American Studies Commons^™

“Thirsteth For The Blood Of America”: Propaganda And Violence During The American Revolution, Taylor Fischer

Undergraduate Research Awards

Excerpt from paper: "On December 14, 1763, a group of discontented farmers from the Pennsylvania frontier, called the Paxton Boys, arrived at Conestoga Manor in Lancaster County. The Paxton Boys were Scots-Irish Presbyterians who aimed to take over a Quaker colony. The group of farmers murdered six peaceful Conestoga Indians who were under the long-standing protection of the colonial Pennsylvania government. After the initial attack, Pennsylvania’s government placed the remaining Conestoga in a Lancaster jailhouse for their supposed protection. The Paxton Boys then traveled to Lancaster and slaughtered fourteen more Conestoga peoples. These murderous and militant frontiersmen claimed that the …

“Lepers For Show:” The Performance Of Medical Authority And The Illusion Of The Chinese Medical Threat In Nineteenth-Century America, Claire Wyszynski

Undergraduate Research Awards

Excerpt from the paper: "The energy of the crowd was infectious. On a fateful day in August 1884, over 200 men flocked to the City Hall of Washington, DC. They gathered to hear the remarks of Dr. Charles C. O’Donnell, the candidate for coroner of San Francisco, who had traveled across the country from California to deliver a speech to their city. It was unusual for a local politician of the West to journey so far for a speaking engagement, but this peculiarity only seemed to warm the crowd to him more. Under the shadow of the Capitol, the anticipation …

Scenes From Williamsburg’S 19th Century, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

Excerpt from the article: "When the capital of Virginia shifted from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1780, Williamsburg’s history shifted too, but did not end—three little known accounts of the town offer glimpses of life into the nineteenth century..."

The “Shoe Holly” And The “Dressing Trees” On Richmond Road, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

Excerpt from the article: "A site connecting the W&M campus and local Black history should be recorded--the “Shoe Holly” on Richmond Road, just off the corner of Bryan Hall..."

The “Peculiar Institution” In And Near Williamsburg, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

Excerpt from the article: "Slavery in Williamsburg and nearby—what was it like? Depends on who you ask..."

W&M’S Kkk Flagpole: Found?, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

Excerpt from the article: "Ever since 2008, when I wrote a piece for the Gazette about Williamsburg’s almost century old encounter with the KKK, I’ve been on a hunt for a flagpole. In 1926, 5000 Klansmen flocked to town to see W&M dedicate the Klan’s gift to the College—a huge American flag and a 70 foot flagpole to fly it. I wanted to know what became of that pole..."

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

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 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.

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 …

"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 …

“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 …

"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 …

Uniting Interests: The Economic Functions Of Marriage In America, 1750-1860, Lindsay Mitchell Keiter

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation, "Uniting Interests: Money, Property, and Marriage in America, 1750-1860," examines how marriage was an essential economic transaction that responded to the development of capitalism in early America. Drawing on scholarship on the history of economic development, household organization, law, and gender, I argue that families actively distributed resources at marriage as part of larger wealth management strategies that were sensitive to regional and national economic growth. I focus particularly on women's property holding and how families deployed the legal protection of women's property as bulwarks against financial disaster. This project restores the family and women to the narrative …

Cherries From The Tree: National Identity And The Hero Construction Of George Washington, 1799-1829, Jack Thomas Masterson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Life And Legacy Of Marie Couvent: Social Networks, Property Ownership, And The Making Of A Free People Of Color Community In New Orleans., Elizabeth Clark Neidenbach

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation recovers the life of Marie Justine Sirnir Couvent and the Atlantic World she inhabited. Born in Africa around 1757, she was enslaved as a child and shipped to Saint-Domingue through the Bight of Benin in the 1760s. In the tumult of the Haitian Revolution, Couvent fled the island, along with tens of thousands of Saint-Domingue inhabitants. She resettled in New Orleans where she eventually died a free and wealthy slaveholder in 1837. Although illiterate, Couvent left property to establish a free black school in her will. L'Institution Catholique des Orphelins Indigents was founded on her land in 1847 …

Liberty's Kids: Toys, Children's Literature, And The Promotion Of Nationalism In The Early Nineteenth-Century United States, August M. Butler

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

"Strength For The Journey": Feminist Theology And Baptist Women Pastors, Judith Anne Bledsoe Bailey

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This dissertation grows out of an interest in the women who are pastors in formerly Southern Baptist churches. Because they continue to face opposition to their role as pastors I wanted to know the sources of their strength and determination. Specifically, how did feminism and feminist theology influence their decision to be pastors and their continuing ministry?;I interviewed twenty woman pastors in five different states representing two generations of pastors. These women are among the very few who grew up in Southern Baptist churches and are now pastors, since the Southern Baptist denomination has officially banned women from the pulpit …

'I Get A Kick Out Of You': Cinematic Revisions Of The History Of The African American Cowboy In The American West, Stephanie Anne Maguire

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Thoroughly Modern: African American Women's Dress And The Culture Of Consumption In Cleveland, Ohio 1890-1940, Deanda Marie Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

African American women have been absent from much of the writing on consumption and the making of modernity. This dissertation responds to these absences, using dress, a highly visible form of consumption, to examine how African American women in Cleveland, Ohio experienced modernity through the culture of consumption from 1890-1940, in the context of urbanization, migration, and the Great Depression.;In looking at African American women's dress during this period, this dissertation will explore the clothed body not simply as a theoretical abstraction, but part of a lived experience in which production and consumption are not mutually exclusive. This will help …

Deviants Of Great Potential: Images Of The Leopold-Loeb Case, John Carl Fiorini

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Deviants of Great Potential analyzes the 1924 Leopold-Loeb case as a cultural narrative with important effects on the marginalization of same-sex sexuality in men throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. After Chicago teenagers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were arrested for the United States' first nationally recognized "thrill killing," the apparently motiveless murder of fourteen-year-old Robert Franks, the Leopold-Loeb case became an instant cause celebre. The popular fixation on the case continued in the decades after 1924, as journalists and behavioral scientists treated it as a precedent for understanding a certain type of crime and criminal. Meanwhile---especially after …

"History Written With Lightning": Religion, White Supremacy, And The Rise And Fall Of Thomas Dixon, Jr, David Michael Kidd

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Baptist minister and author of novels, plays, sermons, and essays, Thomas Dixon, Jr. today remains most known as the storyteller behind the 1915 D. W. Griffith Film The Birth of a Nation. I argue that Thomas Dixon crafted a white supremacist rhetoric and narrative of modern whiteness indebted to the structures of Fundamentalist Christianity. With varying degrees of success, later writers struggled with the legacy the Dixonian cultural narrative bequeathed them.;Fundamentalist theology offered a whole host of tropes, metaphors, and arguments to its users. In short, Fundamentalism presented a rhetorical stance that was, in the hands of an ambitious and …

"To Draw Pleasure And Instruction": Robert Gilmor, Jr And Collecting The Early Republic, Janine M. Yorimoto

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

"You Can't Say 'No' To A Soldier": Sexual Violence In The United States During World War Ii, Michaele Katherine Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Between 1939 and 1946 the number of rapes in the United States increased approximately 45 percent. This project strives to explain the cultural factors the fueled this increase. Existing societal beliefs and the legal system of this period held rape victims responsible for their own victimization. Additionally, the wartime mobilization of the 1940s liberated millions of young men from community and family moral surveillance. Some men experienced this liberation as license to coerce sex from women. Popular culture accepted and even praised sexual aggressiveness in men, especially military men, and linked women's sexuality to their patriotism. The combination of all …

Gone To The Dogs: Inter-Species Bonds And The Building Of Bio-Cultural Capital In America, 1835--Present, Merit Elfi Anglin

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In following the rise of canis lupus familiaris from America's pet dog to dogmestic partner and ontological metaphor for capital unseen and humanly unseeable this dissertation hopes to reveal the 'spirit of calculation' that undergirds the nation's seemingly disinterested love for their four-legged others and demonstrate how cultural politics affect and are in turn affected by bio-politics and bio-power.;It argues that in response to the deflation of prevalent signifiers of social standing and sexual or matrimonial desirability during the financial and ontological crises of the 1830s, Jacksonians turned to the dog as an incorruptible sign of invisible individual substance. In …

Strange Fruit: Images Of African Americans In Advertising Cards And Postcards, 1860-1930, Meghan Brooke Holder

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Introduction To "The Americans Are Coming! Dreams Of African American Liberation In Segregationist South Africa", Robert T. Vinson

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

For more than half a century before World War II, black South Africans and “American Negroes”—a group that included African Americans and black West Indians—established close institutional and personal relationships that laid the necessary groundwork for the successful South African and American antiapartheid movements. Though African Americans suffered under Jim Crow racial discrimination, oppressed Africans saw African Americans as free people who had risen from slavery to success and were role models and potential liberators.

Many African Americans, regarded initially by the South African government as “honorary whites” exempt from segregation, also saw their activities in South Africa as a …

Storyville: Discourses In Southern Musicians' Autobiographies, Matthew Daniel Sutton

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This study utilizes many of the tools of the literary critic to identify and analyze the discursive conventions in autobiographies by American vernacular musicians who came of age in the American South during the era of enforced racial segregation. Through this textual analysis, we can appreciate this seemingly amorphous collection of books as a continuing conversation, where descriptions of the South and its music by turns confirm, contradict, and complicate each other. Ultimately, the dozens of southern musician autobiographies published in the last fifty years engage in a valuable and revealing dialogue, creating a virtual "Storyville"; ostensibly disparate works share …

Building And Planting: The Material World, Memory, And The Making Of William Penn's Pennsylvania, 1681--1726, Catharine Christie Dann Roeber

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The process of creating the colony of Pennsylvania began with the granting of a charter by King Charles II to William Penn in 1681. However the formation of Pennsylvania was not limited to the words of this or other official documents. Many people formed the province through both everyday actions and extraordinary events. and importantly, people involved in the Pennsyvlania project employed both material "toolkits" and language about the material world to stake a place for the new territory within the Americas, Britain, and the world in the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries.;This dissertation examines how William Penn and his contemporaries …

The Colonial History Of Wye Plantation, The Lloyd Family, And Their Slaves On Maryland's Eastern Shore: Family, Property, And Power, Amy Speckart

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The history of the Lloyd family at Wye Plantation in Talbot County, Maryland, from the 1650s to the early 1770s refines and complicates the dominant historical narrative of the rise of a native-born Protestant planter elite in colonial Chesapeake scholarship. First, the Lloyds were a wealthy and politically prominent Protestant family that benefited from close ties to Catholics up to the end of the colonial period. Second, in contrast to traditional histories of the colonial Chesapeake that emphasize the raising and marketing of tobacco, Wye Plantation's history attests to the importance of grain and livestock farming on a commercial scale, …