Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Graduate, 1st Place: World War I War Front And Home Front: The Correspondence That Brought Them Together, Michelle Thole

2023 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

The First World War was the first time American soldiers had participated in a war at a distance from home that did not easily facilitate home furloughs. Although the United States and Europe are physically separated by more than 3,500 miles, the relative distance between American World War I soldiers on the war front and their families on the home front was minor; the correspondence between them mitigated the physical and cognitive distance.

Historians of the First World War have explored soldiers’ contact with their families while in training camps and the US military’s intentional cultivation of a balance between …

“Why Invest In Racism?”: Anti-Apartheid Activism At The University Of Illinois, 1977-1987, Shane Smith

Student Honors Theses

On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison a free man after being held captive for over 27 years. Crowds roared with joyfulness as their beacon of hope pumped his right fist in the air triumphantly. The international community watched the occasion with hope and a feeling of success after the assistance in the struggle to bring down the brutal regime of apartheid. This inspiring movement took decades of unified activism from both South Africans and local, grassroots organizations to bring the system down. Amidst the ongoing Cold War politics and other international issues, dismantling apartheid proved to …

War On Drugs Legislation In The 1980s: Failed Policies That Created Racial Injustice, Shane Smith

2022 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

For 40 years now, the War on Drugs has continued to damage millions of African American lives around the United States. As a result of failed drug control policies, not only have prisons become extremely overcrowded, but millions of people are still facing consequences such as massive poverty, broken family dynamics, violence, and tensions with law enforcement in their communities. Although this has become a contemporary issue, it is even more important to understand the origins of how this came to be. Digging to the source of the mess is the first step to understanding how we, as a society, …

Heroism And Indeterminacy In Oliver Stone's Jfk And Don Delillo's Libra, Tim Engles

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

The Forbidden Water: Politics, Media, And Public Opinion In The Hetch Hetchy Controversy, Gabriel Mansfield

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Nightmares Born Of Dreams: Eugenics In Illinois, John Burke

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Blank Pages: The Representation Of Women In High School American History Classes, Brittany Borowski

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this project I analyze the representation of women in high school American history curriculum. with a specials focus on Illinois in particular where this research was completed. While the study of history has evolved greatly, especially in an educational climate that has recently been questioning the best practices to have students successfully engage with the practice and study of history, a gaping whole remains: the representation of women. Women have become a more fundamental part of history at collegiate levels with gender and social history increasing in importance but our high school students are missing out on a history …

The American Civil War: A Diplomatic Perspective Of Confederate Diplomacy, Jack Cunningham

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Representation, Radicalism, And Reform: Chicago's Public Education Reformers, 1890-1914, Laura Seiler

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Incarcerated Transported And Bound: Deference, Resistance, And Assimilation, Constructing Community Among Transported Convicts From Britain To The Chesapeake 1739-1776, Michael Bradley

2017 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity – Documents

From June 8, 1744, through July 9, 1745, Ordinary’s Accounts of London’s condemned reported on a series of individuals who met a swift demise at the end of a rope at Tyburn Square, London’s execution site. Out of the countless that were hanged, the lives of ten criminals who formed an interconnected community are illuminated. They were a subset of a larger network of at least thirty criminals who engaged in thefts, robberies, prostitution, fencing of goods, and overindulgence of intoxicating spirits across London.

Interview With Paul Kilgus, Ben Halpern

Oral History Interviews & Transcripts

No abstract provided.

Interview With Pat Feeney, Part 1, Ben Halpern

Oral History Interviews & Transcripts

No abstract provided.

Interview With Pat Feeney, Part 2, Ben Halpern

Oral History Interviews & Transcripts

No abstract provided.

Candidate Kennedy And Quemoy, Quentin Spannagel

2016 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

Running for president in 1960, John F. Kennedy vowed to explore a “New Frontier” — a hybrid of challenges and opportunities that promised progress both domestically and abroad.1 In essence, Kennedy envisioned a New America not chained down by the traditions of the Republican administration before him. In many regards, Kennedy achieved what he desired: a fresh, open-minded way of approaching international issues. Though Kennedy struggled to develop a new diplomatic approach to China, he did show a willingness to compromise with the Chinese in regards to the islands of Quemoy and Matsu. Kennedy remained a “cold war warrior” throughout …

Examining The Historical Representation Of Native Americans Within Children’S Literature, Lauren Hunt

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this research, I evaluated the historical representation of Native Americans in children’s literature. The portrayal of Native Americans in children’s literature is important because Native Americans are commonly included within elementary school social studies curriculum. For this reason, teachers should know how the literature they select historically represents Native Americans. This historical representation includes—but is not limited to—their interactions with European explorers, colonists, and eventually Americans. Teachers must be aware that publishers of children’s books are businesses; their job is to sell books. As a result, these companies do not always ensure that the books they sell are historically …

‘I Carry War In My Right Hand And In My Left Peace’: George Rogers Clark And The Illinois Country Middle Ground During The American Revolution, Mark Stanford

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Cherokee Acculturation & The Fall Of Women's Status, Danielle Rogner

2013 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

As the eyes of the late 18th century Americans fell upon the territories occupied by the Cherokee Nation, the cultural disparities between the two nations became a source of apprehension. Most challenging to many Americans was the differences between the traditional roles of women. Instead of possessing the domestic, submissive role of the American homemaker, Cherokee women held positions of authority within society.

The Political And Personal Tension Between Tom Bradley And Daryl Gates, Ryan Repking

2013 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

"Los Angeles in the early 1990's was a virgining metropolis, boasting of its diversity of a world city posed to be the gateway of the pacific. Los Angeles was home to over a 100 ethnicities from all points of the globe; it was perceived to be the international city that was going to lead America into the 21st century." 1 The city's pictureous landscape of beautiful sky scrapers, however hid dangerous social and racial fault lines. In only a matter of time tensions would boil over, and two key political figures, Los Angeles Police Chief, Daryl Gates and Mayor of …

The City Upon A Hill: Boston As God's Bulwark Against Piracy, 1630-1720, Kimberly A. Lorton

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Putting The Ill In Illinois: How The Suffrage And Antisuffrage Movements In Illinois Transformed Themselves And The Nation, Emily Scarbrough

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The City Upon A Hill: Boston As God’S Bulwark Against Piracy, 1630-1720, Kimberly Lorton

Student Honors Theses

As the Reverend Cotton Mather sat face to face with William Fly in 1726, a sailor brought into Boston harbor on charges of high piracy, he contemplated not how Fly’s crimes were a detriment to the commercial activity of New England but only how to save the man’s soul from the fires of hell. To do this he would preach to Fly for two weeks; essentially begging him to seek redemption through God. Much to the esteemed Reverend’s surprise, however, Fly would have none of it. The fear of death and eternal damnation would not move the man to confess …

Jane Wilson Mcwilliams, “Annapolis, A City On The Severn: A History” In Maryland Historical Magazine, 107, No. 2 (Summer 2012), 234-35., Charles R. Foy

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

McWilliams frames Annapolis’ history as one in which disparate newcomers, including white retirees and striving Hispanic immigrants, have been drawn to the port by its “location, its culture, or its economic possibilities.” A strength of the book is its inclusion of short essays by other historians. Where the book is lacking is in not connecting Annapolis’ history to larger national and global issues.

Housing E.L.'S G.L.S And Married Students: The Story Of Trailers, Barracks, And Apartments At Eastern Lllinois University, Philip Mohr

2012 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

Eastern illinois University's campus was small before the 1940s when compared to its size and buildings of today. It handled students by the hundreds, instead of thousands. Except for the women living in Pemberton Hall, students found their own quarters around Charleston. The administration did not consider housing for married students a priority simply because the number of people who were both married and college students made no significant blip on the radar. Then, as many twentieth century narratives go, World War II changed everything. Providing on-campus housing options for postwar populations became a driving force in the development of …

‘Unkle Sommerset's’ Freedom: Liberty In England For Black Sailors, Charles R. Foy

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

With his 1772 decree in Somerset v. Steuart that slavery was ‘so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it [in England] but positive law’, Lord Mansfield altered the legal landscape regarding black rights in England. While earlier judicial decisions had implied that slaves who came to England were free, prior to the Somerset decision there was no judicial consensus on the issue. The Somerset decision did not decree that slavery was illegal in England. Yet many blacks believed it ‘emancipated’ any slave who reached the shores of England. This understanding, combined with the British military welcoming runaways into …

Gatsby And Jazz: One Coin, Two Sides, Sally Van Der Graaff

2011 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Toni Morrison's JAZZ both tell the story of the American 1920s, but from opposite points of view. Fitzgerald and Morrison offer two compelling narratives of the societal shift that took place in post-World War 1-era America, but although the accounts share the same general topic and historical era, it is otherwise difficult to reconcile the two American portraits that have been painted. It is as though the two authors are giving a description of the same coin, but one describes the front and the other describes the back. To the white population this …

Reconstructing Lincoln Log Cabin: The Civilian Conservation Corps In Coles County, Philip Mohr Et. Al.

2011 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

The symposium "Reconstructing Lincoln Log Cabin: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Coles County" traced the origins of Lincoln Log Cabin and the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Coles County, Illinois. Students researched, designed, and implemented all phases of the symposium held at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site on Saturday, November 2011 from 9 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The Historical Administration Program at Eastern Illinois University and the Lincoln-Sargent Farm Foundation jointly sponsored the symposium. Selected students made formal power-point presentations and facilitated questions from the audience at the conclusion of their presentations. The students unearthed a …

Smallpox Inoculation And Race Relations In Eighteenth And Nineteenth Century America, Kristen Schaibly

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Program Booklet, Bradley P. Tolppanen, Beverly J. Cruse, David Bell

2011 - Remembering America's Civil War: A 150 Year Retrospective

Created to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the start of the United States Civil War, this exhibit studies the political, military, and social aspects of the conflict. Exhibits cover such wide-ranging topics as women soldiers, children and the war, Civil War journalism, literature and nursing, Civil War music, African American soldiers and sailors, the Civil War diary of Lyman Chittenden, and Civil War technology. The Coles County and the Civil War exhibit covers Coles County soldiers, the Charleston Riot, and Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with Coles County. This exhibit has been created by the librarians and staff of Booth Library.

Charles R. Foy Review Of Michael J. Jarvis, “In The Eye Of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, And The Maritime Atlantic World,” In Common-Place 10:4 (July 2010) (Www.Common-Place.Org)., Charles R. Foy

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

In his comprehensive study of colonial Bermuda Jarvis places Bermuda in "the eye of trade," i.e., the center of the Anglo-American Atlantic. He proceeds to use this new perspective to explore six key characteristics of Bermudian life: its transition from a tobacco society to a maritime society; the island’s unique system of slavery; the emphasis placed on kinship connections and communal activities; Bermudian exploitation of the Atlantic’s natural resources; the effect of Bermuda’s maritime economy on its residents; and the impact of the American Revolution on Bermudian society. With their maritime skills, unique slave system and extensive kinship connections Bermudians …

Shipboard Insurrections, The British Government And Anglo-American Society In The Early 18th Century, James Buckwalter

2010 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

Captain Francis Messervy, first time captain on the slave ship Ferrers and perhaps overly ecstatic after his most recent successes at sea, maneuvered unprotected below deck to inspect his newly purchased Africans. As he lurched further down into the Ferrers, Messervy would have seen sailors whose duty it was to guard against insurrection and the three hundred or more Africans he had recently purchased following a war between two neighboring polities near Cetre-Crue. What Messervy perceived as good fortune, fellow captain William Snelgrave saw as cause for concern, noting that controlling "many Negroes of one Town and Language" had its …