When my World History Teacher first told our class that we were going to be partaking in the National History Day competition (involving over 600,000 students across America) I was excited for the upcoming experience of making a project that I would be proud of. When the theme for this year’s competition was announced- debate and diplomacy- I thought of current debates and diplomacy that had recently prevailed or failed. At first, I wanted a topic that wasn’t well known whatsoever. I looked for debates in Africa- I was thinking of picking the debate of how to handle the economic state in Somalia. While looking for information on Somalia, and struggling with finding a sufficient amount, an idea popped into my head: The controversial Arizona Immigrant Law SB 1070 that had recently been passed, although many opposed it. I am personally very interested in this topic because it has been a very talked-about debate and is not unlike major happenings in history, such as segregation and the Chinese Exclusion. There is also much controversy surrounding this law- it’s a huge debate with top-notch points made by both critics and supporters of the law. To conduct my research, I went online and searched for news on the Arizona Immigrant Law SB 1070. I also looked for more information on the CEA so I could make a connection between my present day topic and a major happening in history. I also used the online database provided by Hampshire Regional to search for information the Chinese Exclusion Act and harsh immigrant laws, particularly in Arizona. Something else I did to learn more was watch clips of news broadcasts on the Internet. To create my website, I started with the home page and created an overview of the law and the debate. I continued to add pages to my website to dive further into my topic. I filled each webpage with interesting and important information from my research, which i rephrased into my one words. My partner found lots of pictures for the website and helped construct the overall design. I created charts to break down the debate between the two sides. My partner and I slowly worked on the project to piece everything together. My project about the Arizona Immigrant Law, SB 1070, relates to the National History Day theme of debate and diplomacy because this law is causing a great debate between people who oppose the law and people who support it. Immigrants’ rights groups strongly oppose the law and so does President Obama. But, there are many people who think this is what Arizona needs- strong action. This new law troubles eleven other nations- Mexico in particular, yet the Governor of Arizona continues to defend it. This law can be applied back to history with the Chinese Exclusion act and Jim Crow Laws because of many similarities (racial profiling, making life harder for immigrants). So, it is enthralling to have a modern-day topic that can also be traced back to history.