American Studies Commons^™

This Fact Which Is Not One: Differential Poetics In Transatlantic American Modernism, Sarah Ruddy

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation proposes that the literary fact, first discussed by Jurij Tynajnov in his 1924 essay "The Literary Fact," and later in "On Literary Evolution" (1929), names an intersection of literary formalism and social representation central to experimental modernist texts in the twentieth century. The poetics of literary fact that I propose finds its basis in Russian Formalist and Frankfurt School theory and reflects several important twentieth century social moments to illustrate how historical and social facts seek poetic form. In my use of the term, "fact" is the materiality of history as it moves from the social world, carrying …

Historical Overview Of Africans And African Americans In Yorktown, At The Moore House, And On Battlefield Property, 1635-1867 Colonial National Historical Park (Vol. 2), Julie Richter, Jody L. Allen

Arts & Sciences Books

The situation for African Americans in Yorktown did not improve much during the antebellum period. The possibility of being willed, sold, or mortgaged by a slaveholder remained. William Vail is one example. Vail had over thirty slaves and mongaged some or all of them at some point. When Vail died in 1834, he owned several lots in Yorktown but gave permission in his will to sell Ambrose, Caesar, Lucy, Bob, and Tom Bailey, if necessary to pay his debts. He left his wife, Louisa, William, Alfred, Molly, Carlia, Charlotte, Alice and her three children, as well as his "man Tom," …

Historical Overview Of Africans And African Americans In Yorktown, At The Moore House, And On Battlefield Property, 1635-1867 Colonial National Historical Park (Vol. 1), Julie Richter, Jody L. Allen

Arts & Sciences Books

The following report focuses on the lives and experiences of Africans and African Americans who lived and worked in Yorktown, at the Moore House, and on Battlefield Property between 1635 and 1867. The goal of this study is to highlight the role that Africans and African Americans played in Yorktown and the surrounding rural area. A wide variety of primary documents contain details about the enslaved men, women, and children who labored in the homes of Yorktown's elite residents, worked in the shops of the town's skilled artisans, and tended fields on nearby plantations. In addition, Yorktown was home to …

Front Matter, Tom Mack, Ph.D.

The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English

No abstract provided.

Study Guide For United In Anger: A History Of Act Up, Matt Brim

Open Educational Resources

The United in Anger Study Guide facilitates classroom and activist engagement with Jim Hubbard’s 2012 documentary, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. The Study Guide contains discussion sections, projects and exercises, and resources for further research about the activism of the New York chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The Study Guide is a free, interactive, multimedia resource for understanding the legacy of ACT UP, the film’s role in preserving that legacy, and its meaning for viewers' lives.

Downeast Fisheries Trail: Celebrating The Fisheries Heritage Of Downeast Maine, Then And Now, Downeast Fisheries Trail, Roosevelt-Campobello International Park, Natalie Springuel, Catherine Schmitt, J. Canniff

Maine Sea Grant Publications

Road map of the Downeast Fisheries Trail from Penobscot to Passamaquoddy Bay, connecting historic and active fisheries sites that illustrate the region’s maritime heritage. Marine resources sustain the culture and economy of Downeast Maine. The Downeast Fisheries Trail builds on these local resources to strengthen community life and the experience of visitors. Map includes brief descriptions of 45 businesses, wharves, museums, and parks located along the trail.

Yellow, In Peril: How Public Health Discourse On Tuberculosis (Tb) Reveals, Refines, And Reinforces The Racial Stigmatization Of Asian Americans, Laura Dellplain

Honors Papers

In this paper, I argue that while public health discourse on tuberculosis may reveal existent epidemiological trends in and among particular social groups, the discursive framing of this data unnecessarily racializes the disease. More specifically, public health discourse uses frameworks of "othering" and an imagined transnationalism to reflect but also refine and reinforce historicized stigmas of Asian Americans as non-normative, perpetual outsiders, and disease carriers. I assert that this discursive raciliazation of TB superficially constructs a causal link between Asian Americans and the incidence of TB in America and consequently results in significant social and political costs for many Asian …

Museum Studies: Exhibit Designs, Nicole Duperre, Brendan Quirk, Margaret Zecher, Traci Costa, Cindy Nanton, Kathleen Wilson, Loren White, Derek Dandurand, Zachary Tatti, Christopher Usler, Arnold Robinson

American Studies

To remain functional museum professionals must remember that museums are businesses like every other enterprise, striving to exchange a good or a service on terms previously bargained for. As such, museums too must understand that branding is the golden rule for success in business. In order to brand itself the museum must echo one unified vision and voice, and that message ought to be made tangible. Museum labels are the heart of each item on display, and must resonate all that the museum hopes to convey about its enterprise.

The Golems Take New York: The Resurgence Of The Golem In The Work Of Cynthia Ozick And Thane Rosenbaum, Peter Schulman

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

The late twentieth and early twenty first centuries have seen a resurgence of the golem in several major American novels. What factors might lead to such a re-imagining of the golem in American fiction? Cynthia Ozick's The Puttermesser Papers (1997) and Thane Rosenbaum's The Golems of Gotham (2002) re-invent golems no longer anchored in vengeance but in healing, as vehicles for the kabbalistic notion of Tikkun Olam ("repairing the world"). Ozick creates the first female golem to help the lonely protagonist become a reformist mayor; in The Golems of Gotham, the golem is transformed into a team of literary …

Time In Television Narrative: Exploring Temporality In 21st Century Programming, Melissa R. Ames

Melissa A. Ames

This collection analyzes twenty-first-century American television programs that rely upon temporal and narrative experimentation. These shows play with time, slowing it down to unfold the narrative through time retardation and compression. They disrupt the chronological flow of time itself, using flashbacks and insisting that viewers be able to situate themselves in both the present and the past narrative threads. Although temporal play has existed on the small screen prior to the new millennium, never before has narrative time been so freely adapted in mainstream television. The essayists offer explanations for not only the frequency of time play in contemporary programming, …

A Kitchen Of One's Own: The Paradox Of Dione Lucas, Kathleen Collins

Publications and Research

First appearing on the air in 1947, Dione Lucas was one of the earliest television cooking-show hosts. As a business owner, single mother, influential salesperson, and highly respected professional in her field (Julia Child referred to Lucas as “the mother of French cooking in America”), Lucas was a pioneer and potentially powerful role model. Given this profile, however, she was an anachronism and out of sync with the majority of contemporary women and home cooks. She was likewise out of sync with her television peers, as most homemaking programs were hosted by home economists and were contexts wherein thrift and …

Murrow And Friendly’S Small World: Television Conversation At The Crossroads, Kathleen Collins

Publications and Research

Small World

(1958–60), an Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly television production, brought together political and entertainment figures from around the world, boasting technological innovation and a high level of public affairs discourse. The author discusses critical reception, producers’ ideals, cultural and historical context, and relation-ships to evolving notions of public service broadcasting.

Gag Order: Muting, Mortification, And Motherhood In Eminem’S “Cleaning Out My Closet”, Lynne Stahl

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

History 650 Interviews: Disclaimer And Note On Use, Barbara Carol Allen

All Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

Interview Of Gerard Molyneaux, F.S.C., Ph.D., Gerard Molyneaux, Megan Crowe

All Oral Histories

Gerard Molyneaux was born in 1935 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania to John and Anne Elizabeth Molyneaux. He graduated from West Catholic High School in 1951 and began his novitiate in the Christian Brothers, taking final vows in 1953. He graduated from La Salle College in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and in 1959 with a Master of Arts in Theology. He taught at St. John's High School in Washington, DC, Cumberland School in Maryland, Southville Catholic School in Pittsburgh, PA, and in the English Department of Lewis University. He received his Master of Arts degree in English …

Interview Of Cherylyn Rush, Cherylyn Rush, Linda Sago

All Oral Histories

Cherylyn Landora Edwards Rush was born in 1959 in Shirley, Massachusetts. Mrs. Rush moved to Pennsylvania at a very young age. Her father, Lester Edwards, was in the military. After her parents divorced, Cherylyn’s mother Pearl developed ovarian cancer and passed away when Cherylyn was about seven years old. Her grandmother Louise Jackson then cared for Cherylyn until she went to live with their father. Mr. Edwards had remarried. When Cherylyn’s father and her stepmother divorced, she returned to Philadelphia, PA and attended William Penn High School. Cherylyn earned her high school diploma although she was pregnant with her son. …

Interview Of James T. Dever, James T. Dever, William Gold

All Oral Histories

James T. Dever was born in 1945 in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Walter and Ruth Dever. He attended North Catholic High School in Philadelphia and joined the Order of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales while still in High School. He majored in Theology and English at Catholic University and Allentown College, then received his Master of Arts in English at Villanova University. He taught English at North Catholic High. Ordained as a priest in 1973, Father Dever has been a parish priest, hospital chaplain, and most recently campus minister of the University Ministry and Service …

Interview Of Edward J. Sheehy, F.S.C., Ph.D., Edward J. Sheehy, Lauren De Angelis

All Oral Histories

Edward J. Sheehy was born in 1946 to Edward and Rosemary Sheehy. His father was a naval commander and later the head of an aerospace company called Hercules. He entered the novitiate of the Christian Brothers in 1963, received his undergraduate degree in history from La Salle College in 1968, his Master of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University in 1973, and his Ph.D. in History from George Washington University in 1983. He worked at St. Gabriel's Hall, Calvert College High School, Hudson Catholic High School, Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, PA, and La Salle University. A specialist on …

Interview Of Minister Rodney Muhammad, Rodney Muhammad, Venold Johnson

All Oral Histories

Minister Rodney Muhammad (born Rodney Ellis) was born in 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, where he grew up in the South Shore neighborhood. His father, Jim Ellis, played football for Michigan State University, graduated from there with a degree in sociology, played for the Chicago Bears, and was a social worker. His mother, Kathryn Ellis, attended Roosevelt University, was the first black model for Ford in Detroit, Michigan, and achieved a Ph.D. in Public Administration. Rodney Muhammad majored in business administration at DePaul University and worked as an estate planner before he entered the Nation of Islam. At the time of …

Interview Of James A. Butler, Ph.D., James A. Butler, Nyomi Gonzalez

All Oral Histories

James A. Butler was born in 1945 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he attended La Salle College, graduating in 1967. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and was hired to teach in the English Department of La Salle University. He has been English Department Chair, Director of the Honors Program, and Curator of the Wister Special Collection in Connelly Library. He is a Wordsworth specialist.