Digital Commons Network^™

Challenging Notions Of U.S. Citizenship: The Contributions Of Mexican Americans, Tracy E. Kirby

Master's Theses

The United States has always been a nation of immigrants, in which the idea of “citizenship” has had very strong intrinsic values, and has divided those who “have it” from those who “don’t,” since the first legal construction of such categories in 1790. Longstanding contradictions, characterized by ceremonies awarding citizenship to some and laws of exclusion, deportation, and forced removal for others, have embodied U.S. approaches to citizenship, and created a dichotomy between “citizen” and “alien.” This Master's Thesis will initiate a discussion and reformulation of what it means to be a citizen in the United States, and more importantly …

Madonna Inn: A Hotel In Context, Galadriel Bree Highhouse

Master's Theses

This paper examines the political, economic and social influences that contributed to the development of the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. I provide a brief history of the hotel industry and place the Madonna Inn within the historiography and argue that the nexus of three elements in the 1950s and 1960s led to the growth and popularity of the Madonna Inn: fear of nuclear war, growth of the middle class, and the rise of automobile culture in America.

Jackson, Mississippi, Contested: The Allied Struggle For Civil Rights And Human Dignity, Matthew David Monroe

Master's Theses

Utilizing monthly reports and correspondence of civil rights organizations, in addition to newspaper coverage, oral histories; and memoirs, this study shows that a grassroots, community-driven movement mobilized in Mississippi's capital to challenge institutionalized discrimination. Yet, racial identity did not dictate exclusively how White and Black Mississippians responded to the unfolding Civil Rights Movement. Conflicting and shifting motivations shaped the nature, extent, and pace by which Blacks and Whites challenged or protected status quo discrimination. The Jackson Movement began as early as 1955 and sustained protest activity into the 1960s. By the summer of 1965, Jackson's Black community secured most of …

Jackson, Mississippi, Contested: The Allied Struggle For Civil Rights And Human Dignity, Matthew David Monroe

Master's Theses

Utilizing monthly reports and correspondence of civil rights organizations, in addition to newspaper coverage, oral histories, and memoirs, this study shows that a grassroots, community-driven movement mobilized in Mississippi’s capital to challenge institutionalized discrimination. Yet, racial identity did not dictate exclusively how White and Black Mississippians responded to the unfolding Civil Rights Movement. Conflicting and shifting motivations shaped the nature, extent, and pace by which Blacks and Whites challenged or protected status quo discrimination. The Jackson Movement began as early as 1955 and sustained protest activity into the 1960s. By the summer of 1965, Jackson’s Black community secured most of …

Transmitting Whiteness: Librarians, Children, And Race, 1900-1930s, Shane Hand

Master's Theses

In the wake of the public library movement in the southern United States during the early twentieth century, local librarians began providing library services for those whom they deemed to be their most valuable resources, children. Representatives of a new profession, children’s librarians campaigned for better tomorrows by collecting good books specifically for young readers while providing safe, comfortable spaces that encouraged an atmosphere of instructive entertainment.

Supplemental to the development of a unique children’s department, library administrators sought strong working relationships with the city’s various public schools. The public cooperative that developed between libraries and schools brought thousands of …

Beneath The Surface: American Culture And Submarine Warfare In The Twentieth Century, Matthew Robert Mcgrew

Master's Theses

Cultural perceptions guided the American use of submarines during the twentieth century. Feared as an evil weapon during the First World War, guarded as a dirty secret during the Second World War, and heralded as the weapon of democracy during the Cold War, the American submarine story reveals the overwhelming influence of civilian culture over martial practices. The following study examines the roles that powerful political and military elites, newspaper editors and Hollywood executives, and ordinary citizens – equal players in a game larger than themselves – assumed throughout the evolution of submerged warfare from 1914 to 1991. In each …

Beneath The Surface: American Culture And Submarine Warfare In The Twentieth Century, Matthew Robert Mcgrew

Master's Theses

Cultural perceptions guided the American use of submarines during the twentieth century. Feared as an evil weapon during the First World War, guarded as a dirty secret during the Second World War, and heralded as the weapon of democracy during the Cold War, the American submarine story reveals the overwhelming influence of civilian culture over martial practices. The following study examines the roles that powerful political and military elites, newspaper editors and Hollywood executives, and ordinary citizens - equal players in a game larger than themselves - assumed throughout the evolution of submerged warfare from 1914 to 1991. In each …

The Collapse Of Yugoslavia And The Bosnian War: The Impact Of International Intervention In A Regional Conflict, Jeffrey Scott Passage

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the role of international intervention in the area formerly known as Yugoslavia during its collapse in the first half of the 1990s (1991-1995). The Cold War had just ended, and the United Nations (UN), NATO, and the nations they represented were reevaluating their roles in a world without competition between two superpowers. The collapse of Yugoslavia and ensuing civil war presented these international bodies with an opportunity to intervene and show that they were ready to take charge in future conflicts in pursuing and achieving peace. However, what followed revealed them to be short-sighted and ill-prepared for …

Growing Conflict: Agriculture, Innovation, And Immigration In San Luis Obispo County, 1837–1937, Douglas P. Jenzen

Master's Theses

The history of San Luis Obispo and its surrounding areas is complex. Agriculture, innovation, and immigration have all contributed to the formation of the region. The Spanish, Mexican, and early American periods established the framework successive waves of immigrants had to live within. Native Americans and immigrants from China, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, the Philippines, and other regions of the United States have all toiled in the fields and contributed to America’s tables at various points throughout county history. Many contingencies determined the treatment of successive waves of immigrants. Growth and development are taking place at exponential rates on the very …

Losing The Colonies: How Differing Interpretations Of The British Constitution Caused The American Revolution, Brian M. Flint

Master's Theses

Faced with an economic crisis following the French and Indian War, the British Parliament, along with a young and inexperienced King George III changed its longstanding policy towards the North American colonies. Prior to 1763, Parliament allowed the colonies to generally govern themselves. After 1763, Parliament began to pass legislation aimed at increasing revenue received from the colonies. As the colonies protested these new taxes on constitutional grounds Parliament began a process of implementing and repealing different attempts at controlling the economic system in the colonies. Due to differing interpretations of the British Constitution regarding Parliament's authority over the colonies, …