Author: Ashleigh Grubb

As Masaaki put it in the opening lines of “What Really Happened in Nanking: The Refutation of a Common Myth,” “[t]he word history possesses two meanings. One is “events of the past in and of themselves.” The other is “a record of events of the past put into writing for the benefit of future generations” (historiography).” […]

Efforts for Algerian independence started as early as World War I, but did not culminate into actions on behalf of the French or Algerians until 1954. On November 1st in that year, the National Liberation Front (FLN) proclaimed solidified efforts towards freedom from French rule. In this proclamation, the Algerian people are addressed and called […]

The faces of the children photographed above read many emotions: fear, uncertainty, confusion; however, the emotion coming across the strongest, in my eyes, is opportunity. Their youth is evident not only in their size but across their faces, and with many years left to spend in countless ways. These children, unlike most, experienced unforeseen horrors […]

Occupied Japan was a nation aiming to rebuild through any means necessary with, of course, the assistance of the good ole U.S.-of-A. For some, this meant adapting to the democratic changes in lifestyle and government. For others (namely Japanese women), this meant engaging in prostitution brothels and ‘street-walking’ to earn a living. As presented by […]

Allied victory, communist defeat, crumbling empires, emerging super-powers; the aftermath of the second World War was a lengthy, complex period in which reconstruction was at the forefront. Reconstruction, in its most literal sense, means rebuilding. What needed to be rebuilt? How was this growth managed? The state of most nations Post-WWII was not a pretty one, […]

After the end of a world that devastated the nation–and even further, the globe–it is undoubted that a movement similar to  Steichen’s The Family of Man exhibited was needed. With a nation plagued with the hatred of races, the fear of communism, and much more, this photographic display of the “oneness” of humans was the answer to some of […]

Rehabilitation conveys a connotation of ‘fixing’ something: drug addicts go to rehab to mend their addiction, veterans rehab to undo the horrors of the war—whether physical or psychological, and so on. However, rehabilitation encompasses much more than that, as symbolized

During wartime, it is no surprise that visions of homecoming kept the soldiers morale higher; images of soldiers returning to their family and/or spouse was pushed by American propaganda, and reminders were given from the higher ups to remind soldiers to be

Depicted as happy settlers, DPs were subject to relocation at the hands of the Allied powers

With millions of displaced persons aimlessly being relocated, ignored, or treated as test subjects, the question of nationalism’s importance post WWII was as important as ever. Jewish Holocaust survivors, children products of Germanization, and emigrants searching for a home free