Finalizing Our Project: Black Power Chronicles

Now that we've made our URCAD submission, our attention has shifted towards developing our presentation. 

Kevin's been doing a really great job making edits to the appearance of the map and developing the codes necessary for our excel spreadsheet entries to transfer. Cyrus has been trying to find the corresponding geographic location for each event and has been making progress. I've spent the past couple of weeks looking for images that would suffice for our interactive map, making minor edits to excel spreadsheet, and trying to develop our URCAD presentation itself. I've had some trouble trying to find pictures that were taken in Washington D.C. of the black power movement. I've been in contact with the Washingtonia to try and pull pictures and information from the newspaper article available but that's been a challenge in itself. A lot of the documents they pulled for me was for the black power movement across the U.S. and not necessarily focused on the events that occurred in Washington D.C. 

Although we're wrapping up our project and finalizing our presentation, there's still some things we have to figure out for April. We're planning on meeting after spring break to talk more about how we want to present and what exactly we want to showcase during that presentation. Overall, I'm pretty excited. We've been working pretty hard these past three months and the project is slowly coming to a close. It'll be really interesting seeing how everyone receives our presentation--an interactive map that displays the location of an event with the corresponding event description. April 23rd--here we come!!

Using History in Politics?

Hello everyone!

My name is Claire McCormack and I am a senior at UMBC, studying Political Science and History at the Shady Grove campus. Going into my final semester of college (knock-on-wood!), I knew I wanted to undertake an internship that would help me narrow down my vision of my future career.

When Kathleen Matthews, the Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, spoke in one of my classes last semester, something about her inspired me. She was well-spoken and incredibly smart, but most importantly, she seemed genuinely passionate about the work she was doing with her team. I realized then that my enthusiasm for the advancement of progressive causes really aligned with the mission of the Maryland Democratic Party, and that if I worked there, I would be able to learn from a truly enthusiastic team that Kathleen leads. Critically, I could also learn to apply the vital professional and academic skills history courses have taught me to a real-world setting.

Within a week of meeting Kathleen, I was able to interview and secure an internship for this semester with the Maryland Democratic Party. I was thrilled: excited to be doing something new and exciting, fighting for issues that are relevant to me, and ready for the challenge of showing off my critical thinking, writing, and analysis skills in more than just the classroom. I was also incredibly excited to get to know Annapolis, pictured below on my first day in January.

As a Maryland Democratic Party intern, I have the unique opportunity to get hands-on experience in many different areas. I’m most closely working with the data director and field team, but have had the opportunity to work on political assignments as well. So far, I have really enjoyed getting to speak with voters. I have definitely used the critical listening and questioning skills my public history classes have helped me develop. For instance, last semester I interviewed the executive director of a museum, which made me practice creating a diverse range of questions, and making an environment where people feel comfortable to express both their likes and dislikes, their successes and their failures. 

So far I am absolutely loving my internship- I am so greatful to work here! I look forward to seeing what the next month holds for me.