American Studies Commons^™

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

“Did Emmett Till Die In Vain? Organized Labor Says No!”: The United Packinghouse Workers And Civil Rights Unionism In The Mid-1950s, Matthew Nichter

Faculty Publications

Emmett Till’s mangled face is seared into our collective memory, a tragic epitome of the brutal violence that upheld white supremacy in the Jim Crow South. But Till's murder was more than just a tragedy: it also inspired an outpouring of determined protest, in which labor unions played a prominent role. The United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) campaigned energetically on behalf of Emmett Till, from the stockyards of Chicago to the sugar refineries of Louisiana. Packinghouse workers petitioned, marched, and rallied to demand justice; the UPWA organized the first mass meeting addressed by Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley; and an …

“Liquid Sunshine, Or Something Else,” A Play By Kalli Anne Joslin, Kalli Joslin

Honors Program Theses

"Liquid Sunshine, or Something Else" is a historical play set in 1920s Florida that examines the intersections of race, gender, and immigration during American Prohibition. Set in an unnamed town that incorporates aspects of Tampa, Miami, and Key West, the owner of a local Cuban restaurant must grapple with increased police presence in her community as she is simultaneously asked to run an illegal still and shelter a family of Eastern European immigrants.

The Universal Roar: Walt Whitman, John Muir, And The Song Of The Cosmos, Jason Balserait

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The idea of an ancient harmony uniting the universe has been theorized since the ancient Pythagoreans got the idea of musica universalis, often translated as The Music of the Spheres. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, not only recognizes similar musical patterns in the wilderness but emphasizes how they bring a sense of balance his life. Walt Whitman, often coined America’s poet, uses the harmonies resonating throughout the natural and urban worlds to demonstrate unity throughout the cosmos. Similarly, Aldo Leopold revolutionized our understanding of ecology, as he wrote about reciprocity and the connection of all things to the …

Inheritance Of The Past: Patriarchy, Race And Gender In Faulkner's And Chopin's South, Therese D. Osborne

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The death of the Confederacy sealed in white southern memory a lost world of beauty that denied the cruelty of its “peculiar institution.” Southern writers have seemed haunted by this conflict between the cherished past of their ancestors and the reality of the devastated region, with its legacy in slavery. Through the commentary of women diarists who mourn their crumbling society, and selected works of William Faulkner and Kate Chopin, this paper examines the myth and reality of the southern past. It reveals the enduring impact of the all-powerful white patriarchy that gave order to the antebellum South, destroyed it, …

Living A Parallel Life: Memoirs And Research Of A Transnational Korean Adoptee, Mary C. Robinson

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis project consists of two parts: a memoir of my experience as a Korean adoptee, and a research paper examining how transracial, transnational adoption affects identity development in Korean adoptees. The memoir, as a first person narrative, gives voice to the research as one example of the findings. The majority of research on Korean adoptees has focused on levels of adjustment within a short time frame after adoptees’ placement in their adoptive homes. While the overwhelming majority of the prior research has declared positive and overall satisfactory adjustment for most adoptees, serious flaws exist in the methodologies that do …

Movie And Television Fathers: A Positive Reflection Of Positive Changes, George J. Mcgowan

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Certain films and television programs depicting fathers have both enduring popularity and have reflected the advances in the institution of fatherhood. This has happened because of a symbiosis that has delivered positive results: popular films and television shows that earn money for producers and advertisers have depicted fathers who have changed to reflect the popular example. These depictions have contributed in their way to mending the family dynamic, specifically related to the father’s essential role in the family. Such family-oriented films and television shows have effectively showed fathers (and men that would become fathers) that they could be much more …

Florida: The Mediated State, Julian C. Chambliss, Denise K. Cummings

Faculty Publications

"The Mediated State" addresses the perceived and the real experience linked to Florida and demonstrates the state acts as a bellwether for understanding postwar America in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Examining historical shifts linked to perceptions of the state, Chambliss and Cummings argue contemporary observers, like their historical antecedents, look to Florida to glean some greater understanding of the broader national experience.

The Reciprocal Reshaping Of The American Dream And American Religion, Samir S. Gupte

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Religion has played an important role in the creation and dissemination of the idea now called the American Dream since the discovery of the North American continent. The first iteration of the American Dream manifested in the sixteenth century as a Return to Eden. The next phase was best represented by the Puritan quest for freedom of religion. In the eighteenth century, independence was the object of the American Dream. This was supported by the First Great Awakening. The nineteenth century American Dream can be characterized as opportunity as evidenced by immigration, westward migration, and the growth of commercial enterprise. …

The Influence And Legacy Of Deism In Eighteenth Century America, Tiffany E. Piland

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis project, The Influence and Legacy of Deism in Eighteenth Century America, examines deism’s impact as a theological system on American life and culture in the eighteenth century. Beginning with a basic definition of the term deism, a historical background is included. Next, the work of Galileo, Bacon, Newton, and Locke is examined for its impact on eighteenth century thought as well as early deist writers such as John Toland, Matthew Tindal, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury.

Moving onto America in the eighteenth century, colonial newspaper articles, letters, and other documents are examined that contain references to deism. Colleges …

Finger Lickin’ Good: An Analytical Investigation Into The Urban Diet, Jennifer T.R. Tomlinson

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

In this analysis, the origins, customs and implications of fast-food culture will be explored with important focus on the customs of fast-food urban eating. Research indicates that lower-income urban areas are more likely to consume fast-food. The high consumption of fast-food subsequently results in the development of social and economical implications, which include health implications, economic dilemmas, a disconnection between consumers and their consumption and issues of social classification. This analysis also explores the customs of fast-food culture of Pine Hills, Florida with added emphasis on Pine Hills’ cultural uniqueness.

The Ports Of Secession: The Economics Of Florida Ports In The Secession Crisis, Michael P. Robbins

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The root of large-scale human conflict is the protection of economic interests. The economic motivations for the South to secede clashed with the interests of the North in preserving the trade relationships that existed. In choosing the path that led to conflict over peace, decision-makers leaned towards what they believed would be most profitable on the margins. The financial viability of a southern Confederacy was contingent upon the successful separation of Gulf states from the Union. The economic interests generated by Florida's Gulf ports provided a strong incentive for the state to secede, for the emerging Confederacy to support that …

From Pulp Hero To Superhero: Culture, Race, And Identity In American Popular Culture, 1900-1940, Julian C. Chambliss, William L. Svitavsky

Faculty Publications

Adventure characters in the pulp magazines and comic books of the early twentieth century reflected development in the ongoing American fascination with heroic figures. As established figures such as the cowboy became disconnected from everyday experiences of Americans, new popular fantasies emerged, providing readers with essentialist action heroes whose adventures stylized the struggle of the American everyman with a modern, industrialized, heterogeneous world. Popular characters such as Tarzan, Conan, the Shadow, and Doc Savage perpetuated the individualistic archetype Americans associated with the frontier cowboy and the struggles of manifest destiny while offering the fantastic adventure, exoticism, and escapism that modernity …