Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Colbert-Walker Site (22le1048): History And Archaeology Of A Chickasaw Home, Council House, And Travelers’ Stand, Raymond Taylor Doherty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In late 1813, at a time of increasing violence on the Southern frontier, Chickasaw leader George Colbert (Tootemastubee) left his home and ferry on the Natchez Trace to move back to relative safety in the heart of the Chickasaw Nation. He returned to the place that had once been his father’s plantation and made what he described as a “shelter from the weather.” He later hired skilled craftsmen to build a large and finely carpentered new home on the site. The Colbert-Walker site (22Le1048), near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi, has long been said to be the location of this structure, which …

Truth Marching On: Documenting The Plan To Bring Robert F. Kennedy To The University Of Mississippi In 1966, Mary Paige Blessey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My documentary project focuses on the group of students who planned this event and why they invited Kennedy. The thesis project consists of two parts: a film and a paper. This paper accompanies the documentary thesis film Truth Marching On: Robert F. Kennedy at the University of Mississippi. In this paper, I attempt to do the following: 1) summarize the necessary backstory of Kennedy’s 1966 visit to the university that is central to my film and paper; 2) provide information and analysis of the components that make up the short film, which include interviews, archival materials, and additional film …

A Church Adrift: Virginia's Church Of England, 1607-1677, Katherine Gray Blank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Church of England in the Virginia colony is an institution which has been much overlooked in historiography. Traditionally, historians have focused upon the weakness of the church, with its lack of a complete hierarchy and dearth of ministers. These weaknesses, combined with some of the more unsavory attitudes and actions of early colonists, have led many scholars to postulate that religion did not play much of a role in the Virginia colony. While the early colonists did struggle, and the church was weak, historians have overlooked the fact that most Virginians were seventeenth-century Englishmen, and inhabited a world that …

Native Music And Regular Gigs: A History Of The Maple Leaf Bar, Pieter Frank Kossen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to construct a history of the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans, Louisiana in order to determine its place and establish its importance in the musical history of New Orleans. Opened in early 1974, the Maple Leaf Bar is the oldest continually-functioning music club in the city of New Orleans outside of the French Quarter, and is accorded a share of the credit for the current popularity in New Orleans of the roots music of New Orleans and Louisiana. This will be accomplished by identifying and examining comtraits the Maple Leaf Bar shares with …

The Corruption Of Promise: The Insane Asylum In Mississippi, 1848-1910, Whitney E. Barringer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ideology of insane asylum reform, which emphasized the Enlightenment language of human rights and the humane treatment of the mentally ill, reached American shores in the early-mid-nineteenth century. When asylum reform began to disseminate throughout the United States, forward-thinking Mississippians latched onto the idea of the reformed asylum as a humane way to treat mentally ill Mississippians and to bolster the humanitarian image of a Southern slave society to its Northern critics. When the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum opened in 1855, its superintendents were optimistic about the power of the state to meet mental healthcare needs. While Mississippi slave …

Cavaliers And Crackers: Landless Whites In The Mind Of The Elite Antebellum South, Jeffrey Glossner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to their marginalized role in southern society, landless white southerners have often been overlooked by historians who study social class, politics and intellectual culture in the antebellum south. But depictions of landless white southerners were prominent in contemporary elite literature and their place was debated extensively by social commentators. These depictions marginalized landless whites from southern honor culture and marked them as a people who were not quite white in a social and biological sense. This characterization was both a cause and effect of elite southern unease with the presence of a class of poor landless whites. This unease …

Is This Freedom? Government Exploitation Of Contraband Laborers In Virginia, South Carolina, And Washington, D.C. During The American Civil War, Kristin Leigh Bouldin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis covers the exploitation of contraband laborers during the American Civil War in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, the South Carolina Sea Islands, and Washington, D.C. In addition, it analyzes the actions of Union military commanders charged with care of the contrabands, and the failure of the federal government to create a uniform policy outlining how military officials should treat the contrabands. The thesis covers abuses ranging from failure to pay wages to a lack of medical care to the construction of disease-ridden camps to the impressment of contrabands for labor or military enlistment. It argues that military …

Democracy For Whom?: The Spanish-American War, The Philippine-American War, World War I, And The Naacp, Amanda Marie Nagel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation discusses race, identity, and white violence in relation to African American military service during the Spanish-American war, the Philippine-American war, and World War I. It examines the conditions at the turn of the century that African Americans faced, including military service as well as discrimination, racism, violence, and legal problems comamong African American military personnel throughout this time period. More specifically, it argues that the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 created a catalyst for increased activism on behalf of black soldiers serving in the American military. The NAACP …

There Is A Gnawing Worm Under The Bark Of Our Tree Of Liberty: Anti-Mission Baptists, Religious Liberty, And Local Church Autonomy, John Lindbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The schism between American missionary and anti-mission Baptists of the 1820s and 1830s stemmed from an ideological disagreement about how Baptists should interact with the rest of society. While anti-mission Baptists maintained their distance from "worldly" non-Baptist society, missionary Baptists attempted to convert and transform "the world." Anti-mission Baptists feared that large-scale missionary and benevolent societies would slowly accumulate money and influence, and that they would use that influence to infringe on the autonomy of local congregations and the religious liberty of the nation. While histories of this topic often portray anti-mission Baptists as obscure and paranoid of an imagined …

I Won't Be Reconstructed: Good Old Rebels, Civil War Memory, And Popular Song, Joseph Melvin Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis traces the life of a song generally known as “I'm a Good Old Rebel” to explore the impact of popular culture on the creation of Civil War memory. Penned in the aftermath of Lee's surrender and containing lines like, “I hate the Yankee Nation / And everything they do; / I hate the Declaration / Of Independence, too,” the “Good Old Rebel” typifies a certain brand of white southern identity that refuses Confederate defeat and sounds a call to arms for continued rebellion against the federal government. To begin, this study creates a biographical sketch of the …

The Rule Of Three: Federal Courts And Prison Farms In The Post-Segregation South, Gregory Louis Richard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation discusses the United States Federal Court judicial reform of prison farms in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. More specifically, it examines the judicial and legislative history of the historic reform that includes the role of the individual judges that presided over the years of legislation necessary to bring Constitutional reforms to the state prison systems of the South. The judges and states in this study include J. Henley Smith of Arkansas, William C. Keady of Mississippi, and E. Gordon West of Louisiana. The research outlines an important aspect of the court system and the struggle between states and …

Creek Corridors Of Commerce: Converging Empires, Cultural Arbitration, And The Recourse Of Gulf Coast Trade, Kevin T. Harrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: this dissertation seeks to interpret how the upper creeks used geographic corridors (i.e. rivers and overland paths) to the Gulf of Mexico to offset economic and military dominance from Carolina and Georgia during the eighteenth century. Not only did access to these channels assure their commercial and territorial integrity through the colonial and postcolonial periods, but they also facilitated and empowered specific lineages and factions among the creeks in general. These special interest groups presented a confusing array of political alignment and counter-alignment that permitted the creeks avenues to challenge the coercive effects of outside markets. This is not …

Nothing Less Than An Activist: Marge Baroni, Catholicism, And The Natchez, Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, Eva Elizabeth Walton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a religious and social history of the life of Natchez, Mississippi Catholic activist Marjorie R. Baroni (1924-1986). The study examines Baroni's Catholic faith-driven activism as a counter-narrative to the dominant Protestant narratives of religious motivations in the greater civil rights movement. In analyzing Baroni's story as a lived theological drama, I offer Baroni as a vessel for studying often overlooked Catholic influences in the movement: (1) The activist Catholic faith promoted by Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement (2) The effects of the more inclusive decrees of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) on the Catholic Church …

Deeds, Not Words: African American Officers Of World War I In The Battle For Racial Equality, Adam Patrick Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relatively untold story of the black officers of the Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment, the first class of African Americans to receive officer training. In particular, this research examines the creation of the segregated Army officer training camp, these men's training and wartime experiences during World War I, and their post-war contributions fighting discrimination and injustice. These officers returned to America disillusioned with the nation's progress towards civil rights. Their leadership roles in the military translated into leadership roles in the post-war civil rights movement. Through their efforts, foundations for the modern Civil Rights movement were created. …

Perfect Harmony: The Myth Of Tupelo's Industrial Tranquility, Wendy D. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite a vast amount of research on Southern labor in the 1930s, historians paid little attention to Northeast Mississippi. This predominantly rural area, though, boasted some of the largest garment factories of the period. Local businessmen established a cotton mill and three clothing manufacturing companies in Tupelo, the seat of Lee County. Town boosters boasted of harmonious relations between workers and management at each of the industrial facilities. In the spring of 1937, however, the cotton mill hands undertook a sit-down strike. Five days later, the women in the Tupelo Garment Company tried to initiate a strike. Both efforts failed. …

Games That Will Pay: College Football And The Emergence Of The Modern South, Matthew Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is often said the college football in the South is a religion. While it may be hyperbole to equate college football with religion, a visit to a southern campus on game day affirms that football is an important aspect of southern society. How did this happen? In other words, how did college football in the South become big-time? This dissertation seeks to answer that question. Focusing on the advent of football on campuses in the early 1890s until the construction of large capacity campus stadiums in the 1930s and 1940s, I argue that although football initially burst onto campuses …

A Strange Union: Science And Politics In The Loyalty Of Cadwallader Colden, Katherine Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: Cadwallader Colden remains one of the least-studied Crown officials. His reasons for remaining loyal to the Crown have not been investigated, nor has the interaction between his scientific interests and his politics. This thesis explores the relationship between Colden's loyalty and his science, primarily through study of Colden's published papers and letters, as well as the letters and papers of various other colonial officials and amateur scientists. Ultimately this thesis concludes that Colden formed his closest friendships with other amateur scientists, and that these relationships significantly affected his politics.

The American School Discipline Debate And The Persistence Of Corporal Punishment In Southern Public Schools, David M. Hargrove

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation examines the history of American school discipline and corporal punishment in southern public schools. Pedagogical literature, court reports, and popular fiction show that school discipline was a controversial topic throughout American history. The conflict over corporal punishment in schools led to a 1976 Supreme Court decision, Ingraham v. Wright, affirming the power of educators to use corporal punishment. When the school discipline debate peaked late in the twentieth century, most American schools no longer used corporal punishment but southern educators continued to paddle students, especially African American school children. By the twenty-first century, southern city schools adopted non-violent …

Good Neighbors: Agents Of Change In The New Rural South, 1900 To 1940, Thomas Wayne Copeland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work paints an intimate portrait of rural people who lived in the hill counties of northeast Mississippi and southwest Arkansas between 1900 and 1940. Howard County, Arkansas and Union County, Mississippi serve as the representative counties for each hill-country region. Howard County is located in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, and Union County is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This study identifies who in the rural communities was most responsible for bringing positive changes to their communities, questions what motivated their efforts, and evaluates their successes and failures. To this end, the work first examines …

Echoes Of The Lost Cause : Civil War Reverberations In Mississippi From 1865 To 2001, Sally Leigh Mcwhite

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scholars of the Lost Cause have tended to end their examinations of the Confederate commemorative movement before the 1920s. Citing a variety of indicators that range from veterans' mortality rates to national reconciliation, these historians have assumed that the Lost Cause became increasingly irrelevant in southern society. Yet, veterans organizations and their auxiliaries put a great deal of energy into constructing an historical interpretation that would vindicate their actions to future generations. This dissertation therefore extends the examination of the Lost Cause movement throughout the twentieth century. Limiting the geographical scope of the research to a state study of Mississippi …

Best Evidence : A Social History Of The County Court Of Lafayette County, 1865-1870, Debbielee Landi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of American legal institutions and practices provides valuable information regarding American society. This analysis focuses on the County Court of Lafayette County, Mississippi from its creation in 1865 until its dissolution in 1870. In order to assess the role of this court during Reconstruction, the types of cases and participants for the five-year period were analyzed.

The County Court system was established by the Mississippi state legislature in 1865 to manage the anticipated surge of criminal activity caused by the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves. This research discovered that although there was a considerable amount of …

Charles Clark: Confederate General And Mississippi Governor, John Coleman Wade Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Charles Clark (1811-1877) was Governor of Mississippi from November 16, 1863 until May 22, 1865.

Following Mississippi's secession from the United States in early 1861, Clark was appointed as a brigadier general in the Mississippi 1st Corps, which later entered the Confederate States Army. and promoted to the rank of major general of Mississippi State Troops in 1863. Clark was severely wounded and captured at the Battle of Baton Rouge.

On November 16, 1863, Clark was inaugurated as governor of Mississippi under Confederate auspices. He served in this capacity until June 13, 1865, when he was forcibly removed from office …

Organization And Early History Of Yalobusha County, Hiram Percy Hathorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Yalobusha County was created by an act of the Mississippi State Legislature on December 23, 1833, from territory ceded to the United States Government by the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians. The county was a perfect square containing twenty-five townships or nine hundred square miles.

The early towns were Hendersonville, Grenada, Preston, Coffeeville, Troy, Sardinia, Graysport and Oakland. These places had their beginning between 1830 and 1838. Coffeeville oits origin to the fact that it was chosen as the county seat; Grenada, Troy and Graysport, on the river, were used as shipping sites; Hendersonville, Sardinia, Oakland and Preston were inland towns …

Life Of Jacob Thompson, Dorothy Zollicoffer Oldham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jacob Thompson moved from North Carolina to northern Mississippi in the mid-1830's where he became a wealthy attorney, landowner and slaveholder. He served as a Mississippi congressman for twelve years, served as President Buchanan's Secretary of the Interior, resigned in January 1861 to serve in the Confederate military, and was appointed by Jefferson Davis to supervise covert activities based out of Canada. Thompson contributed a great deal to Oxford and to the establishment of the new university there. Southern newspapers and histories of the time lauded him as an honorable and accomplished statesman, but Thompson remains a largely neglected figure …

History Of Grenada (1830-1880), Rebecca Martin Stokes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The object of this thesis is to give not only a history correct as to fact, but also to paint a picture, or rather a series of pictures that shall pass before the reader in a chronological manner presenting a living panorama of the history of Grenada; its first settlers, customs, education, religion, achievements, disasters, and development from the time the Red Man was pushed back and the White Man entered, to the overflow of carpet-bag rule.

The pioneers of Grenada were a dauntless race of men with souls to dare all the dangers and difficulties of frontier life, in …