History Commons^™

Toward Truth And Reconciliation: Public Memory, Philosophical Pairs, And The Edmund Pettus Bridge, Allyson K. Hayden

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis connects the rhetoric of Bryan Stevenson which advances truth and reconciliation for racial healing in the United States to a case study of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. I examine common cultural invocations of the bridge that support the persistence of a blurry public memory that occludes visibility of its original memorial dedication to a known white supremacist and instead celebrates it as a landmark of the civil rights movement. I also analyze arguments for both changing and keeping the name of the bridge that occurred between 2015-2020, illustrating ways in which Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca’s philosophical …

Two Strivings: Uplift And Identity In African American Rhetorical Culture, 1900-1943, Jansen Blake Werner

Theses and Dissertations

During the late nineteenth- and early twentieth century, the notion of “uplift” functioned as a major thematic within African American rhetorical culture. In this milieu, “uplift” generally connoted a sense of collective self-help. However, in contrast to more generalized reform efforts, uplift was expressed as a distinctly intraracial endeavor. That is, rather than overtly leveraging the dominant white society to enact legal or political reforms, uplift typically centered on the ways in which African Americans could enhance the quality of black life independent from white involvement.

Understood as public proposals for how African Americans could employ forms of self-help to …

Nonfiction, Documentary And Family Narrative: An Intersection Of Representational Discourses And Creative Practices, Kristine T. Weatherston

Theses and Dissertations

Nonfiction, Documentary, and Family Narrative:
 An Intersection of Representational Discourses and Creative Practices explores the role of personal memory, family history, and inter-generational storytelling as the basis for making a nonfiction film. The film, American Boy, tells the story of my mother’s immigration to the United States after the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956, opening a discussion of four generations of my family life in the context of historical events, exile, self re-invention, and identity formation. As a media producer and nonfiction author, I narrate my understanding of these events to my infant son, as a way of communicating …

Epideictic Rhetoric And The Formation Of Collective Identity: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Women In Praise Of Polygamy, Robbyn Thompson Scribner

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will proceed as follows: my first chapter will be a general overview of epideictic rhetoric, focusing on the limitations of how it has traditionally been viewed and understood by theorists. At the end of that chapter I will establish a working definition of epideictic which extends traditional views about how epideictic can function in certain types of writings, focusing on the important role of the speaker in epideictic rhetoric and how it can work in enabling a community to create a collective identity. In the remainder of the thesis, I will analyze two texts in which …

Joseph Smith As A Jacksonian Man Of Letters: His Literary Development As Evidenced In His Newspaper Writings, Walter A. Norton

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the newspaper writings of Joseph Smith Jr., the Mormon Prophet, traces his development as an American writer as evidenced in his newspaper publications, and notes the major concepts contained therein which demonstrate that Smith may deservedly be called a "Jacksonian Man of Letters."

Emerging from his youth lacking even rudimentary writing ability, Smith began his development with the translation of ancient scriptural records. Literary experiences with other scriptures, historical records, and even grammar classes augmented his development. Smith later turned his attention to frontier newspapers and served briefly as an editor. Jail confinement provided further stimulus to …

Conceptual Patterns Of Repetition In The Doctrine And Covenants And Their Implications, Richard Cottam Shipp

Theses and Dissertations

In laying a general foundation for this study, a brief survey of language, its origin and use by man, and its basic levels of structuring, will be presented. Patterns generated through language structuring and the inherent value of structure in language to convey meaning or esthetic qualities will also be considered. Finally, basic implications of patterns incorporated into language will be presented.

A Study Of The Speaking Of B. H. Roberts, Utah's Blacksmith Orator, R. Wayne Pace

Theses and Dissertations

The Mormon Church has continued to grow in size and prominence since 1830 when Joseph Smith announced the formation of this new Christian organization.

The struggle to gain recognition for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) among the body of Christian groups has been a vigorous and energetic one. Out of the band of closely knit followers have developed leaders who were particularly gifted at proclaiming and defending the beliefs of this faith.

One of the men who was foremost in advancing the views of the Mormon people during the years 1880 to 1930 was Brigham Henry …