Department Resources and Opportunities - NMU History

Human Rights Essay Competition

First Place: $500 | Second Place: $250 | Third Place: $100
Deadline: 15 April

The Essay Competition encourages engagement with the issues of human rights at all levels.

All submissions must be prose non-fiction. Entries should be a minimum of 500 words.  Winning entries will be posted on the NMU History Department’s website and will be announced at the Marquette Interfaith Holocaust Memorial event in late April.

As a community, our shock and grief at global events force us to confront the troublingly persistent challenges of intolerance, discrimination, and violence towards “others” – from micro-aggressions to institutionalized inequalities to individual and collective violence. We hope that the Human Rights Essay Competition will stimulate us on how to recognize, analyze, and challenge these interconnected evils. We are dedicated to enhancing human rights for all and eradicating discriminatory actions towards any individual or group, whether those oppressed by their own states or those caught in international conflicts. But we also must consider the latent forces of “othering” used to justify inequality and violence in our own country. Indeed, the murder of George Floyd (or of Ahmaud Arbery or Breonna Taylor or….), the ongoing epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women (embodied in the death of Savanna Lafontaine-Greywind), the sustained assault on transgendered people (especially through state-level legislation), and the sharp increase in antisemitism (most horrifically the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh) indicate patterns of systemic discrimination here at home.

Grounded in the international recognition of human rights articulated in the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we encourage you to write on the topic suggested below about how our awareness of human rights can impact future generations, especially students.  As we experience the overwhelming horror playing out before our eyes (whether in Xinjiang or Rakhine State, in Palestine or Israel, in Ukraine or Sudan, or here at home), this is a historic moment for our university community to analyze and critique the links between inequality and violence and to stand together in resolve against those who wish to do anyone harm or limit their rights because of who they are, whatever their identity, values, or beliefs. We believe that we should be able to live in a society where all are free to live and breathe as they wish.

In our support for student action and social justice, we invite all NMU students to enter the essay competition on the following question: 

• “How will you create awareness in your present community about human rights?”  

The participants and winners will be invited to and recognized at the annual Holocaust Memorial event on 25 April 2024. 

Please submit your 500+ word essays to history@nmu.edu

• Subject Line: “Human Rights Essay Competition Submission”
• Include in the body of the email (NOT in the essay itself) the following:
  • Your Name
  • NMU IN Number
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • E-mail Address

NOTE: Only one essay is allowed per person.

DEADLINE: 15 April 2024

2024 Essay Finalists

1st Prize: Samantha Wright

2nd Prize: Lis Crawford

3rd Prize: Dellaunna Baker

Northern Michigan University

• Center for Upper Peninsula Studies
  Research focuses on the Upper Peninsula environment, ethnic groups, economy, politics, folklore and literature.

• Lydia Olson Library
  • Holocaust Collection
    The Holocaust Collection of the Lydia M. Olson Library consists of books, journals, audio-visual materials and documents relating to the Holocaust.

• NMU Archives
  The Archives serves as the final repository for the historical records of Northern Michigan University and the five-county region of the central Upper Peninsula.

Marquette Area

• Fayette Historic Townsite
  Fayette was once one of the Upper Peninsula's most productive iron-smelting operations, growing up around two blast furnaces, a large dock and several charcoal kilns aftern the Civil War. Nearly five hundred residents-many immigrating from Canada, the British Isles and northern Europe-lived in or near the town that existed to make pig iron. As the charcoal iron market began to decline, the Jackson Iron Company closed its Fayette smelting operation in 1891. Attractions include a visitor center, exhibits, a twenty-six-station walking tour and a scale model of the original townsite.

• Bishop Baraga Association and Diocesan Archives
  The archival collection contains nearly 2000 letters of Frederic Baraga's correspondence and several artifacts which belonged to our first Bishop. Also Office of Indian Affairs Records including maps and treaties, French Fur Company Papers, Henry R. Schoolcraft papers, Mackinac Agency, Chief Blackbird and numerous records.

• Marquette County Historical Society
  The Longyear Library is a private library open to the public. A fee of $2.00 is assessed per research project for NMU students to access the materials and work one-on-one with librarians. The collection specializes in local history, and also contains material covering the entire Great Lakes region. Library materials include, but are not limited to:
  • ore docks
  • Presque Isle Park
  • iron ore discovery
  • shipwrecks
  • Marquette Branch Prison
  • education in Marquette County
  • historic buildings
  • ethnic groups
  • maps & photographs

• US National Ski Hall of Fame
  Along with housing the Hall of Fame and Museum, the building includes a theater, library, gift shop, offices and plenty of storage space for archive material and collections.

• Copper Harbor Lighthouse
  Since 1849, twelve years before the Civil War, the Copper Harbor Light Station has marked the entrance to one of Michigan's northernmost harbors. Today, interactive exhibits, period rooms and interpretive trails tell of the dangers of Lake Superior shipping and the duties and homelife of lightkeepers' and their families.

• Marquette Maritime Museum

• Peter White Public Library

Additional Resources

• Michigan Department of State's Michigan Historical Center
  The Center is the offical state agency for historical programs and activities that are the responsibility of the State of Michigan. The purpose of the Center is to preserve, protect, chronicle, interpret and present the history of Michigan to its people. The Center offers services and education to the public through five sections: museums, archaeology, archives, publications, and historic preservation.

• Michigan Iron Industry Museum
  Museum exhibits, audiovisual programs and outdoor interpretive paths depict the Michigan iron industry that flourished for 125 years and still produces nearly one-quarter of the iron ore mined in the United States.

• Archives of Michigan
  Records in the State Archives are particularly useful for tracing genealogy, legislative history/intent, land surveys, military service, and governmental policy on mental health, public health, education, labor, welfare and corrections.

• Historical Society of Michigan

History Department Teaching Assistants

Interested in working with students in the classroom and gaining valuable experience and training?  The NMU History Department runs its own student Teaching Assistant program!  TAs receive training in working with students from the program director and work one on one with their assigned professor.  Responsibilities may include working with students on primary source analysis skills, expanding student access to resources and support, conducting review sessions, facilitating in-class activities, and proctoring exams; the TA and professor can tailor responsibilities for the needs of the class and the interest of the TA.

Students' responses to the TAs in their history classes have been overwhelmingly positive.  Study sessions, office hours outside the professor's, in-class assistance, and the TA's status as a peer are all advantages they bring to the class, enriching the learning experience and providing another point of contact.

For more information about the department's Teaching Assistant Program, please contact Kathryn Johnson at kathryjo@nmu.edu.

Student Organizations

Phi  Alpha Theta, History Honor Society

Phi Alpha Theta is a professional society whose mission is to promote the study of history through the encouragement of research, good teaching, publication and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians.  We seek to bring students, teachers and writers of history together for intellectual and social exchanges, which promote and assist historical research and publication by our members in a variety of ways.

Phi Alpha Theta is not limited to History majors or minors.  Criteria for admission include the following:

• 12 credit hours in History
• 3.1 GPA in History
• 3.0 GPA overall

For more information, please contact our faculty advisor, Chet DeFonso, and visit the local chapter website at: http://myweb.nmu.edu/~pat or the national website at  http://www.phialphatheta.org.
 

NMU History Club

The NMU History Club strives alongside Phi Alpha Theta to promote similar goals but without the membership qualifications of that honors society.  We meet with Phi Alpha Theta to share ideas and resources, but see our mandate as the inclusion of all members of the NMU community in the cultivation of interest in history and the pursuit of historical truth.

For more information, please contact our faculty advisor, Chet DeFonso.
 

Student Michigan Education Association

The Student Michigan Education Association (SMEA) is a pre-professional organization for people preparing for the teaching profession in any of the higher education institutions in Michigan and who are not regularly employed as educators by an educational institution or agency.