Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Militant Maids: Domestic Workers’ Participation In Bus Boycotts, Voter Registration, And Head Start Programs In The Deep South, Brittany Ann Carey

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the participation of domestic workers in the Civil Rights Movement, specifically in Gulf South bus boycotts in Baton Rouge, Montgomery, and Tallahassee; voter registration efforts in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida; and Head Start work in those same Deep South states. Domestic workers engaged in activism by joining unions, women's movements, and the Communist Party to improve their treatment in Northern and Southern cities. Modern historians have expanded their research to explore the participation of domestic workers in the Civil Rights Movement, especially in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In some cases, researchers also have explored the complicated …

"Conserving" The Middle Ground: Tennessee's Unionist Press In The Secession Crisis, 1860-1861, Michael Singleton

Master's Theses

This thesis advances scholars’ understanding of how newspaper editors framed and presented news during the secession crisis of 1860-1861. Methodologically, it draws on the publications of seven Unionist editors from Tennessee who initially resisted secession but later pursued different courses during the Civil War. Through this period, editors balanced their roles as journalists and political actors working to advance an ideological cause. Guided by existing practices and their unique journalistic styles, these editors presented a near unified message—influenced by Whig political culture—that framed their response to outside events. This unanimity fractured in 1861 as local pressures, business interests, and personal …

Emotions In Work And War: Comparisons Of Emotional-Cultures Of New Deal Ccc Enrollees And Wwii U.S. Army Enlistees, 1933-1945, Maeve Losen

Master's Theses

Though the Great Depression and Second World War were consecutive eras and overlapped in numerous aspects, scholarship often overlooks the commonalities between these periods. To demonstrate these eras’ shared qualities, this thesis examines the relationship in emotional-cultures—the cultural norms that dictated how individuals felt and demonstrated their emotions—among Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees and U.S. Army enlistees during WWII.

The broad intent of this undertaking is to place the cultural history of the Great Depression and WWII in conversation and to show the advantage of inter- and multidisciplinary work by applying anthropological and historical theories of emotion. Though the historical …

Most White People Just Don't Trust A Black Business Very Much: How The Walker Family Overcame Economic And Racial Discrimination To Become Successful Professional Business Owners In Memphis In The Twentieth Century, Leslie Pleasants

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Joseph Edison (J.E.) Walker was an African-American man born to an impoverished, sharecropping family in the heart of the Mississippi Delta after the Civil War in 1879. Even from an early age, he was determined to break out of the station his family had been relegated. There were few educational and occupational opportunities for Walker in Tillman, Mississippi, but against all odds, he received his undergraduate degree from Alcorn State College and a medical doctorate from Meharry Medical College. After graduating, Walker opened a medical office to help the people of the town; however, his local community mistreated him. …

"You Wanna Play Rough?": The Unlikely Partnership Of The Italian Mafia And Butch Lesbians In Greenwich Village, 1945-1968, Alison Jean Helget

Master's Theses

During economic and political upheaval in Europe beginning in the late-1910s and dramatically progressing throughout the 1920s, young Italian men emigrated to the United States to earn decent salaries to bring back to their families across the ocean. However, some single men embraced the opportunities of New York City and its diversified neighborhoods. Since xenophobic sanctions forced disenfranchised minorities into confined spaces and immigrants tended to find comfort settling in neighborhoods with well-established ethnic enclaves, this pushed Italian immigrants into the same space as butch lesbians in a counterculture place referred to as Greenwich Village on the west side of …