I’m really happy with how the Historian has progressed this term. The team’s been working incredibly hard at coming up with ways to incorporate a more contemporary angle and I’m really happy to announce that we’ll be launching our own website very soon. I’m delighted to see the Historian growing and hope by the end […]
The concept of keeping a concubine is one that society today is unfamiliar with, yet this was a social norm for much of the ancient world and a common happening in China until it was outlawed following the establishment of Mao’s Chinese Communist Party in 1949. Concubinage is essentially the idea of maintaining an on-going […]
The First Thanksgiving, Wikimedia Commons. Nowadays, Thanksgiving is a national holiday. There’s a parade in New York, and everyone gathers with their families and loved ones to eat turkey, spend time with one another and give thanks. But Thanksgiving hasn’t always been like this. The first Thanksgiving took place in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Pilgrims […]
The state of Israel was founded in 1948 to provide a home for a people who had not only suffered centuries of oppression, but had just survived one of the worst genocides in history. It is no surprise then, that at the core of Israeli identity is an unresolved sense of trauma, in particular, Holocaust-induced […]
In the west today, charity has become as much about the giver as the recipient. James Green looks at the history of philanthropy and its selfish connotations. Already one of the most talked about pieces of television in recent years, Benefits Street has been accused of demonising the working classes. Ben Beach explores the history […]
In Shakespeare’s day, theatre was intended for all realms of society; the upper and lower classes experienced the same masterpiece, albeit through financially segregated seating zones. Strangely, with the birth of cinema and the inevitable birth of Shakespearean cinematic depictions, this intentional accessibility vanished – Shakespeare became a product of high culture, intended for a […]
The Church of England has had something of a reputation as a reactionary, conservative institution; a pillar of the establishment; a homogeneous, unified, source of unwavering support for the ruling authorities. Not so. The Anglican Church has always been an organisation in which diverse and often radical doctrines have been given a platform. In the […]
Trigger warning: Sexual Assault. Between the two creation stories told in Genesis 1 and 2, there are contradicting events concerning how the first man and woman came to be. One common theme that is evidently clear between the two is that the portrayal of women can be perceived as fundamentally inferior. From the get-go, in […]
Amidst the clouds of legal racial segregation and inhumane apartheid laws in 20th century South Africa, music was a silver lining for the masses. Songs werepowerful political tools that subliminally shaped the opinions of the people and encouraged protest against the regime. Freedom songs sang praises of the anti-apartheid heroes and lifted the spirits of […]
Few have heard of Johannes Junius, but his case of being burned at the stake after accusations of witchcraft casts light on an era in history where superstition and religion prevailed over rational thought. Johannes Junius was one of an estimated 300-600 people executed in a particularly vicious wave of witch trials known as the […]
At the beginning of the 5th century BCE, a hodgepodge of political strife, imperialistic occupation, and territorial conflict spurred the Ionian Revolt, a bloody rebellion on the coast of Asia Minor, now modern-day Turkey. The revolt lasted six years, during which the powers of Ionia and Persia both sustained significant losses. By its end, however, […]
Welcome to the new look Manchester Historian! Issue 3 has seen an expansion in the production team so we are finishing the year bigger and better than ever. We’re so grateful for the work everyone has put into the paper and we hope you all enjoy reading this as a break from all your essays! […]
As the run-up to the 2024 UK general election begins in earnest, it is likely that we will see a rapid increase in hysteria surrounding Chinese and Russian interference in Britain’s electoral process. However, there is no doubt that the majority of this discourse will fail to connect this meddling with Britain’s own historical involvement […]
These will be the words proclaimed to Baby George in three generations time. The birth of the Queen’s third great grandchild is the most significant royal birth in decades. An estimated £250 million has been generated so far from the purchase of memorabilia related to his birth. Royal babies have always been greatly celebrated in […]