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"Many Fabulous Stories And Idle Tales": The Intersection Of Elizabethan Political Gambits And Indigenous Erasure In The Early American Republic, Daniel Ryan Lewis Jan 2024

"Many Fabulous Stories And Idle Tales": The Intersection Of Elizabethan Political Gambits And Indigenous Erasure In The Early American Republic, Daniel Ryan Lewis

Theses and Dissertations--History

Welsh Indian Theory, originating in Elizabethan England, stated that a group of Welsh explorers settled in the Americas in the late 12th century and intermarried with the Indigenous tribes, thereby explaining “advanced cultures” ranging from the Mississippians to the Aztec Empire. This act of erasure became rooted in Kentucky and the surrounding area in the 18th and 19th centuries; a series of prominent individuals from Kentucky in turn contributed to a growing body of false historical narratives that denied Indigenous Americans their cultural identities and connection their ancestral lands in the United States. With a 460-year trail …

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The Unseen River And Infrastructural Silences: The Santa Ana River And The Ontology Of Floods, Cooper Lennon Crane Jan 2024

The Unseen River And Infrastructural Silences: The Santa Ana River And The Ontology Of Floods, Cooper Lennon Crane

Pomona Senior Theses

This article discusses the history of land development and infrastructure along the Santa Ana River in Southern California. The river plays a significant role in the landscape of many of Southern California’s cities and urban geographies but has been relatively underdiscussed in literature. This article approaches the river using a combination of historic ethnography and sociocultural theory to unpack the meanings of the infrastructure of the river and its relation to Southern Californians. From these meanings, the article places the river in context with environmental politics, urban development, and water management issues in California today. The article argues that the …

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Spirits Of Liberty: The Contradictions Of An Intoxicating Inheritance, Elise T. Hasseltine Jan 2024

Spirits Of Liberty: The Contradictions Of An Intoxicating Inheritance, Elise T. Hasseltine

Honors Theses

This extensive historical analysis traces the complex, multifaceted roles of alcohol across American history, from the colonial era and early national period through the temperance movement culminating in national Prohibition during the early twentieth century. It explores the cultural, social, economic, and moral dimensions circumscribing societal attitudes and regulatory policies toward alcohol over time. The thesis examines how alcohol served as a tool of conquest and oppression during the colonial era, facilitating the subjugation of Native populations and fueling the transatlantic slave trade. It delves into the complex dynamics of alcohol consumption and regulation in the early republic, highlighting the …

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Capitalism, Colonial Expansion, And Forced Child Indenture In The British Atlantic, 1618-1776, Angela Austin Jan 2024

Capitalism, Colonial Expansion, And Forced Child Indenture In The British Atlantic, 1618-1776, Angela Austin

History Dissertations

This dissertation examines colonial child servants from the British Isles between the years 1618-1776, illustrating how economic demands, colonial ambitions, and capitalistic drives combined with ethnic and class prejudices to perpetuate the indenture of children irrespective of individual or parental consent. An examination of legislative actions, legal enforcement, and governmental complicity reveals both direct and indirect government involvement in perpetuating involuntary child labor across the British Isles. In fact, the volume of this human trafficking required some level of awareness and support from legislators and officials at both the local and national levels. In some cases, officials removed children from …

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Lessons Not Learned, Kyle Missbach Jan 2024

Lessons Not Learned, Kyle Missbach

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

In July 1936, Spain descended into chaos and civil war. Fascists in the military, Catholic Church, and aristocracy rebelled against a government elected to reform centuries old power structures. The United States reacted in surprise and joined France and Britain, staunchly refusing to be involved. For six months, the Department of State impeded attempts to material assist the Spanish government, until Congress passed an updated neutrality law prohibiting trade with Spain or the rebels. Congress again renewed and updated the law a year later. Yet in spring of 1939, at the end of the war, Franklin D. Roosevelt told his …

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The Power Of Portrayal: How The U.S. Media Portrayed The Doolittle Raid To The American Public, James Noah Seip Jan 2024

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.

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“Slaves Of The State:” The Exploitation Of Women Through Convict Leasing, Beth F. Newton Jan 2024

“Slaves Of The State:” The Exploitation Of Women Through Convict Leasing, Beth F. Newton

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

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Divided By Design? Urban Renewal’S Differential Impacts On Economic Outcomes By Race, Derik Suria Jan 2024

Divided By Design? Urban Renewal’S Differential Impacts On Economic Outcomes By Race, Derik Suria

CMC Senior Theses

I study city-level effects of the federally and state-sponsored urban renewal program that aimed to improve living conditions for residents in blighted areas and slums. I use an interdisciplinary approach to estimate urban renewal effects on measures of income, property value, poverty, and employment. I first replicate the methodology and estimates of urban renewal effects on city outcomes in 1980 from Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal in the United States (Collins and Shester 2013). I extend this research by looking at a longer time horizon (1990, 2000, 2010) and incorporating race-based outcomes. From 1980 to 2010, estimated effects on property …

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Serving With Pride: Analyzing Lgbtq+ Personnel Policy In The U.S. Military, Sonja Woolley Jan 2024

Serving With Pride: Analyzing Lgbtq+ Personnel Policy In The U.S. Military, Sonja Woolley

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of LGBTQ+ personnel policies in the U.S. military, analyzing how these changes reflect broader social transformations and the military’s role as both a mirror and catalyst in societal shifts. It traces the historical roots of discriminatory practices against queer and transgender servicemembers, identifying key periods of reform and resistance. Using institutional theory to dissect the mechanisms of policy adaptation, this paper focuses on coercive, mimetic, and normative isomorphism, which illustrate the complex interplay between external societal pressures, internal demands for legitimacy, and the professionalization of the military. Through detailed case studies, the thesis highlights how …

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The Lynching Of Perry Norman: Anti-Queer Violence In Early Twentieth Century America, Sydney Rigdon Jan 2024

The Lynching Of Perry Norman: Anti-Queer Violence In Early Twentieth Century America, Sydney Rigdon

Honors College Theses

For the purpose of this thesis, I examine the violence inflicted upon Perry Norman and the factors that led to his tragic death by lynching in 1915. My research includes an assessment of nationwide components that contributed to the perception of Queer individuals and the violence inflicted upon Queer people during this time period in the United States. In addition, the thesis will interrogate the public’s perception on a more local scale by examining the reaction of Dent County, Missouri in the wake of Perry Norman's murder through careful research of available local records of the time. It is a …

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The Fall Of Public Opinion: The Tet Offensive, The Anti-War Movement, And The Media, 1963-1975, Taylor Ann Cusick Dec 2023

The Fall Of Public Opinion: The Tet Offensive, The Anti-War Movement, And The Media, 1963-1975, Taylor Ann Cusick

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

From 1963 to 1975, public opinion regarding the Vietnam War changed drastically. In the beginning, the public was largely on board with Americans going overseas to fight against the North Vietnamese military. Citizens felt the American military was doing what was necessary to secure democracy in a region where communism was spreading, and the public was not easily swayed by those who opposed the war. The media mirrored public opinion during the first years of the war. By 1968, support for the war declined dramatically, and the media’s portrayal of the conflict reversed. Newscasters began to argue that the risk …

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"Innumerable Small Crafts": Maritime Work In The Estuarian Gulf, 1865-1900, Kevin Grubbs Dec 2023

"Innumerable Small Crafts": Maritime Work In The Estuarian Gulf, 1865-1900, Kevin Grubbs

Dissertations

Maritime historians have argued for a highpoint in maritime activity during the antebellum years. This peak was fed by Americans travelling on tall wooden sailing ships in international trade, in the whaling industries, and as members of the US Navy. The prowess of the American Merchant Marine faded quickly in the middle of the nineteenth century due to military losses during the American Civil War and due to the rise of steamships and steel hulls. This peak was followed by another lesser peak in the Twentieth Century as American ships caught up with technological changes. World War One provided a …

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The Art And Mystery Of Pragmatic History, David Hardin Dec 2023

The Art And Mystery Of Pragmatic History, David Hardin

History Theses

This thesis considers how we make meaning in our individual lives and in practice as historians. From an initializing question —Why do people believe things that have either been proven false or shown improbable?— born out of historical discourse in the liminal space between mythology and history, this thesis embarks on a inquiry into meaning that is both deeply philosophical and practical. The work develops a historical method that falls within the tradition of Pragmatism, and then turns this method toward two case studies (Pedro Huízar and Señora Candelaria) from San Antonio, Texas. The aim is to explore two myths …

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Beyond Words: An Exploration Of Research And Writing For Indigenous Land Acknowledgements, Oksana Flores Dec 2023

Beyond Words: An Exploration Of Research And Writing For Indigenous Land Acknowledgements, Oksana Flores

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

This capstone delves into the practical application and importance of land acknowledgments within the frameworks of Critical Indigenous Theory and Narrative Theory. Through the utilization of archival research methods, the project not only offers recommendations for crafting an effective land acknowledgment but also provides the necessary historical foundation for the implementation of such a statement at Kennesaw State University. This effort serves to strengthen the university's commitment to diversity and equity on campus.

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Termites, Bully Boys, And The Architect Of Search & Destroy: An Assessment Of General William E. Depuy As Macv J-3 And Commander Of The 1st Infantry Division, Republic Of Vietnam, 1964-67, Adam D. Coste Dec 2023

Termites, Bully Boys, And The Architect Of Search & Destroy: An Assessment Of General William E. Depuy As Macv J-3 And Commander Of The 1st Infantry Division, Republic Of Vietnam, 1964-67, Adam D. Coste

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

As Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations (J-3) at MACV from 1964-1966, General William DePuy served as the main architect of the campaign strategy implemented by General William Westmoreland in fighting both VC and NVA units during the earliest and most critical years of the Vietnam War. Following his role at MACV, DePuy assumed command of the 1st Infantry Division in March 1966 where he exhibited a distinct command philosophy and transformed the organizational culture of the “Big Red One” through a series of directives and tactical innovations. Most historians are critical of Westmoreland’s chosen strategy as well as …

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This Is A Man’S World: The Lived Gendered Experiences Of Blues People., Anthony Christopher Brown Dec 2023

This Is A Man’S World: The Lived Gendered Experiences Of Blues People., Anthony Christopher Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

American Blues is known for playing a role in the foundation of the country’s music. The ingredient of the musical tradition has roots going back to West Africa and was brought to the United States through the of transatlantic slave trade. During the period of slavery, it formally developed with plantation work songs which later continued after emancipation with sharecropping until the early to mid-twentieth century. During the early twentieth century, W.C. Handy in Tutwiler, Mississippi, and musicians formally popularized Blues music were being recorded. The first Blues superstars were women such as Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, and Ma Rainey …

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On The Causation Of The Mexican-American War, Emery Benson Dec 2023

On The Causation Of The Mexican-American War, Emery Benson

Honors Theses

In 1844, Whig, former President, and then-Representative John Quincy Adams reflected on President John Tyler’s bill to annex Texas, writing about his anxiety over “the degeneracy of my country… under the transcendent power of slavery and the slave-representation.” Adams celebrated the treaty’s failure later that year, praising the nation’s escape from “slave-tainted monarchy, and of extinguished freedom.” In 1847, in the midst of the Mexican-American War, Reverend John Dudley of Vermont gave a fiery sermon in which he excoriated “the two leading sins of this nation, SLAVERY AND WAR.” Reverend Dudley continued, claiming “that the present war has its origin …

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The Digital Face Of Airpower: Asymmetry, Artificial Intelligence And Intimate Combat In The Twenty-First Century United States Air Force, Jordan Bolster Dec 2023

The Digital Face Of Airpower: Asymmetry, Artificial Intelligence And Intimate Combat In The Twenty-First Century United States Air Force, Jordan Bolster

Masters Theses

Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) operators have been at war for over twenty-years using unmanned aerial vehicles to kill combat enemies half-a-world away. Their emotional experiences provide an opportunity to examine intimacy in warfare which can be compared and contrasted with conventional pilots and traditional rifle-bearing ground troops. By comparing and contrasting specific emotions felt across various combat environments and technologies, it is possible to answer the question of whether or not RPA operators are legitimate warriors or legitimated assassins. The implementation of RPA operators in combat zones and the proliferation of unmanned technology on the battlefield open up new questions …

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A Character And A Fame To Model Their Own: Statesmanship, Masculinity, And Honor In Northern Political Culture, 1852-1874, Rachel Elise Wiedman Dec 2023

A Character And A Fame To Model Their Own: Statesmanship, Masculinity, And Honor In Northern Political Culture, 1852-1874, Rachel Elise Wiedman

Masters Theses

The advent of the 1850s ushered in a period great change in the United States. Finding themselves in a moment of transition punctuated with a political changing of the guard, Americans were prompted to consider what kinds of political leadership they valued in the midst of sectional conflict and crisis. By the 1870s, the ideals northerners held looked very different than those touted only two decades before. Using the eulogies of Daniel Webster, Stephen A. Douglas, and Charles Sumner, this thesis explores how changing ideals of masculinity drove the transformation of northern political culture and in particular its values regarding …

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Marching To The Music: The U.S. Military’S Impact On American Youth Through The Marching Band Movement, 1910-1990, Elise Eaton Nov 2023

Marching To The Music: The U.S. Military’S Impact On American Youth Through The Marching Band Movement, 1910-1990, Elise Eaton

Honors College Theses

High school bands have evolved greatly since the first band boom in the early 1920s. Beyond the performance responsibilities and commitments to football and sporting events, bands have their own cultural elements that only band members, band staffs, and families of band students truly understand. This thesis will demonstrate that high school band culture since the 1920s developed alongside the changing fortunes of the U.S. military. Accordingly, U.S. military history shaped the evolving culture of high school marching bands and other youth performing arts groups while these civilian youth groups in turn embedded and reinforced elements of U.S. militarism in …

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Revenge Of The Nerds: Tech Masculinity And Digital Hegemony, Benjamin M. Latini Nov 2023

Revenge Of The Nerds: Tech Masculinity And Digital Hegemony, Benjamin M. Latini

Doctoral Dissertations

Revenge of the Nerds provides a cultural history of the evolution of white nerd masculinities in American culture through interpretations of a wide variety of texts and representations using the methods of literary studies and American studies. The dissertation is organized around four overlapping stages of nerd masculinity based on changes in technology and their effects on culture, as well as white male nerds’ efforts to remain culturally relevant and gain the benefits of being close to hegemonic masculinity. The four nerd types are the computer nerd, the gamer, the gatekeeper nerd, and the maladaptive nerd which reflect the following …

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Imagining The “Day Of Reckoning”: American Jewish Performance Activism During The Holocaust, Maya C. Gonzalez Nov 2023

Imagining The “Day Of Reckoning”: American Jewish Performance Activism During The Holocaust, Maya C. Gonzalez

Masters Theses

Scholars of American Jewish history have long debated the complicity of the American Jewish community in the loss of six million Jewish lives in Europe during the Holocaust. After Hitler took power in 1933, American Jewish leaders took to the streets to protest the Nazi Party’s abuse of German Jews. Two central figures in this history are Reform Rabbi Stephen Wise and Revisionist Zionist Ben Hecht because of their wide-reaching protest movements that operated in competition with each other. Although the historiography presents Wise and Hecht's inability to unite as the product of difference, my examination of their protest performances …

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From "Our Poor" To "Personal Responsibility": Changing Welfare Rhetoric In Political Party Platforms Of The Carolinas And The Nation, 1950-2005, Felicity N. Ropp Oct 2023

From "Our Poor" To "Personal Responsibility": Changing Welfare Rhetoric In Political Party Platforms Of The Carolinas And The Nation, 1950-2005, Felicity N. Ropp

Senior Theses

In this thesis, I track political rhetoric surrounding poverty and welfare from 1950-2005. I first provide thorough context on the history of welfare policy in the United States and the way these issues were framed by politicians leading up to the period my data covers. My analysis centers on 108 political party platforms from the national Republican and Democratic parties and from state parties in North and South Carolina, ranging from 1950 to 2005 (31 of which I located in archives and manually digitized for the first time ever). I explain the significance of party platforms and review the literature …

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Justice, Pandemics, And Museums In Cyberspace: Archaeology Museums’ Decolonization Projects During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Samuel Besse Sep 2023

Justice, Pandemics, And Museums In Cyberspace: Archaeology Museums’ Decolonization Projects During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Samuel Besse

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper explores three Archeology Museums (Historic St. Mary’s City, James Madison’s Montpelier, and the American Museum of Natural History), their attempts at addressing the colonial narratives that museums are built on, and how the Covid-19 pandemic and protests over George Floyd’s death affected these projects. I place a special effort on the online presence of these museums, as this is the main way visitors interacted with the museums during the pandemic. After discussing the origins of museum’s decolonization efforts and their efforts to make an online presence, I talk about the Covid-19 pandemic and the events around George Floyd’s …

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The Mogadishu Effect: America's Failure-Driven Foreign Policy, Philip Benjamin Dotson Aug 2023

The Mogadishu Effect: America's Failure-Driven Foreign Policy, Philip Benjamin Dotson

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

The October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, commonly referred to as “Black Hawk Down,” transformed American foreign policy in its wake. One of the largest special operations missions in recent history, the failures in Somalia left not only the United States government and military in shock, but also the American people. After the nation’s most elite fighting forces suffered a nearly 50 percent casualty rate at the hands of Somali warlords during what many Americans thought was a humanitarian operation, Congress and the American people erupted in anger. Although the United States has continued to be seen as an overbearing global …

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"A Nice, Beautiful, Active, & Faithful Friend": Horses & Emotion In The Civil War Letters Of Two Union Officers, Allen F. Horn Iv Aug 2023

"A Nice, Beautiful, Active, & Faithful Friend": Horses & Emotion In The Civil War Letters Of Two Union Officers, Allen F. Horn Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Horses are the unsung heroes of the American Civil War. Both armies relied heavily on equines for a variety of tasks. They carried cavalry soldiers on the battlefield and pulled wagons for artillery and military supply chains. Horses could also serve as companion animals. Soldiers formed friendships with their horses as a way to heal from the trauma of combat and stave off the monotony of camp life. Writing about animals in letters to their families enabled soldiers to explain their experiences in more palatable terms to their families. As over 1.2 million horses and mules died in the conflict, …

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Cut Out Of Place: The Geography And Legacy Of Otto Ege's Broken Books, Melanie R. Meadors Aug 2023

Cut Out Of Place: The Geography And Legacy Of Otto Ege's Broken Books, Melanie R. Meadors

Masters Theses

Otto Ege cut apart hundreds of medieval manuscripts during the first half of the twentieth century, claiming to do so to provide wider access to them. His destruction resulted in the loss of provenance, material history, and context of these manuscripts. Moreover, he made mistakes when identifying and dating the manuscript leaves he cut, and the loss of the bindings and front matter of the manuscripts makes it difficult to correct these. Much of the research concerning Ege focuses on his identity as a biblioclast, yet even scholars who denounce his book-cutting admit he allowed for places and people to …

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From A Culture Of Poverty To A Culture Of Property: Preservation And Urban Crisis In The "City Of Homes", Brian F. Whetstone Aug 2023

From A Culture Of Poverty To A Culture Of Property: Preservation And Urban Crisis In The "City Of Homes", Brian F. Whetstone

Doctoral Dissertations

From a Culture of Poverty to a Culture of Property: Preservation and Urban Crisis in the “City of Homes” explores the intersection of the historic preservation movement and the urban crisis from the vantage point of Springfield, Massachusetts in the two decades following the passage of the landmark National Historic Preservation Act in 1966. Rather than explore the workings of larger professional or governmental preservation organizations, this dissertation instead centers the role of community preservationists—those homeowners, community activists, and founders of neighborhood organizations who pursued historic preservation as an avocation and articulated preservation’s significance at the scale of their homes, …

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Backboards And Backlash: The Experiences Of Women's Intercollegiate Basketball Players Under Title Ix, 1975-1992, Meredyth Dwyer Aug 2023

Backboards And Backlash: The Experiences Of Women's Intercollegiate Basketball Players Under Title Ix, 1975-1992, Meredyth Dwyer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Enacted as a provision of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Title IX dramatically reshaped intercollegiate athletics opportunities for young women at American institutions of higher education. Yet, discrimination in intercollegiate athletics continued in the decades after the law went into effect. Using the oral history testimony of ten narrators, each a woman who played intercollegiate basketball between 1975 and 1992, this thesis explores the experiences of women’s basketball players in the first two decades after the passage of Title IX. Approaching the Title IX era through the lens of social history, this thesis asks two major questions: whether female …

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Black Pugilism: The First Act In Twentieth Century America, Angel Mario Lopez Aug 2023

Black Pugilism: The First Act In Twentieth Century America, Angel Mario Lopez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

When teaching about the twenty-first century in the United States of America, educators delve deeply into how the Jim Crow Era was but a new manifestation of a slave-era philosophy. As W.E.B. Du Bois states in his 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk, “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” Inspiring pro-Jim Crow government officials and citizens to impose economic and political segregation on black citizens that, on paper, are “separate but equal” when infringing on their civil and human rights deliberately. Limiting the black individual to the status of second-class citizenship where …

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