National History Day 2010 Theme: Innovation in History: Impact and Change
Welcome to the National History Day resource page brought to you by the La Crosse Public Library and UW-La Crosse Murphy Library. We developed this guide to introduce students and teachers to local topics for use in the 2010 National History Day competition. This list is not exhaustive but gives the reader an idea of local topics and basic resources for a subject.
Generally, materials held in the special collections or archives area of either library do NOT check-out; the items must be used at those libraries.
This year’s theme is Innovation in History. For a complete description of the theme, visit: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/images/uploads/397037_ThemePage2010_R5.pdf.
Sports
George Coleman Poage (1880–1962) was the first African American athlete to graduate from La Crosse High School; the first Black athlete to run for the University of Wisconsin (Madison); the first Black individual Big Ten track champion in conference history, placing first in both the 440-yard dash and the 220-yard hurdles; and the first African American to win a medal in the modern Olympic Games, winning two bronze medals at the 1904 games in St. Louis.
Poage was born in Hannibal, Missouri, and moved with his family to La Crosse, Wisconsin, when he was still a youngster. At La Crosse High School Poage excelled as both a student and an athlete. He was easily the school’s best athlete. As the second-best student in his class and its first African-American graduate, at commencement in 1899 he addressed the assembly as the salutatorian of his class.
Poage returned to St. Louis after the Olympics to teach at segregated Sumner High School, where he was the head of the English department and helped coach the school’s sports teams. After teaching at Sumner for about ten years, he purchased a farm in Minnesota and lived there until after World War I.
Moving to Chicago at the height of the Jim Crow era, he found few job opportunities available for Blacks, even those with a college degree. In 1924, Poage was hired by the United States Postal Service and worked as a postal clerk for nearly thirty years. After his retirement in the 1950s he remained in Chicago until his death in 1962.
Secondary Sources
- Newspaper clippings at the La Crosse Public Library Archives: Biography-Poage, George
- George
Coleman Poage: The La Crosse, Wisconsin Years, 1885-1904 by Bruce
L. Mouser & Edwin L. Hill.
Find at: La
Crosse Public Library has a copy only in the Archives area: SC
921 P7501M 1985
UW-L Murphy Library has a copy only in the Special Collections area: F589.L13 M68 1985 - Black
La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1850-1906: Settlers, Entrepreneurs & Exodusers by
Bruce L. Mouser. Mouser chronicles the lives of African-Americans
in the La Crosse area and includes several biographical sketches. This book
includes some
corrections and updates to the Mouser & Hill book
listed above.
Find
at: La
Crosse Public Library has four check-out copies
available; two at the main library and one at each of
the community
libraries: 977.571 M876B
2002. The
Reference and Archives areas also have
a copy which stays in the main library.
UW-L Murphy Library has one check-out copy available and one in the Special Collections area: F589.L19 M68 2002 - Celebrating
Black History: George Coleman Poage ‘03
A synopsis of George Coleman Poage and his influence as a UW Madison Badger. - Great Moments
in Wisconsin Sports
La
Crosse Public Library Reference 796.09775 M6874G 2004
Primary Sources
- Photographs at UW-L Murphy Library Special Collections and the La Crosse Public Library Archives
Also check out other sources at: La Crosse History Unbound
While local sources are noted for each topic, remember to use some other online sources and catalogs such as:
Library of Congress’ American Memory
Wisconsin Historical Society:
- Turning Points
- Archives’ catalog for material belonging to the Wisconsin Historical Society and its affiliated Area Research Centers
- Portal to Various WHS online resources
