By Karun Yee
CACS Foundation Historical Chair

Sacramento History Day this year was submitted online with guidance from Dr. Bob LaPierre. The topic this year was “Revolution, Reaction and Reform”. Students formulated their projects around this theme. Six projects were selected for review relating to Chinese History and three were chosen for monetary rewards.

The first award was “The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 “ by Rochelle Marwan. This elementary School poster project told the story of the Chinese in Sacramento who asked for improvements that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of May 6, 1812. (There was so much public debate that Kearney stated “The Chinese must go”.) This was after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869.

The second award was given to Aili Zhang who designed a junior website entitled, “The Chinese Liberation War”. This website chronicles the end of the Qing Dynasty to the separation of the Communist and Nationalist parties and who (US involvement) was backing each one. Extensive research revealing this story, demonstrated all the effort put into this project.

The third award goes to Dev Nishra who developed “Gentlemen, This is no humbug. The Revolution of Anesthesia”. This senior documentary reveals the development and history of elimination of pain through anesthesia. It’s tie to ancient Chinese herbalists changed the Idea of how to eliminate painful surgeries from wined herbs to nitrous oxide and ether.