Florida Department of State

• Museum of Florida History

Suggested Topics

The following examples offer a starting point for students and teachers to brainstorm about topics relating to this year’s National History Day theme. Choosing one of the topics below will not increase or decrease a student’s chances of doing well at a National History Day contest.

Although students can select a topic that addresses any time or place in history, excellent research subjects often are found by investigating one’s local history. Staff at the Florida State Archives have identified resources in their online collection that relate to many of the suggested Florida topics. Go to http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom to investigate these primary sources.

Interpreting the Theme

Before choosing a topic, students should read NHD's discussion about ways in which "the individual in history" can be interpreted (http://www.nhd.org/Themes.htm; select 2008–09 contest theme). NHD states, "History and the story of individuals and groups of individuals cannot be separated. One person does not stand alone, isolated in time, but is a product of the events and the people who came before and those who were influenced by history... Students should remember that understanding time and place are crucial to examining an individual's role in history."

How Old is Old?

Students may wish to select as a topic an event that has been momentous in their lifetime—for example, the World Trade Center attack, the fall of Saddam Hussein, or Hurricane Katrina. However, the long-term impact of such recent events is not yet fully known. NHD states, "The general rule of thumb is, don't choose a topic less than twenty-five years [old] or until one generation has passed. Time gives historical perspective."[1]

Be Creative!

In selecting a topic related to this year's theme, students may wish to focus on a very famous individual in history, such as Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, or Abraham Lincoln. But remember: judges appreciate when students have been creative and novel in choosing a topic, and they enjoy learning about lesser-known people and events.

• Juan Ponce de León: Transatlantic Travel and the Gulf Stream
• The Failed Expedition of Panfilo de Narváez
• Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Survivors in an Unknown Land
• Hernando de Soto in La Florida, 1539–1542
• Missionary Martyr: The Bold Experiment of Fray Luís Cancer de Barbastro
• Tristán de Luna y Arellano at Pensacola, 1559–1561
• Adventures of a Spanish Castaway: Hernando D'Escalante Fontaneda—Captive of the Calusa
• Jacques LeMoyne: Images of La Florida
• Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Founding of St. Augustine
• Harrowing Escape on a Hostile Shore: The Shipwreck of Jonathan Dickinson
• Francisco Menéndez and the Outpost of African Freedom
• Queen Anne's War in the South: James Moore and the English Attacks on Spanish Florida
• Denys Rolle and the Failure of a Florida Utopia
• Florida's Mediterranean Connection: Alexander Turnbull and the New Smyrna Experiment
• Promoting Florida as Paradise: The Writings of William Bartram
• Frontier Artist: John James Audubon and His Florida Bird Paintings
• Profiting from Disaster: The Legacy of the Key West Wreckers
• A Free Black Man in the Slave Territory of Florida: The Story of George Proctor
• Plumbing the Depths: George Gauld and His Surveys of the Florida Gulf Coast
• British Mapmaker of the Florida Peninsula: The Career of Bernard Romans
• Black and White on the Florida Frontier: The Family of Zephaniah Kingsley
• Violence in Florida: Andrew Jackson and the First Seminole War
• The Man with the Branded Hand: Florida Abolitionist Jonathan Walker
• Turbulent Times: The Political Life of Florida Senator David Levy Yulee
• Osceola, Micanopy, and Florida's Seminoles: Fighting for Survival in the Second Seminole War
• Black Men in Blue Coats: African American Soldiers at Florida's Battle of Olustee
• "Dixie’s Land": Captain John J. Dickison and the Confederate Raiders of Florida
• Free at Last: General Edward McCook and the Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee
• Thomas D. Tucker: Building the Dream that Became FAMU
• Mary McLeod Bethune and the School for Girls
• Florida's Age of Rails: Henry M. Flagler and the Florida East Coast Railroad
• Florida's Age of Rails: Henry Plant and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
• Julia Tuttle: Citrus Queen and "Mother of Miami"
• Dr. William Gunn: Florida's First Black Physician
• "Lift Every Voice and Sing": The Achievements of James Weldon Johnson
• Florida's Barefoot Mailman: The Saga of James "Ed" Hamilton
• From Slavery in Marianna to Fame in New York: Sage, Author, and Poet T. Thomas Fortune
• The Colorful Career of Napoleon Bonaparte Broward—Smuggler, Sheriff, and Governor
• Dredging the 'Glades: Hamilton Disston's South Florida Dream
• Thomas A. Edison and His Florida Laboratory
• Prejudice and Politics: Sydney J. Catts and His Rural Road to the Governor's Office
• Luella Knott and "The House That Rhymes"
• Captain Tony Jannus and a New Phase of Transportation in Florida
• The American Siberia: J. C. Powell's and the Fate of Florida’s Leased Convicts
• Their Eyes Were Watching God: Florida Writer Zora Neale Hurston
• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings: Popularizing Florida through Fiction
• Majory Stoneman Douglas: Ever a Friend of the Everglades
• Then and Now: The Florida Tourist through the Years
• Donald Roebling and his Alligator: Florida’s First All-Terrain Rescue Vehicle
• A. Philip Randolph: Florida's Labor Organizer of Railroad Porters
• Dr. William Allen: Black Radiologist from Pensacola
• Refuge Denied: The Plight of Jewish Passengers Aboard the S.S. St. Louis, 1939
• General Daniel "Chappie" James: Pensacola’s Black Eagle
• Casualties of Racial Prejudice: Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore
• Mr. and Mrs. Jackie Robinson in Florida: Trials and Tribulations Suffered During Spring Training
• Betty Skelton and the Checkered Flag: Speed Records of a Florida NASCAR Driver
• Simmering Tempers: The 1968 Florida Teachers' Strike
• Walt Disney’s Disney World: Mickey Mouse and Company Come to Florida
• Breaking the Political Gender Barrier: Florida's Senator Paula Hawkins
• Roxcy Bolton, Pioneer Feminist

The list of Florida topics was assembled by Peter A. Cowdrey, based on lists developed by staff of the Museum of Florida History and the Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State.

National History Day has created a list of topics that deal with national and global themes.

• A. Phillip Randolph: Brotherhood of Pullman Porters
• Andrei Sakharov: Opposition to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
• Nat Turner's Rebellion: Leadership and Rebellion
• Gloria Steinem: National Women's Political Caucus
• Chief Joseph: Resistance to Reservations
• John Carlos and Tommie Smith: Olympic Project for Human Rights
• Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Color Barrier in Baseball
• Rosie the Riveter: Symbolizing Women's Workforce in World War II
• Eleanor of Aquitaine: The Second Crusade
• Catherine the Great: Westernization
• Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Women and Economics
• Eleanor Roosevelt: The Human Rights Commission
• Horace Mann: Educational Reformer
• Uncle Sam: Symbol of America
• Emmeline Pankhurst: Women's Social and Political Union
• John Peter Zenger: The Freedom of the Press
• Ernesto Miranda: Protection of the Fifth Amendment
• Daniel O'Connell: The Liberator
• Bartholomew de Las Casas: Moral Issues in the Conquest of the Americas
• John Locke: The Social Contract Theory
• Martin Luther: Religious Reformer
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Change through Peaceful Activism
• Adam Smith: Free Trade
• Henry Ford: Big Business and World War II
• Alexander Hamilton: Federalist Papers
• Roy Kroc: Fast Food Nation
• John Maynard Keynes: The World Economics Conference
• John Muir: Sierra Club
• Jonas Salk: Victory of Discovery
• Galileo Galilei: The Scientific Revolution
• Elizabeth Blackwell: The First American Woman Doctor
• Sigmund Freud: The Unconscious Mind
• Rachel Carson: Silent Spring
• Antonine-Laurent de Lavoisier: The Father of Chemistry
• Dorothea Dix: Advocate for the Mentally Ill
• Robert Oppenheimer: Creator of the Atomic Bomb
• Walter Reed: Conquest of Yellow Fever and the Panama Canal
• Margaret Mead: Cultural Anthropologists
• Jane Goodall: United Nations' Messenger of Peace
• Steven Jobs: Inventor and Innovator
• Albert Einstein: Theory of Relatively
• Genghis Khan: Uniting the Confederation
• Christopher Columbus: Charting New Territories
• Commodore Mathew Perry: Opening of Japan
• James Cook: The Cartography of Newfoundland
• Marco Polo: The Silk Road
• Prince Henry the Navigator: The School of Navigation
• Dorothea Lange: Images of the Japanese Internment Camps
• Marion Anderson: Unintentional Activist
• Vincent Van Gogh: Developing Expressionism
• Elvis Presley: Rockabilly
• Charles Dickens: Writing to Illuminate the Class System
• Lewis Hine: Images to Change Labor Laws
• Pablo Picasso: Defining Modern Art
• Virginia Woolf: Bloomsbury Group
• Martha Graham: Pioneer of Modern Dance
• Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to the Mexican War
• Joseph Stalin: The Lion at Yalta
• Winston Churchill: Gifted Orator
• Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin: Sharing the Nobel Peace Prize
• William the Conqueror: The Normandy Conquest
• Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub: Recapturing Palestine
• Ayatollah Khomeini: The Islamic Revolution
• Roger Williams: The Separation of Church and State
• Ho Chi Minh: National Liberation Front
• Harry Truman: The Decision to Drop the Bomb
• Simón Bolívar: Latin American Independence
• Jose Martí: Cuba's War for Independence
• Jonas Savimbi: The Angolan Revolutionary
• Tecumsch: Battle of Tippecanoe
• Pancho Villa: Western Cartridge Company
• William Wallace: Battle of Stirling Bridge
• Nelson Mandela: Congress of the People
• Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz: Bay of Pigs