in colonial-style clothing. There is a group of people in the background of the scene.

King Philip’s War, 1675-1678

Colonel Henry Bouquet, an English officer, negotiating peace with a coalition of Delaware, Seneca-Cayuga and Shawnee tribes at the end of the French and Indian War in 1764. Englishmen are dressed in blue suits and Indigenous people are dressed in pink clothing.

French and Indian Wars, 1754-1763

Landscape of trees and rocks. Fort Gower was built here.

Royal Proclamation, 1763

Map of first tract of Ohio land sold by Continental Congress.

The Northwest Ordinance, 1787

Hand-drawn ink map of Ohio with treaty line.

Treaty of Greenville, 1795

Whaling canoes on bank of Neah Bay.

American Indian Whaling, 19th century

Robert and Sofa Williams, Muscogee (Creek) Freedmen, standing in front of a small building.

Native American Slave Ownership, 1806-1860

Map showing paths of Indian removal in the Southern United States.

Indian Removal Act, 1830

Image of group of people attacking a fort surrounded by smoke.

Black Seminole Slave Rebellion, 1835

Indigenous children in Native clothing on board ship to Carlisle Indian School.

Native American Boarding Schools, 1880s

Oil painting of Mendota, which shows a valley with trees and grass and mountains in the distance.

Treaty of Mendota, 1851

Man in a formal suit.

The Dawes Act, 1887

Lakota camp near Pine Ridge Reservation, southwestern South Dakota, U.S., 1891.

Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890

Man seated at a desk holding papers.

Athlete Jim Thorpe, 1912-1922

Two Indigenous people in army uniform, surrounded by trees and fallen leaves. One person holds something up to their mouth.

Native American Military Service: Choctaw, 1918 & Navajo Code Talkers, 1942

Image of a young woman holding a violin in front of floral wallpaper.

Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

Group of people in suits sitting in front of a sign that reads "Bamboo Roo."

National Congress of the American Indians, 1944

Advertisement for American Indians to move to Colorado.

Termination Policy, 1950s

Group of people standing in front of a sign reading "United States Property." The sign has been painted over with the words "Welcome to Indian Land."

American Indian Movement, 1960s/70s

U.S. Reports: F. P. C. v. Tuscarora Indian Nation, 362 U.S. 99 (1960)

Tuscarora Reservation – Niagara Power Plant, 1960

Image of Lyndon B. Johnson seated signing the Wilderness Act of 1964 in the Rose Garden, surrounded by a large group of standing people.

Wilderness Act of 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson seated signing the Civil Rights Act of 1968, surrounded by a group of people in black suits.

Indian Civil Rights Act, 1968

Two Indigenous people standing in front of a barbed wire fence, both with their fists raised.

Occupation of Alcatraz, 1971

Poster for the Trail of Broken Treaties, showing an Indigenous person with red rays extending outward from head.

“Trail of Broken Treaties” and BIA Takeover, 1972

Group of Indigenous people standing in front of a building and on top of the building.

Wounded Knee Occupation, 1973

Poster for the Longest Walk showing three Indigenous people standing behind a large white skull.

The Longest Walk, 1978

Stella Yellow Shirt and Baby, Sicangu Oyate (Heyn Photo. 1899)

Indian Child Welfare Act, 1978

Niuam (Comanche) peyote fan against a black background.

American Indian Religious Freedom Act, 1978

Logo of the Native American Graves and National Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Program against a white background

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (also known as NAGPRA), 1990

Woman with dark hair wearing long beaded earrings.

Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Mvskoke (Creek) Nation

Woman seated at desk covered in books with a small vase of flowers and open window behind her.

Poet Linda Hogan, Chickasaw Nation

Image Citations

“Adena Culture.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Adena_Culture.

“Hopewell Culture.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Hopewell_Culture.

“Fort Ancient Culture.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Fort_Ancient_Culture.

Nicholson, Francis. Map of the several nations of Indians to the Northwest of South Carolina. [S.l.: s.n, 1724] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2005625337/.

George Catlin, Ball-play of the Choctaw--Ball Up, 1846-1850, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.428A. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/ball-play-choctaw-ball-3886

“Beaver Wars.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Beaver_Wars.

Engraving of Spaniards enslaving Native Americans by Theodor de Bry, published in America. part 6. Frankfurt, 1596. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/histarch/research/haiti/puerto-real/change-through-time/.

Warren, Jason W. “King Philip's War.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., July 15, 2015. https://www.britannica.com/event/King-Philips-War.

“French and Indian War.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/French_and_Indian_War.

“Proclamation of 1763.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Proclamation_of_1763.

“Northwest Ordinance.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Northwest_Ordinance.

“Treaty of Greeneville (1795).” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Treaty_of_Greeneville_(1795).

Wilse, Anders B. Whaling canoe at Neah Bay. 1900. Photograph. Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/loc/id/5.

Barbara Krauthamer, “Slavery,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SL003.

Caryl-Sue. “Indian Removal Act.” This Day in Geographic History. National Geographic Society, April 6, 2020. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/may28/indian-removal-act/.

Kuiper, Kathleen. “Black Seminoles.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., December 29, 2014. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Seminoles.

Choate, John N. Eskimo? Children in Native Dress on Board Ship to Carlisle Indian School. Black and white gelatin glass negative. 1879. Photo Lot 81-12 06834400, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.si.edu/object/eskimo-children-native-dress-board-ship-carlisle-indian-school-1879:siris_arc_73570.

Eastman, Seth. Mendota from Fort Snelling. Painting. 1848. Minnesota Historical Society, https://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/mendota-fort-snelling.

Fassett, Samuel Montague. Henry Laurens Dawes. 1876. Albumen silver print. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.77.173.

Ray, Michael. “Wounded Knee Massacre.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., January 17, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/event/Wounded-Knee-Massacre.

“Jim Thorpe.” Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Jim_Thorpe.

“Code Talker.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/code-talker.

Kasebier, Gertrude. Zitkala Sa, Sioux Indian and activist. 1898. Platinum print. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1006130.

“Mission & History.” National Congress of American Indians. National Congress of American Indians. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.ncai.org/about-ncai/mission-history.

“1953: Congress Seeks to Abolish Tribes, Relocate American Indians.” U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Institutes of Health. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/488.html.

“Vandalized Government Sign on Alcatraz,” exhibits, accessed September 3, 2021, https://digilab.libs.uga.edu/exhibits/items/show/477

Whittaker, Charles Evans, and Supreme Court Of The United States. U.S. Reports: F. P. C. v. Tuscarora Indian Nation, 362 U.S. 99. 1959. Periodical. https://www.loc.gov/item/usrep362099/.

Rowe, Abbie. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Wilderness Act, 1964. Photograph. NPS Photograph. https://www.nps.gov/pore/learn/management/wildernessact.htm

Leffler, Warren K. Lyndon Baines Johnson signing Civil Rights Bill. April 11, 1968. Photographic print. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C., https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91796664/.

Johnson, Troy. “We Hold the Rock.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, November 26, 2019. https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/historyculture/we-hold-the-rock.htm.

Trail of Broken Treaties protest march poster. 1973. Poster. National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-nmai-ac-998-ref506.

“Siege at Wounded Knee, 1973.” Siege at Wounded Knee, 1973, Libcom.org, 19 Sept. 2006.

Poster for The Longest Walk. 1978. Poster. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, https://www.si.edu/object/poster-longest-walk:nmaahc_2014.183.3.

Heyn Photo, photographer. Stella Yellow Shirt and baby. , ca. 1899. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/92508778/.

Niuam (Comanche) peyote fan, ca. 1890. Oklahoma. 22/9197 (Ernest Amoroso, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian). Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-american-indian/2018/11/30/native-perspectives-american-indian-religious-freedom-act/.

https://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/laws/nagpra.htm

Miller, Shawn. Poet Laureate of the United States Joy Harjo. June 6, 2019. Photograph. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-20-075/joy-harjo-appointed-to-third-term-as-u-s-poet-laureate/2020-11-19/.

“Linda Hogan.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Accessed August 23, 2021. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/linda-hogan.