Digital Commons Network^™

“It Seemed Like Reaching For The Moon:” Southside Virginia’S Civil Rights Struggle Against The Virginia Way, 1951-1964, Emily A. Martin Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

During the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and in the historiography, Virginia held a racially moderate reputation. Scholarship on civil rights in Virginia typically credits racial moderation with implementing integration in the state while avoiding major violence and protest. In Southside Virginia, the rural south-central area of the state dominated by tobacco and textile mills with a substantial black population, two towns became the sites of significant civil rights activity. Both Farmville and Danville had direct-action movements spearheaded by local African American students and activists, but these movements drew limited national attention despite extreme reaction and …

Robert Cowley: Living Free During Slavery In Eighteenth-Century Richmond, Virginia, Ana F. Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the life of Robert Cowley, a formerly enslaved man living free during slavery in eighteenth-century Richmond, Virginia. The first chapter examines Cowley’s enslaved life through the records of others. The data collectors and historians of early America did not intend to capture the truth of Black people’s American experiences, except as defined their enslavement--people in service to the wealth-building capacity of the nation. Yet the lives of Black people who lived in proximity to prominent whites can be glimpsed in a variety of records and writings from account books to deeds, from private letters to newspaper advertisements. …

Recovering Lost Voices: The Rappahannock Tribe And The Jamestown Festival Of 1957, Woodie L. Walker Ii

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employs the interdisciplinary methodologies of ethnohistory and oral history to examine the legacy of the 1957 Jamestown Festival through the experiences and memories of Rappahannock people. “Recovering Lost Voices: The Rappahannock Tribe and the Jamestown Festival of 1957” adds to the historiography of Virginia Natives by revealing that Rappahannock participation in the Jamestown Festival was the culmination of centuries of cultural preservation, greatly influenced and made immediate by their experiences in “Jim Crow” Virginia during the twentieth century. This research establishes that the enduring legacy of the Festival for the Rappahannock Tribe was political influence, culminating in state …

The Japanese Experience In Virginia, 1900s-1950s: Jim Crow To Internment, Emma T. Ito

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses how Japanese and Japanese Americans may have lived and been perceived in Virginia from 1900s through the 1950s. This work focuses on their positions in society with comparisons to the nation, particularly during the “Jim Crow” era of “colored” and “white,” and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. It highlights various means of understanding their positions in Virginia society, with emphasis on Japanese visitors, marriages of Japanese in Virginia, and the inclusion of Japanese in higher education at Roanoke College, Randolph-Macon College, William and Mary, University of Virginia, University of Richmond, Hampden-Sydney College, and Union …

"Our Captain Is A Gentleman”: Officer Elections Among Virginia Confederates, 1861-1862, Ryan C. O'Hallahan

Theses and Dissertations

Enlisted soldiers preferred to elect company- and regimental-level officers during the first year of the American Civil War. This thesis explores how early Confederate mobilization, class conflict between elites and non-elites, and Confederate military policies affected officer elections from spring 1861 to spring 1862 among Virginia Confederates. Chapter 1 explores how the chaotic nature of mobilization and common soldiers' initial expectations regarding their military service influenced elections from April 1861 until late July 1861. Chapter 2 details the changing nature of elections as elite officers faced challenges from non-elites and Confederate policies regarding furloughs and conscription forced officers to reconcile …

The 1622 Powhatan Uprising And Its Impact On Anglo-Indian Relations, Michael Jude Kramer

Theses and Dissertations

On March 22, 1622, Native Americans under the Powhatan war-leader Opechancanough launched surprise attacks on English settlements in Virginia. The attacks wiped out between one-quarter and one-third of the colony's European population and hastened the collapse of the Virginia Company of London, a joint stock company to which England's King James I had granted the right to establish settlements in the New World. Most significantly, the 1622 Powhatan attacks in Virginia marked a critical turning point in Anglo-Indian relations.

Following the famous 1614 marriage of the Native American Pocahontas to Virginia colonist John Rolfe and her conversion to Christianity, English …

Political Entities: Churches And Taverns In Revolutionary Virginia, 1765-1780, Ashley Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how churches and taverns became sites for political discussion and organizing during the Revolutionary era, 1765-1780. Taverns had long served a role in Virginians’ lives by providing places where news was exchanged and discussed, but with the political upheaval between the colonies and Great Britain many of the activities and discussions that took place there became far more politically charged. Analyzing churches and their role within the revolutionary era demonstrates that Virginia’s revolutionary leaders used an institution deeply rooted in their society to further political activism by Virginians and Virginia’s provisional government. But in several ways the …

"Building A 'Temple Of Temperance': The Repeal Of Prohibition In Virginia And The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act", Alexandra T. Silva

Theses and Dissertations

"BUILDING A ‘TEMPLE OF TEMPERANCE’: THE REPEAL OF PROHIBITION IN VIRGINIA AND THE ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL ACT”

By Alexandra T. Silva, Bachelor of Arts, 2011

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015

Major Director: Dr. John T. Kneebone, Chair, Virginia Commonwealth University Department of History

This project examines the process by which the Commonwealth of Virginia repealed its statewide prohibition laws and the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933 and created a public monopoly system of alcohol control in 1934. It provides an overview of …

Legislating The Danville Connection, 1847-1862: Railroads And Regionalism Versus Nationalism In The Confederate States Of America, Philip Stanley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the effect regionalism had upon North Carolina and Virginia during the 1847-1862 legislative battles over the Danville, Virginia, to Greensboro, North Carolina, railroad connection. The first chapter examines the rivalry between eastern and western North Carolina for internal improvement legislation, namely westerners’ wish to connect with Virginia and easterners’ desire to remain economically relevant. The second chapter investigates the Tidewater region of Virginia and its battle against the Southside to create a rail connection with North Carolina. The third chapter examines the legislation for the Danville Connection during the American Civil War in the Virginia, North Carolina, …

Dead Virginians: The Corpse And Its Uses In Early Virginia, David Roettger

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis traces the history of colonial Virginia in an attempt to uncover the origins of several peculiarities in Virginia death-ways. Elite Virginians buried at home more often than not (where they could protect the dead from animal desecration), while avoided death’s heads, reapers, and bone based tomb and mourning jewelry iconography even though such was popular throughout the British Atlantic. Research done for this thesis reveals a fear on the part of elite Virginias regarding questions of both corpse desecration and natural putrefaction. The cause of this cultural obsession lie in two facts: The blackening of the early colony’s …

"To Preserve, Protect, And Pass On:" Shirley Plantation As A Historic House Museum, 1894–2013, Kerry Dahm

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides an analysis of Shirley Plantation’s operation as a historic house museum from 1894 to the present period, and the Carter family’s dedication to keeping the estate within the family. The first chapter examines Shirley Plantation’s beginnings as a historic house museum as operated by two Carter women, Alice Carter Bransford and Marion Carter Oliver, who inherited the property in the late nineteenth century. The second chapter explores Shirley Plantation’s development as a popular historic site during the mid-twentieth century to the early part of the twenty-first century, and compares the site’s development to the interpretative changes that …

The Road Beyond Suffrage: Female Activism In Richmond, Virginia, Denise Gammon

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the continued activism in the YWCA, the Equal Suffrage League and the League of Women Voters after 1920. The work examines the uses of motherhood, social religion, race and traditions as tools for activism and compares the YWCA to the Equal Suffrage League and League of Women Voters after 1920. The date range is roughly from 1915 to 1925.

“The Nonmusical Message Will Endure With It:” The Changing Reputation And Legacy Of John Powell (1882-1963), Karen Adam

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the changing reputation and legacy of John Powell (1882-1963). Powell was a Virginian-born pianist, composer, and ardent Anglo-Saxon supremacist who created musical propaganda to support racial purity and to define the United States as an exclusively Anglo-Saxon nation. Although he once enjoyed international fame, he has largely disappeared from the public consciousness today. In contrast, the legacies of many of Powell’s musical contemporaries, such as Charles Ives and George Gershwin, have remained vigorous. By examining the ways in which the public has perceived and portrayed Powell both during and after his lifetime, this thesis links Powell’s obscurity …

Mary Wingfield Scott: A Rebel With A Rubble Cause, Kay Peninger

Theses and Dissertations

Mary Wingfield Scott (1895-1983) was a leading figure in the historic preservation movement in Richmond, Virginia. Scott demonstrated a preservation philosophy that transitioned from the sentimental, patriotic focus of early preservation efforts to a modern, academic approach that valued the built environment for its relationship to the city and its history. Scott educated persons on the value of preserving houses that were architecturally significant or connected to the city’s heritage. She documented the antebellum housing of Richmond in two books, founded the William Byrd Branch of the APVA, conducted walking tours throughout the city, wrote a newsletter for the William …

Unlawful Assembly And The Fredericksburg Mayor's Court Order Books, 1821-1834, Sarah K. Blunkosky

Theses and Dissertations

Unlawful assembly accounts extracted from the Fredericksburg Mayor’s Court Order Books from 1821-1834, reveal rare glimpses of unsupervised, alleged illegal interactions between free and enslaved individuals, many of whom do not appear in other records. Authorities enforced laws banning free blacks and persons of mixed race from interacting with enslaved persons and whites at unlawful assemblies to keep peace in the town, to prevent sexual relationships between white women and free and enslaved black men, and to prevent alliance building between individuals. The complex connections necessary to arrange unlawful assemblies threatened the town’s safety with insurrection if these individuals developed …

Education For All: The Freedmen's Bureau Schools In Richmond And Petersburg, 1865 - 1870, Scott Britton Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the development of Freedmen's Bureau schools in Central Virginia at the end of the Civil War. Under the watchful eye of Ralza Manly, Superintendent of the Virginia Freedmen's Bureau education division, establishing schools for freed slaves faced innumerable challenges ranging from inadequate financial resources to hostile southern whites who opposed northern intervention into local affairs. Nevertheless, northern benevolent societies and hundreds of altruistic, yet paternalistic, educational missionaries converged on Richmond and Petersburg determined that education was essential if blacks were to achieve true freedom and become self-reliant and independent. While the Bureau devoted much of its energy …

How Cultural Factors Hastened The Population Decline Of The Powhatan Indians, Julia Ruth Beckley

Theses and Dissertations

I did not create an abstract for this thesis.

The Legend And Life Of Peter Francisco: Fame, Fortune, And The Deprivation Of America's Original Citizen Soldier, Wesley T. Joyner

Theses and Dissertations

Peter Francisco is an oft-forgotten hero of the American Revolution. A dark-skinned, foreign orphan and former servant, he distinguished himself nationally as a soldier of legendary renown. However, Francisco remains largely absent from the popular modern-day memory of the Revolution. This analysis determines how and why this occurred as well as how and why Francisco remains remembered today by a small minority of American supporters. Methodologically, the analysis examines Francisco's life through a cultural studies lens. It challenges previous analyses of Francisco's life based on romance and myth not akin to historical reality. And although this interpretation gives credence to …

Life In An Occupied City: Women In Winchester, Virginia During The Civil War, Laura Jane Ping

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the homefront experience of middle class, white women living in Winchester, Virginia during the Civil War. The experience of women in Winchester was unique because of Winchester's proximity to both the Union and Confederate capitals. Although the majority of Winchester's women were Confederate supporters a significant minority of the population remained loyal to the Union. Winchester citizens' divided status was further complicated by numerous occupations of the town by both armies. This thesis argues that in order to cope with wartime hardships women's concepts of patriotism changed as homefront morale waned. While early in the war women's …

"Shut It Down, Open It Up": A History Of The New Left At The University Of Virginia, Charlottesville, Thomas M. Hanna

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a history of social and political activism in Charlottesville during the 1960s focusing on new left student organizing at the University of Virginia. It is a work of social history that establishes a community that has been generally ignored in traditional histories of the new left as one of the most influential centers of new left activism in the South and asserts that this prominence was due to years of activism by local liberals, civil rights advocates, and students during the city's unique experiences on the front lines of the southern desegregation, civil rights, and anti-war struggles. …

Unconquerable Defiance: Richmond Newspapers And Confederate Defeat, 1864-1865, Anne K. Berler

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes and analyses how the Richmond press operated as a propaganda machine during the final year of the Civil War. It argues that the newspapers of the Confederate capital regularly exploited the propaganda value of the news they reported, employing methods including distortion of facts and libelous personal attacks. They displayed a seemingly total disregard for veracity in their zeal to convince their readership that the cause was not lost, and created a false picture of the real situation to a population which was war-weary and desperate for reassurance that victory was still possible. Defeats were minimized and …

Tobacco Culture And Environmental Consciousness: Ecological Change, Race, And Gender, Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1850--1870, Mary R. Mcguire

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine through the lenses of an environmental historian the myths and the realities of soil exhaustion as this ecological process relates to the developing environmental ethics of tobacco farmers of Prince Edward County, Virginia, from 1850 to 1880. During the nineteenth century the tobacco farms of Southside Virginia experienced three phases in a century long process of ecological change that both influenced and were influenced by events that occurred in human history. The first phase coincides with the agricultural reform movements led by the planters of the late antebellum period. The second phase …

Virginia's Pupil Placement Board And The Massive Resistance Movement, 1956-1966, Sara Kathryn Eskridge

Theses and Dissertations

Virginia's Pupil Placement Board was the most enduring vestige of the state's "massive resistance" movement in the 1950s. Following the example of other Southern states, the state's General Assembly passed the Pupil Placement Act in 1956 as part of a package of legislation designed to counteract the Supreme Court desegregation ruling. The Act, and the Pupil Placement Board that enforced it, lasted a decade, much longer than any of the other legislative initiatives born during that session, longer than the massive resistance movement itself.Whites, including many of Virginia's leaders, considered the Board to be ineffective at stemming the onslaught of …