Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Keyword
-
- Appalachia (2)
- Narrative (2)
- National identity (2)
- Women (2)
- Abigail Adams (1)
-
- African American Civil Rights (1)
- Alaska (1)
- American Literature (1)
- American Revolution (1)
- Anti-communism (1)
- Appalachian State Normal School (1)
- Appalachian women (1)
- Beverly LaHaye (1)
- Black Panther Party (1)
- Black studies (1)
- Capitalism (1)
- Church of Latter Day Saints (1)
- Civil Rights (1)
- Civil rights (1)
- Civil rights movement (1)
- Class (1)
- Coal mining (1)
- Colonialism (1)
- Comedians (1)
- Comedy (1)
- Conservatism (1)
- Conservative (1)
- Country Women (1)
- Dick Gregory (1)
- Doolittle Raid (1)
Articles 1 - 30 of 42
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The People's House?: Countermajoritarianism In The House Of Representatives, Andrew Hoffman
The People's House?: Countermajoritarianism In The House Of Representatives, Andrew Hoffman
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This is the first study of countermajoritarianism in the House of Representatives. Although the House is considered a majoritarian institution, intrastate malapportionment remained rampant prior to the 1964 Wesberry decision; the three-fifths clause drove systematic antebellum differences in the number of free people in northern and southern House districts; and widespread voter discrimination in the South led to systematically different levels of turnout. Combined, these factors potentialized roll calls in which the chamber’s majority did not actually represent more free individuals, voters, or electoral supporters than the minority. Using three separate measures, I characterize such outcomes as countermajoritarian. I find …
The Power Of Portrayal: How The U.S. Media Portrayed The Doolittle Raid To The American Public, James Noah Seip
The Power Of Portrayal: How The U.S. Media Portrayed The Doolittle Raid To The American Public, James Noah Seip
Undergraduate Honors Theses
On April 18, 1942, Americans woke up to the thrilling news that American airmen had bombed the enemy capital of Tokyo, Japan. Americans all across the country were made aware of the bombing of Japan by multiple media sources at the time including newspapers, propaganda posters, newsreels, and movies. The ways in which these media outlets portrayed the American bombing of Japan would directly impact the perception of American citizens regarding the event. The bombing, eventually termed the Doolittle Raid after the general who led the mission, James Doolittle, immediately became a source of American propaganda for the U.S. media.
"The Unlucky Rebel": William Claiborne And The Evolution Of The Kent Island Dispute, Adam Pleasants
"The Unlucky Rebel": William Claiborne And The Evolution Of The Kent Island Dispute, Adam Pleasants
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis attempts to present a more complete view of the often-overlooked conflict over Kent Island between the merchant and early Virginian politician William Claiborne and the Lords Baltimore by presenting it in the evolving cultural context of the Atlantic world.
Racially Segregated Housing And Its Impact On Urban America, Bailey Norris
Racially Segregated Housing And Its Impact On Urban America, Bailey Norris
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Throughout the late nineteenth century, into the twentieth century, and the twenty-first century, Black Americans have faced displacement, segregated housing, and limited economic prosperity. Due to this inequality, Black American’s face difficulties as they try to resurrect their hopes of the American Dream. To assess the experiences of Black Americans and the impact of racially segregated housing on Urban America, an examination of legislation, state-funded segregation, structural and systemic racism, and the acts of individuals in creating barriers to success for Black communities becomes necessary. This thesis works to understand and answer the question: to what extent does racially segregated …
“Pass The Pickles”: Viewing Class And Dining In Virginia City, Nevada Through The Pickle Castor, Sage Boucher
“Pass The Pickles”: Viewing Class And Dining In Virginia City, Nevada Through The Pickle Castor, Sage Boucher
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis employs a material culture methodology, which understands people through the objects that they interacted and applies it to the study of the pickle castor; this 19th-century American dining object represents an intersectionality between the unique social and economic space of Virginia City, Nevada in its silver rush Bonanza (1859-1882) and 19th century dining processes. The study will first walk through the history of the pickle castor itself, showing the food culture it is connected to, and the production processes. It will then pivot to setting this historical stage of Virginia City, Nevada in the silver rush, showing it …
Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore
Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In this essay, I research the differences between violent and non-violent actors during the civil rights movement and how their methods changed their interactions with the state. For my case study, I chose two violent and two non-violent subjects, as well as two individuals, and two organizations. Those being Martin Luther King Jr. and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for my nonviolent actors, and Malcolm X and The Black Panther Party as my violent actors. I examine how their methods as individuals and groups changed the way they interacted with Police, The FBI, and the Federal Government such as presidents …
Coal, Land, And Ideology: Inventions Of Appalachia In The Mind Of The American Ruling Class, Zachary Harris
Coal, Land, And Ideology: Inventions Of Appalachia In The Mind Of The American Ruling Class, Zachary Harris
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Appalachia, itself a difficult to resolutely define region, has undergone the economic forces of colonialism and industrializing capitalism which allow for an excellent case study to apply Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony. No American region’s national conception is likely to have been as varied and often misrepresented as that of Appalachia. From the Revolutionary American State’s invention of early white settlers as the virtuous yeoman of the Republic to the modern perception of Appalachia as backwards, conservative, and drug-addled, shifting national economic conditions resulted in a constant invention of Appalachia in congruence. Whenever the people residing in Appalachia, whether Black, …
Disappearing Smoke: Why Black Pitmasters Are Being Left Behind By Commercialization Within North Carolina Whole Hog Barbecue, Charlotte Lucas
Disappearing Smoke: Why Black Pitmasters Are Being Left Behind By Commercialization Within North Carolina Whole Hog Barbecue, Charlotte Lucas
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In North Carolina, there is only one Eastern whole hog establishment left that is owned by black pitmasters. As a result of historical context, black pitmasters have been left behind by the recent trend of commercialization within North Carolina whole hog barbecue. This exclusion can be explained by examining the history of whole hog barbecue, the struggles black entrepreneurs face in the restaurant industry, and the role that the media has played in ignoring black pitmasters. Historical background dives into the history of the whole hog from the plantation era to the Civil Rights movement and beyond in North Carolina …
"But A Contraband Is A Free Man:" Civil War Literature And The Figure Of The "Contraband", Mary A. Kardos
"But A Contraband Is A Free Man:" Civil War Literature And The Figure Of The "Contraband", Mary A. Kardos
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis explores Civil War popular literature related to "contraband" individuals by Black and white authors. In May 1861, those who escaped from enslavement to Union territory were deemed "contrabands of war," a label placing them between freedom and property. This purgatorial category delayed freedom and depicts formerly enslaved persons as both intellectual and literal property of white America. Across various poems, essays, speeches, novels, illustrated envelopes, and sketches, Civil War authors debated the function of the “contrabands” within the American social order. Consequently, this thesis explores the patterns through which the uniquely transitory nature of the “contraband" allowed the …
The Journey Of Unlearning: A Close Reading Of Civil War Pedagogy In Alabama And Virginia, Michaela Hill
The Journey Of Unlearning: A Close Reading Of Civil War Pedagogy In Alabama And Virginia, Michaela Hill
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis is a close reading of Civil War pedagogy in Alabama and Virginia with special attention given to Black history during the Civil War era. Through an examination of Civil War history, it is evident that slavery was the main cause of the War. The development of the Lost Cause narrative, a reaction to Blacks gaining Civil Rights that aimed to prove the Confederate war effort was honorable, is still promoted in southern schools. Alabama and Virginia both provide state standards, outlines of the minimum required knowledge to be obtained on a given subject by the end of the …
The Rails That Bind: America's Freedom Trains As Reflections Of Efforts To Form Cultural Consensus And Indicators Of The Weakness Of Cold War Memory, Daniel Speer
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This paper assesses why two projects with the same name, concept and intent of forming cultural consensus, the Freedom Trains, took such different forms between the postwar "consensus" (1947-1963) and detente (1963-1979) phases of the Cold War. It argues that organizers Attorney General Tom C. Clark (1947), Ross Rowland (1975), and their corporate backers articulated histories based on perceived common values of limited rights (1947), cultural pluralism (1975) and consumption (both) that attempted unity, but resulted in silences. The reception to each train, and the organizers' responses to those reactions, showed the limitations of a unifying consensus, but varied between …
Stepping Into A Moment: A Historical Reconstruction Of Lord Dunmore's Portrait, Slade Nakoff
Stepping Into A Moment: A Historical Reconstruction Of Lord Dunmore's Portrait, Slade Nakoff
Undergraduate Honors Theses
The study of material culture study has long been estranged from mainstream academic discourse often dismissed as the examination of pots and pans. Historians are beginning to realize that material culture and cultural reconstruction offer vital insights into the past. Building upon new developments, my project reconstructs the items painted by Joshua Reynolds in his famous painting of Lord Dunmore. This reconstruction allows for the efforts of unnamed tradesmen to be retraced, making a few people and their efforts which were lost to history known once again. By employing written documentation in tandem with extant artifacts, the project recreates every …
American Fears: H.P. Lovecraft And The Paranoid Style, Bailey Marvel
American Fears: H.P. Lovecraft And The Paranoid Style, Bailey Marvel
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Why is H.P. Lovecraft still relevant? That is the one the questions put forward by this thesis. Lovecraft is known for his creation of Lovecraftian horror, also known as cosmic horror. However, his bigoted view on race and class muddies this legacy. What this thesis seeks to explore is how Lovecraft’s work demonstrates the fears and anxieties central to the America psyche. The paranoid style can be found in American discourse throughout history but it can also be found in the works of Lovecraft himself. Lovecraft was a prejudiced and paranoid man, and his prejudices and paranoia are a major …
Cultivation Through Excavation: Performing Community And Partnership In The Historic First Baptist Church Project, Eleanor S. Renshaw
Cultivation Through Excavation: Performing Community And Partnership In The Historic First Baptist Church Project, Eleanor S. Renshaw
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis explores the relationships and partnerships developing around the First Baptist Church -- Nassau Street Archaeology Project in Colonial Williamsburg. Exploring the defining of "descendant community" and the contributions of tourists through the lens of Erving Goffman's stages and participant frameworks, this project looks at the past, present, and future of this project.
The Bodies Politic: Sex, History, And The Promise Of A Black Queer America, Jonathan Newby
The Bodies Politic: Sex, History, And The Promise Of A Black Queer America, Jonathan Newby
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This essay examines and critiques the ways in which Black, Queer, and Black Queer people's culture, politics, and lived experiences are experienced in the United States, historically and in the present day. The Bodies Politics calls for American history and culture to be reoriented to acknowledge and center the contributions of Black Queer people to the nation.
Paradoxical Toleration: Southern Antisemitism In The Nineteenth Century, Jason Blau
Paradoxical Toleration: Southern Antisemitism In The Nineteenth Century, Jason Blau
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis explores antisemitism in the nineteenth century South. It seeks to demonstrate the relative paucity of religious prejudice directed towards Jews by white southern gentiles until the late nineteenth century, despite the virulence of anti-black racism in white southern society at the time. This “paradox,” contrary to modern assumptions that disparate prejudices run together as has been documented by social psychologists, attracts attention. Historically, scholars made similar claims without much substantiation. Other researchers, such as Leonard Dinnerstein in “A Note on Southern Attitudes toward Jews,” challenged the possibility of southern Jewish acceptance relative to northern mores, pointing out an …
From Necessity To Novelty: Historic Trades In Colonial Williamsburg, Cecelia Rose Eure
From Necessity To Novelty: Historic Trades In Colonial Williamsburg, Cecelia Rose Eure
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum in Virginia that hosts a large program interpreting and preserving eighteenth-century craft methods. Using ethnographic research methods, this paper evaluates the value of the historic trades program as a means of preserving otherwise lost skills, producing knowledge, and engaging the public in history. I argue that historic trades interpretation connects with audiences more than traditional exhibits, particularly highlighting specialized interpretation, on-the-job discoveries, representation of identity groups, and the ability to utilize online video platforms. Additionally, I address the divide between modern consumption and production, and how visitors can find historic trades that were …
Divided We Stand: An Investigation Of America’S Dual Psyche And The Fbi’S War On Anti-Americanism, Laura Mills
Divided We Stand: An Investigation Of America’S Dual Psyche And The Fbi’S War On Anti-Americanism, Laura Mills
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In periods after war, the U.S. has a tendency to feel insecure amidst a changing world order. Reassuring narratives of American exceptionalism often emerge, as well as reactive vilification of the un-American “Other.” This thesis explores the split in American identity that occurs in times of heightened national insecurity, a division that awards labels of Americanism or deviant anti-Americanism to the broader citizenry. To explore the tie between security and identity, a case study approach is taken with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or the FBI. From its establishment in 1908, the FBI carefully built itself under the expectation that …
“A Sea Of White Faces”: How Courtroom Portraits Undermine Justice In Virginia, Lauren Miller
“A Sea Of White Faces”: How Courtroom Portraits Undermine Justice In Virginia, Lauren Miller
Undergraduate Honors Theses
The presence of Confederate symbols and other reminders of white institutional power in courtrooms introduces a risk that impermissible factors such as implicit bias, conscious prejudice, and sympathy for white supremacy will harm litigants’ rights. I compiled data for 210 of 328 courts (64%) in the Commonwealth and found that there are more than 617 portraits on display in Virginia courtrooms. At least 357 portraits depict white men, six depict Black men, fifteen depict white women, and twenty-eight depict people who served in the Confederacy, either in the government or the Confederate States Army (CSA). At least fourteen different courts …
The Enslaved People And The Tylers Too: Why It Is Imperative To Discuss Slavery In Public History, Meredith Jackson
The Enslaved People And The Tylers Too: Why It Is Imperative To Discuss Slavery In Public History, Meredith Jackson
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This paper focuses on the intersection of slavery and public history in the present day, specifically researching how the Tyler family perpetuated slavery and the Lost Cause and the enslaved people at Sherwood Forest Plantation as a microhistory.
John Dickinson: The Development And Deployment Of A Legal Mind: 1754-1774, Sophie Rizzieri
John Dickinson: The Development And Deployment Of A Legal Mind: 1754-1774, Sophie Rizzieri
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis argues that John Dickinson’s political thought is best described as legal-minded. I define Dickinson as broadly “legal-minded,” with his use of statute-based arguments conveyed with oratorical skill, and his articulation of constitutional principles of natural rights and balanced government. Dickinson’s work during the period from 1764 to 1774 was concerned with deploying measured arguments and constitutional principles to convince American colonists to preserve their rights against encroachments from Great Britain. Using the letters he wrote to his parents while studying law at the Middle Temple in London in the 1750s, and various public writing and speeches from the …
The Republic Of Happiness: James Wilson, Political Thought, And The American Revolution, Kevin Diestelow
The Republic Of Happiness: James Wilson, Political Thought, And The American Revolution, Kevin Diestelow
Undergraduate Honors Theses
The moral quantity of “happiness” provides an organizing principle for understanding the political thought of James Wilson. By using happiness as a metric for understanding his thought, the Revolution can be conceptualized as an intervention in favor of human improvement. In his political thought, Wilson supported an actively empowered government which could take steps needed to support citizens’ moral and material advancement and ultimately, their happiness.
“Garden-Magic”: Conceptions Of Nature In Edith Wharton’S Fiction, Jonathan Malks
“Garden-Magic”: Conceptions Of Nature In Edith Wharton’S Fiction, Jonathan Malks
Undergraduate Honors Theses
I situate Edith Wharton’s guiding idea of “garden-magic” at the center of my thesis because Wharton’s fiction shows how a garden space could naturalize otherwise inadmissible behaviors within upper-class society while helping a character tie such behavior to a greater possibility for escape. To this end, Wharton situates gardens as idealized touchstones within the built environment of New York City, spaces where characters believe they can reach self-actualization within a version of nature that is man-made. Actualization, in this sense, stems from a character’s imaginative escape that is enabled by a perception of the garden as a kind of natural …
"Summer's Gone:" Rethinking The History Of The Beach Boys, 1961-1998, Grant Wong
"Summer's Gone:" Rethinking The History Of The Beach Boys, 1961-1998, Grant Wong
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis rethinks the history of American rock band The Beach Boys from 1961-1998 in terms of how its members tapped into the zeitgeists of the sixties, seventies, and eighties to create successful music and branding. In its analysis, it draws upon methods of cultural history, business history, and biography in order to dispel popular myths surrounding the band and consider the meaning of its impact within United States history and American popular culture as a whole. The Beach Boys, in recording innovative music and marketing a winning brand, created a durable pop cultural institution that defined its times just …
"Epic Poems In Bronze": Confederate Memorialization And The Old South's Reckoning With Modernity In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Grace Ford-Dirks
"Epic Poems In Bronze": Confederate Memorialization And The Old South's Reckoning With Modernity In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Grace Ford-Dirks
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Scholars of the American South generally end their studies of Confederate memorization just before World War 1. Because of a decline in the number of physical monuments and memorials to the Confederacy dedicated in the years immediately following the war, scholars appear to regard the interwar era as a period separate from the Lost Cause movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, to fully understand the complexity of developing Southern identities in the modern age, it is essential to expand traditional definitions of Confederate memorialization and the time period in which it is studied. This paper explores …
Mothers, Morals, And Godly Motivations: Conservative Women’S Activism From Anticommunism To The New Christian Right, Kaitlyn C. Phillips
Mothers, Morals, And Godly Motivations: Conservative Women’S Activism From Anticommunism To The New Christian Right, Kaitlyn C. Phillips
Undergraduate Honors Theses
The modern conservative movement cannot be understood without investigating women’s activism. Women’s political participation sustained the transformation of the Republican party from an emphasis on economic issues to a focus on social issues, especially throughout the mid-late twentieth century. One key point of transformation was in the 1950’s, when Communism posed a very serious danger. Conservatives claimed that in Communist countries, women gave their children to government funded programs and went to work.1 This policy took women away from their assigned roles as wives and mothers. Another important turning point was in the 1960’s, when the United States saw sweeping …
Imagining A New Nation: Patriotism And National Identity In The Writing Of Late-18th Century American Women, Aysia S. Brenner
Imagining A New Nation: Patriotism And National Identity In The Writing Of Late-18th Century American Women, Aysia S. Brenner
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Benedict Anderson defined the nation as “an imagined political community” that is “imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” The research for this paper began with a desire to know how American women in the time leading up to, during, and immediately after the American Revolution and War of Independence did or did not imagine themselves as members of the newly emerging political community eventually known as the United States of America. As tensions between the Colonies and Great Britain increased, as tea was dumped in Boston harbor, and as independence was declared in 1776, how did women make sense …
Factionalism In The Democratic Party 1936-1964, Seth Manning
Factionalism In The Democratic Party 1936-1964, Seth Manning
Undergraduate Honors Theses
The period of 1936-1964 in the Democratic Party was one of intense factional conflict between the rising Northern liberals, buoyed by FDR’s presidency, and the Southern conservatives who had dominated the party for a half-century. Intertwined prominently with the struggle for civil rights, this period illustrates the complex battles that held the fate of other issues such as labor, foreign policy, and economic ideology in the balance. This thesis aims to explain how and why the Northern liberal faction came to defeat the Southern conservatives in the Democratic Party through a multi-faceted approach examining organizations, strategy, arenas of competition, and …
Printing Profanity: How The Homophiles Sought To Organize An American Gay Movement, Gina Wiese
Printing Profanity: How The Homophiles Sought To Organize An American Gay Movement, Gina Wiese
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Gay history, as it is currently taught in America, centers the Stonewall Riots of 1969 as a cataclysm of social change for gay rights, and as the beginning of gay resistance. Most histories of gay resistance in America will mention efforts of early homophile organizations, and credit the Stonewall riots as a cumulation of those earlier efforts. But this is an inaccurate interpretation of gay history. The homophile movement deserves vastly more credit for how gay Americans navigate the world today than do the riots at the Stonewall Inn. This paper will identify these individuals and the several early organizations …
“Country Faggots” Are Everywhere: Gay And Lesbian Life In Rural America, Katie Taylor
“Country Faggots” Are Everywhere: Gay And Lesbian Life In Rural America, Katie Taylor
Undergraduate Honors Theses
This thesis will challenge many scholarly works that define being “out” and visibility as the ultimate expression of gay resistance. To define outness as the ultimate expression of resistance is to erase a group of people who did not have the privilege of always being able to be out and any contributions they made towards LGBT resistance. When studying LGBT resistance, it is important to acknowledge the necessity of political resistance, but that does not mean that other forms of resistance should be ignored. To analyze the importance of LGBT resistance outside of the public sphere means to re-examine the …