Jack Crutcher reviews the Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe winning film, 12 Years A Slave. He looks why slavery has become a popular focal point of challenging cinema in the last couple of years. Imogen Clark writes a potted history of the first two years of the American Civil War leading up to the pinnacle moment of […]

The effect of menstruation on females in concentration camps has often been omitted from popular research. Until recently, the history of the body has been somewhat omitted from historiography regarding the Holocaust, yet menstruation must be recognised as a feature which defined the female experiences of the Holocaust. Menstruation became a symbol of the horrific […]

Magdalene asylums, also known as ‘Magdalene laundries’, emerged in the late 18th century to house “fallen women”. Originally this meant women who worked in prostitution, but this term gradually expanded to include women classed as sexually promiscuous, unmarried mothers, women considered too tempting to men, and women who were considered a family burden. They were […]

Kathryn White reviews the last 50 years of Doctor Who, and reflects on how has the presence of sci-fi on TV reflected contemporary scientific discovery. Evie Hull visited the Dior exhibition at the Costume Gallery in Platt Hall which comes to a close in January. Kyriaki Protopapa attended TEDx Salford 3.0 on 11th November and […]

The Haitian Revolution (1791) was the first successful rebellion of enslaved people against colonial rule. Haiti became the first country to be founded by formerly enslaved people, resulting in the end of slavery throughout the former French colonial empire in 1794.

We all spend hours in the library, but how much do we know about its namesake? An examination of the life of Britain’s most controversial historian, A.J.P. Taylor. A closer look at the life of the SAHC namesake, Samuel Alexander.

Passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 2 July 1964, the Civil Rights Act was arguably the most revolutionary legislation concerning African Americans since the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which freed slaves from bondage. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited segregation in public places, made employment discrimination illegal, and integrated all schools and other […]

Welcome back to the first edition of this year’s Manchester Historian! For those of you who don’t already know we are the departmental student led newspaper. Do you agree with the way history is being taught in schools? Do you think there is too much focus on certain parts of past? Are you tired of […]

When the Romans invaded Britain, they brought with them four legions, of which three remained as a permanent garrison. As a result, three legionary fortresses were established, far larger than regular forts and built to hold an entire legion. These were constructed at Caerleon, Chester and York, and naturally these became strategically important locations. In […]

Today, Southall is emblematic of the virtues of multicultural Britain, with its lively intermingling of different cultures and traditions which help to promote intercultural and interfaith harmony. With its predominant South Asian community, it has often been dubbed the ‘mini-Punjab,’ in addition to the local train station displaying key information in Punjabi. However, this was […]

In the First World War poisonous gas was used frequently in an attempt to destroy the enemy. The gas used ranged from the barely noticeable to the extremely toxic; the latter used more towards the end of the War to defeat stalemate which had been difficult to overcome. It was used by both sides, both […]

The British Museum’s Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition opened to considerable fanfare at the end of March. A number of prime-time TV documentaries heralded its coming and the Mayor of London, no doubt enchanted with the subject he studied at university, waxed lyrical at the press opening. Neil MacGregor, Pontifex Maximus of the cultural establishment, had […]

  “Sex is the driving force on the planet. We should embrace it, not see it as the enemy.” – Hugh Hefner. The man who men wanted to be, and who women wanted to be with. Throughout his college days, Hefner admired the likes of Esquire magazine and felt inspired. Seeking more than a suburban […]

If you were to ever ask any political or social commentator in India about the possibility of the whole country being ruled by a single despotic ruler, the chances are that you would get a resounding ‘NO’ as the answer. We are too diverse for any single ideology to convince each and every part of […]