You shouldn't be taken less seriously just because you attended community college at some point- they won't mark you down because of it. What you need to do is satisfy all the prerequisites to get into grad school. When they say that some grad schools don't accept community college credits, that means that those credits can't be used as credit towards another degree at that university.
So long as your actual degree comes from a state university, you should be fine.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.