History Commons^™

The Colbert-Walker Site (22le1048): History And Archaeology Of A Chickasaw Home, Council House, And Travelers’ Stand, Raymond Taylor Doherty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In late 1813, at a time of increasing violence on the Southern frontier, Chickasaw leader George Colbert (Tootemastubee) left his home and ferry on the Natchez Trace to move back to relative safety in the heart of the Chickasaw Nation. He returned to the place that had once been his father’s plantation and made what he described as a “shelter from the weather.” He later hired skilled craftsmen to build a large and finely carpentered new home on the site. The Colbert-Walker site (22Le1048), near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi, has long been said to be the location of this structure, which …

Preservation And Public History In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, Walker Bray

Honors Theses

This paper is an exploration of the history of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all Black community in the Mississippi Delta formed by freedmen in the wake of Reconstruction. This paper also discusses the ways in which Mound Bayou citizens are working to preserve their history and make it known to a wider audience. In particular, this work discusses the recently opened Mound Bayou Museum of African American Culture and History and related efforts to restore and preserve historic structures in Mound Bayou. In addition, this work also seeks to explore ways in which the University of Mississippi can effectively supplement …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Analyzing Inhumane Practices In Mississippi’S Correctional Institutions Due To Overcrowding, Understaffing, And Diminished Funding, Ariel A. Williams

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi’s correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners’ mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high …

The Legend Of Neptune: A Portrait Of Enslavement And Emancipation In 18th-Century Worcester County, Massachusetts, Brigitte Lewis

Honors Theses

“The Legend of Neptune” tracks the life of a man named Neptune, who was enslaved at my childhood home in Still River, MA 01467 for fifteen years during 1742-1757. The general topic of this undergraduate thesis is slavery in seventeenth and eighteenth-century central Massachusetts; the main topic is uncovering the voice, history, and stories of an identified enslaved and then free Black man named Neptune. The project uses a vast array of primary sources to construct a narrative that centers Neptune’s life and experiences, supported by secondary historical research. This project also tells a counternarrative to the official history of …

Moving The Monument: The University Of Mississippi’S Decades-Long Journey To Relocate Its Confederate Monument, Hadley Hitson

Honors Theses

This thesis tells the story of how thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and other members of the university community banded together to relocate The University of Mississippi’s Confederate monument. The movement for relocation officially began in the spring of 2019 with the unanimous vote by the Associated Student Body Senate to move the monument to UM’s Confederate cemetery, but long before that, change happened at the university that paved the way.

This creative telling of recent history explains how national and local events — including pro-Confederate marches in Oxford and the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis — …

The Mapuche And Chilean State: An Analysis Of The State Reaction To Mapuche Protests, Mckenna Gossrau

Honors Theses

The history between the Mapuche and Chilean state is long and complex. Since 2000, the conflict between the state and Mapuche has periodically drawn wider public attention as well as public demands for change. In this thesis, I look to examine how the Chilean state has reacted to the demands of the Mapuche since 2000. Mapuche activists have protested violently and peacefully against state policy that has left many rural Mapuche impoverished and landless. This project assesses the impact of protests on state-Mapuche policy. The project also examines how deeply entrenched neoliberal fiscal policies of the state play a central …

Immigrants: A Threat To The Economy Or Cultural Identity? A Case Study Of Haitian And Venezuelan Immigrants In Chile, Erin Geist

Honors Theses

Historically, countries often faced the difficult task of favoring one immigrant group over another. Typically, this is in response to their inability to support those immigrants due to an unstable economy. However, some scholars argue that during times of economic prosperity, excluding immigrants may be the result of the group’s incapacity to assimilate to the nation’s “cultural identity”. Since Chile’s conception as a nation and as one of the most prosperous Latin American countries, they have received notably minuscule immigration rates. As a result, Chileans prides themselves as a relatively homogeneous country. Consequently, in 2018, President Sebastián Piñera differentiated visas …

Thrill Of A Billion Eyes: The Prancing J-Settes, Mary Paige Blessey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The “Prancing J-Settes” is the official name of the dance line for the Sonic Boom of the South marching band at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. The popular form of dance termed “J-Setting” sources its name from the Prancing J-Settes. The Sonic Boom of the South and the Prancing J-Settes have a loyal fan following and have had a lasting and widespread influence on popular culture. This is an oral history interview project focusing on the current Prancing J-Settes themselves to hear their thoughts and definitions of the form of dance they perform and its significance. The primary interviews …

Beyond The Sunset : Race And Ethnicity In Cullman County, Alabama, Miles Laseter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Southern Studies master's thesis explores the racial and ethnic environment of Cullman County, Alabama from a number of perspectives. Critical readings of archived newspapers as well as local histories provide the foundation for this study. Oral history interviews and census data also figure prominently. The research aimed mainly at illuminating the elusive history of race relations in Cullman, an overwhelmingly white county. Much of the thesis focuses on Cullman's history of racial exclusiveness. Secondary sources, primarily works by historians and sociologists, contextualize Cullman's racial past and present. The county emerges from this study as an unusual if not truly …