The Filson Historical Society High School Essay Contest

The Filson Historical Society is pleased to announce its High School Essay Contest.  The contest encourages high school students to explore significant themes in the history of Kentucky, southern Indiana, and the United States.  The winner will receive the $1000 Filson Essay Prize.

The contest is open to all high school students in public, private, alternative, parochial, and home-study programs located in the Louisville Metro area.

The Question: Write an essay that responds to the following statement:

The History of Kentucky and southern Indiana is the History of the United States

Explanation: Since the colonial era, Kentucky and southern Indiana have contributed to and been influenced by the social, economic, cultural, military, and political changes and events that have shaped the broader history of the United States.  To show how the history of Kentucky and southern Indiana is the history of the United States choose one central historical event, movement, or individual in U.S. history and explain how the state and region helped influence and/or was shaped by this event, movement, or individual.  You are free to choose any era of U.S. history-from the colonial era to the present -that you find interesting and relevant to the history of Kentucky and southern Indiana.  (Please see the Filson webpage for a list of suggested topics.)

Essays will be evaluated anonymously by a panel of judges and assigned points based on the following criteria:

  • Demonstration of knowledge and understanding of the question
  • Originality of essay
  • Presentation of clear thoughts and ideas
  • Effective use of a variety of source materials, including primary and secondary sources, and Filson Historical Society resources
  • Writing mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.)

Prizes and How to Enter:

The panel of judges will award the best essay the Filson Essay Prize in the amount of $1000.  A runner-up will receive a $250 award.  In addition, the library of the winner's school will receive $200.

Please send entries to the following address:

            The Filson Historical Society

            1310 S. 3rd Street

            Louisville, KY 40208

                ATTN: Essay Contest

All entries must be received or postmarked by Monday, February 1, 2010.  Entries received after this date will not be accepted.  Winners will be notified by March 15, 2010.  The prizes will be awarded at the Gertrude Polk Brown lecture in spring 2010.

Contest Rules:

  • 1. Contestants must currently be enrolled in a public, private, alternative, parochial, or home-study program school located in the Louisville Metro area.
  • 2. Contestants can submit only one essay.
  • 3. Contestants may not identify themselves or their schools within the text of the essay.
  • 4. Contestants must submit hard copy of document. No electronic/emailed documents will be accepted.
  • 5. The essay MUST be the contestant's original work. Plagiarized essays will be disqualified.
  • 6. All entries must be typewritten, double spaced 12-point New Times Roman font.
  • 7. Essays must be a 1500-2000 words or 5-8 pages (cover page, title, bibliography do not contribute to the overall word/page count)
  • 8. Source materials should include both primary and secondary sources
  • 9. Contestants are encouraged to utilize The Filson Historical Society holdings including our online resources.
  • 10. Source materials must be cited clearly

ESSAY RULES Section 3

A cover sheet is to accompany the essay and should include the following items. Do not count cover sheet toward overall word count:

1. Full Name

2. Address, City, State, and Zip-Code

3. Phone Number and E-Mail

4. Date of Birth

5. Grade Currently Enrolled In School

6. Full Name of School Attending

7. Total Word Count (do not include cover)

8. Signed statement: "I have read and understand the guidelines.  The essay submitted is original and of my own creation." 

Entries found in violation of the contest rules will be eliminated from the competition. If plagiarism is identified, the contestant will be ineligible to compete in future competitions administered by The Filson Historical Society. If the prize winners are found in violation of the rules after receiving scholarship funds, all prize money will be forfeited.

All entries become the property of The Filson Historical Society and will not be returned. We reserve the right to publish the winning participant's name and/or essay (whether in excerpts or in its entirety).

The essay will be verified by a teacher familiar with the recipient's original work. We also reserve the right to void the contest for any reason.

By submitting an entry, you are acknowledging that you have read and understand completely the guidelines of this competition.  You are also stating that the essay is of your work.

You are free to choose any aspect of the history of Kentucky and southern Indiana (the Ohio River Valley) that you find interesting, but below are some suggested topics/events/individuals that you can explore as you answer the question: The History of Kentucky and southern Indiana is the History of the United States:

  • Early European settlement
  • The nature of Native American life in the region before and after European settlement
  • Native American and white conflict and cooperation in the mid-eighteenth century
  • The military history of the American Revolution in the Ohio Valley
  • The impact of the American Revolution
  • Women's lives in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries
  • The establishment of slavery in early Kentucky
  • The battle over slavery in early Indiana
  • Statehood and constitution writing in early Indiana and Kentucky
  • Agriculture in the nineteenth century
  • Urban development in the nineteenth century
  • Transportation developments in the nineteenth century
  • Music and popular entertainments in the nineteenth century
  • Economic development in the nineteenth century
  • Nineteenth century immigration to the Ohio River Valley
  • Religious revivalism and reform movements (feminism, temperance, prison reform) in the nineteenth century
  • The diversity of religious beliefs among nineteenth century Ohio Valley residents
  • The nature of slavery in pre-Civil War Kentucky
  • The Underground Railroad in southern Indiana and Kentucky
  • Antislavery and abolitionism in the Ohio River Valley
  • Free blacks in Kentucky and southern Indiana
  • Political conflict and the party development in the Ohio River Valley
  • Schools and education in nineteenth century Kentucky and southern Indiana
  • The Civil War
  • The causes of the Civil War
  • Political conflict in Kentucky and Indiana during the Civil War
  • African American freedom and African American troops in the Civil War
  • Reconstruction in Kentucky
  • Industrialization and economic development after the Civil War
  • Progressivism in Kentucky and southern Indiana
  • The Ohio River Valley and World War I
  • Feminism and women's suffrage
  • The Great Depression and the New Deal
  • The Ohio River Valley and World War II
  • The Ohio River Valley and the Cold War and anticommunism in the postwar era
  • Postwar prosperity and economic growth
  • Popular culture in the 1950s and 1960s
  • The Civil Rights movement
  • The Vietnam War and anti-war protests
  • Reagan and the end of the Cold War
  • The Ohio River Valley and 9/11, Middle East conflict, and the war on terror
  • The life and impact of a prominent southern Indiana or Kentucky resident.  Examples include:
  • Daniel Boone (early settler)
  • Cornstalk (Shawnee chief)
  • George Rogers Clarke (Revolutionary officer)
  • William Clarke (explorer)
  • John Filson (map maker)
  • John Tipton (Indiana governor)
  • Little Turtle (Shawnee chief)
  • Henry Clay (Kentucky politician)
  • William Henry Harrison (Indiana politician and military officer)
  • Jonathan Jennings (Indiana governor)
  • John C. Breckinridge (Kentucky politician)
  • James Howard and the Howard family (boat builders)
  • Delia Webster (Underground Railroad and antislavery activist)
  • Henry Bibb (fugitive slave)
  • Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis (Union Civil War general)
  • Jean Brandeis Tachau (social activist)
  • Mary Breckinridge (health care advocate)
  • Alben Barkley (Kentucky senator and vice president)
  • John Sherman Cooper (U.S. Senator)
  • Sally Bingham (Episcopal minister and social activist)
  • Cardinal Joseph Ritter (archbishop of Indianapolis)
  • Adm. Jonas Howard Ingram (World War II admiral)
  • Billy Herman (baseball hall of famer)
  • William Marrion Branham (Pentecostal minister)
  • Georgia Powers (Civil Rights activist)
  • Mae Street Kidd (Civil Rights activist/politician)
  • John Schnatter (entrepreneur)