A couple of weeks back, I was speaking with my best friend on the phone. She is a grad student at Humbolt State working on her MA in Sociology. We vented to each other our frustrations with the amount of work we had, how much we hated our jobs and everything else bff's discuss. I was telling her I was currently reading chapter 22 in my history book, and the topic of communism reminded me of our favorite teacher in high school and his fabulous sayings such as "that's not an elephant, its a mouse with a thyroid problem". This teacher taught history electives our senior year, and one of the classes was American history from 1945 to the present. I was telling her how I had no topic for a research paper, yet found the topic of communism interesting. I wanted a good angle for the paper however. She told me about a book she had read for one of her classes, and it included the story of the Wheatland hop riots of 1913. After I got off the phone, I decided to research it a bit more, and I really found myself drawn to the topic. I decided that for my research paper, I would discuss the 1913 Wheatland hop riots.
What happened in 1913 was not only important in California and American history, but served as a lesson for countries and labor unions all over the world. It showed the direct impact the "fear of communism" had on American society and other cultures.
Here is a link for a brief history of the riot. I cannot wait to share it with you though in class.
http://libcom.org/history/1913-wheatland-hop-riot
Sounds interesting. Can't wait to hear it the last night of class.
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