HIS 100 Module Five Activity Template: Historical Interpretations
Replace the bracketed text below with your responses.
Identify the topic you chose to explore:
[The Great London Smog]
Describe how exploring your research question improved your understanding of the historical roots of
your current event.
[Prior to conducting any research about the Great London Smog, I knew nothing about it other
than what I could guess from the name of the historical event. I have a better understanding of
not only what happened during this event but things leading up to event that increased the
chances of it happening.]
Explain how biased perspectives influence what is known about both your historical and current events.
[The bias that is emphasized in a lot of research related to the Great London Smog is that it
affects people. Yes, this is true, but this historical event affected more than just people. It
affected animals, the environment, and future policies and laws. Bias that continues to current
events is about environmentalist and the government. There is bias that the government should
be doing more the protect the environment to prevent more events that do harm.]
Propose how the narrative about your historical event might change if it were told from a missing
perspective.
[The narratives I have read were from people working on the frontlines such as medical
professionals and civilians with firsthand experience to the smog. My perspective on the Great
London Smog might change if I were told from a scientist, government official, or coal miners’
narrative. These people were also affected the Great London Smog, however their narratives and
take on the historical event could be much different. I think it is important to be able to read and
understand a wide variety of perspectives on historical events and things that you don’t have
much knowledge about to prevent your own personal bias.]
