By Lucas Jiang, Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

On July 1, 1958, Mao Zedong celebrated the eradication of schistosomiasis, a lethal waterborne parasite, in Yujiang county with his famous poem “Farewell to the God of Plague.” 

So many green streams and blue hills, but to what avail?
This tiny creature left even Hua Tuo powerless!
Hundreds of villages choked with weeds, men waste away;
Thousands of homes deserted, ghosts chanted mournfully. …

The spring wind blows amid profuse willow wands,
Six hundred million in this land all equal Yao and Shun.
Crimson rain swirls in waves under our will,
Green mountains turn to bridges at our wish…

We ask the God of Plague: “Where are you bound?”
Paper barges aflame and candle-light illuminate the sky.

Mao boasts that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was greater than Hua Tuo, the legendary doctor of the Three Kingdoms period, and commends the Chinese people’s hard work by comparing them to the mythical emperors Yao and Shun. At the time, Mao had the right to make such claims.

As a lethal parasite that infected over 10.6 million people and put another 100 million at risk in the Yangtze River region, schistosomiasis had long been a threat to Chinese public health. Peasants during the Ming and Qing dynasties called the disease “God of Plague” and constructed temples to ward off its evil spirits. Centuries later, Mao launched a Patriotic Health Campaign (PHC) against the parasite, effectively controlling the disease for the first time in Chinese history. The campaign did not invent a new medicine or vaccine, but instead mobilized tens of millions of people along the Yangtze River to eradicate snails, the intermediate host of schistosomiasis. Party officials, paramedics, peasants, and factory workers joined together to spray insecticide, drain snail-infested marshlands, and provide health literacy education. Despite China’s feeble healthcare system and impoverished economy, these early efforts significantly curbed the spread of schistosomiasis and led to its elimination as a public health threat by 2019. International scholars have widely praised the campaign as a model to follow for other areas affected by schistosomiasis, from the Philippines to the Mediterranean. Indeed, the CCP united the Chinese people to accomplish what generations of emperors, doctors, and folk deities could not: waving goodbye to the “God of Plague.” Throughout the 1950s, Mao launched numerous other PHCs similar to the schistosomiasis campaign that improved sanitation and drastically reduced infectious diseases such as smallpox, malaria, and cholera.

Click here to continue reading: Between Medicine and Ideology: The Promises and Perils of China’s Patriotic Health Campaigns under Mao Zedong

By Alexander Hodi, Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

On October 19, 2025, thieves stole some of France’s most historically and culturally significant artifacts from the largest museum in the world. Using only a glass cutter and a ladder, the robbers sliced open the window of the Louvre Museum’s Apollo Gallery and climbed inside. They spent 8 minutes pushing through crowds and clearing out the gallery, eventually making their way to their desired target. The thieves smashed the glass cases that held the French Crown Jewels and stole a variety of emerald and sapphire necklaces, diamonds, and Empress Napoleon’s crown. Though this event caught the attention of the world, it was not the only recent major art theft.  In 2021, burglars stole artwork by Vincent van Gogh from a museum in Amsterdam. In 2019, thieves broke into the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, leaving with two Rembrandt paintings. While these were all major art thefts, none of them compares to the largest museum heist in history. In fact, the value of the pieces stolen from the Louvre burglary was second only to one: the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft. During this theft, thieves broke into the Gardner Museum and stole 13 paintings worth more than 500 million dollars. Despite being the largest art theft in history, the case remains unsolved. 

Click here to continue reading: A New Amend: How Museum Security Has Changed in the Wake of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist

By Xinyu (Catherine) Zhang, Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

What is happening to the European political landscape in the twenty-first century? Fifty years after the international community vowed “never again,” ethnic nationalist terms are re-emerging across chambers: “illiberal democracy,” “national sovereignty,” “parallel societies.” These expressions, related to far-right and populist movements, are dominating news headlines and shaping policies. Germany revived its national flag-waving in 2014, Great Britain left the European Union (EU) in 2016, right-wing parties in Italy became the majority in 2018, Polish women initiated the largest national protest against the unconstitutional ruling on abortion in 2021, Hungary had the largest anti-government demonstration Pride Parade in 2025, and the consecutive resignation of the French Prime Minister. These seemingly separate events all signify one common trend: populism has been on the rise in Europe since the start of the twenty-first century. The rise of populism, especially in the form of far-right populism, is not coincidental. It takes root in most European societies, causing changes to existing party systems and posing challenges to democracy. In the 2024 European Parliament Elections, populist parties won 36 percent of the total seats, coming in first in six countries and close to governing in nine others.

Click here to continue reading: From Margins to Mainstream, From Pluralism to Nativism: Xenophobia and Far-right Populism in Twenty-first Century Europe

By Anouk Shin, Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

Some books are “mirror” books. Some books are “window” books. This is the analogy introduced by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop in her iconic essay on the importance of diversity in children’s books, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.” Mirror books reflect the reader, making the act of reading a “means of self-affirmation.” To children, mirror books not only validate their identities but also confirm that their lives and stories matter. When children belonging to minority groups are unable to find themselves reflected in literature, or when the reflection they find is negatively distorted, Bishop explains, “they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part.” Children belonging to dominant groups, although they possess mirror books, also need window books—“book as windows onto reality […] that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in.” According to Bishop, books may be “one of the few places” children who are isolated from the larger world can meet someone different. Whether as mirrors or windows, diversity and representation in books are crucial for young people to grow empathy and connect. However, books with diverse perspectives, especially books containing LGBTQ+ characters and implicit race issues, have been increasingly banned from school libraries in recent years. Often, these books are banned under the guise of “sexually explicit content” and “obscenity.”

Click here to continue reading: Book Banning in Schools and the Evolving Legal Landscape

By Seoyeon Kim Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

In 1582, priests in the Franconian town of Spalt performed an exorcism on thirty-year-old Apolonia Geisslbrecht. According to her exorcist’s account, her crisis began in the ordinary cruelty of a marriage shaped by her husband’s drunkenness and abuse. Worn down, she cried out to the Devil for help. Soon after, a tall, seductive man appeared, promising pleasures and relief she had never known. Overwhelmed and seeking escape, Apolonia gave him her hand. 

When Apolonia’s fits began, Wolfgang Agricola, the dean of Spalt, brought Apolonia to the local church and tested her to confirm possession. He then moved the rite to her bedroom and turned a private crisis into a public event by gathering priests, theology students, and neighbors for a witnessed ritual. Agricola made the Eucharist the centerpiece of the ceremony by placing the consecrated host directly on Apolonia’s head. In the narrative, the interrogators pressed the possessing spirit until it conceded that the Eucharist was Christ’s real body, using the exorcism as a public proof of Catholic doctrine.

Click here to continue reading: Demonology as an Explanatory System: Emotion and Institutional Judgment in the Holy Roman Empire, 1450–1650

By Abby Stone, Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

When you hear the words Springfield, Illinois, what do you imagine? You may first remember that the city is the capital of the state, or that Abraham Lincoln gave his “House Divided” Speech at the Illinois State Capitol, or that the city hosts the grand Illinois State Fair. You might then visualize the landscape of a typical rural midwestern city. Old brick buildings adorn the wide streets. The smell of cheese curds wafts from a local food stand to the noses of little children who beg their parents for a treat after a long day in the sweltering hot sun. Maybe these parents are taking their children home from a baseball game at the Robin Roberts Stadium. 

Now, imagine this city specifically on August 1, 2026, when Springfield locals will be flooding that stadium for an exciting baseball game. Fans will eat their hot dogs, fasten their baseball caps, and watch thirty players make history when the umpire yells “Play Ball.” The players will be exhausted from the heat beating on their backs the entire game and their pants will be dirty from sliding on the bases, but it will all be worth it, because this is not just any baseball game, this will be the inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League game.

Click here to continue reading: From Strikes Outs to Grand Slams: The Evolution of the Women’s Sports Movement in America from 1943 to Present Day

By Yihe (Flora) Zhu, Class of 2026

Editor’s Note: History Fellowship is a course in which students conduct independent, college-level historical research on a topic of their choice with close faculty mentorship. This paper was selected as one of the seven strongest from this year’s course.

Here is how the story goes: upon leaving church one day in 1841, a young lady named Dorothea Lynde Dix, then a schoolteacher at a private girls’ school in Boston, overheard the conversation of two gentlemen. The exact details of the conversation remain unclear, but it largely revolved around the horrors that inmates at the East Cambridge House of Correction were experiencing. Upon hearing of this dire situation, Miss Dix felt compelled to investigate the matter herself and visited the institution. There, she witnessed several insane persons crowded together in an unkept and unheated cellar. From that moment on, she began her life’s work of improving the condition of these mentally burdened persons.

Click here to continue reading:A Traditional Revolutionary: Progress and Constraint in Womanhood, Madness, and the Life and Work of Dorothea Dix