Explanation: Oftentimes schools teaching history, even modern history, emphasize ‘big’ figures because they’re easier to remember and connect to events. This isn’t wholly a negative - history class only has so much time out of your school day to teach you about the past.

But, as historical academia has increasingly realized since the early 20th century, Great Men and Material Conditions are important - but only part of the story. Much of history is driven on by ordinary folk - often acting from a bizarre mixture of practical, cultural, and individual reasons. Sometimes we cascade with one another into spontaneous movements, sometimes we shift our culture, or cultivate the next generation. Sometimes we’re just keeping the machine moving, and it would go nowhere without us, no matter how big the names in the papers, or how grandiose the explanations of economic conditions are.

Your name may not go in the history books, but you will be a part of it too!