History Commons^™

All Hands On Deck: German U-Boats And The Civil-Military Defense Of The Gulf, 1941 - 1943, Richard Brunies

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

During the Second World War, Germany unleashed a relentless U-boat campaign against shipping in the coastal waters of the United States. While most of this campaign was fought in the Atlantic Ocean, merchantmen in the Gulf of Mexico also received their fair share of U-boat attacks. The presence of the U-boats in the Gulf was brief but endangered vital merchant shipping, and the U.S. armed forces had to meet this threat. In nearly all aspects of defending the Gulf Coast and improving antisubmarine warfare, civilians participated with a will. Civilians were involved in reporting U-boat activity, monitoring coastal waters, reporting …

An American Ambulance Driver In France During The Great War: The Lasting Memory And Relationship Between Harry N. Deyo, The Men Of Section 591, And French Civilians, Melanie S. Gaumond

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the experiences of Harry N. Deyo, a graduate of the University of Michigan, who volunteered to serve in the United States Army Ambulance Service in France during the Great War. The friendship between Deyo and the drivers of Section 591 lasted throughout his lifetime. These friendships were important to his life; they were a way to share common bonds and to remember the war in the context of camaraderie and affection between themselves and the French civilians who cared for them. The role of rural French civilians and the relationships formed with the American ambulance drivers is …

An Anthology Of Irish Nationalism: Music, Verse, Speeches, And Interviews Regarding The Betterment Of The State Of Ireland, From The Sixth Century Until The Liberation Of Ireland, Sofia J. Gilmore-Montero

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When I started this project because in my extensive amount of research into Irish literature, I found that the common theme in many of the works was nationalism and the desire to have a free state. I could not find any books that focused on nationalistic literature over the lengthy history of Ireland, only collections that pertained to a specific time period. This thesis project proposes introductory material and a potential table of contents to an anthology that would be centered around the theme of Irish nationalism in literature between the ninth century and the liberation of Ireland. It covers …

Caught Between Land And Sea: West End As A Maritime Lake Community On Lake Pontchartrain, Madison K. Hazen

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

West End has eluded traditional New Orleans history as academics have continued to view the city's history and maritime culture through the Mississippi River. This project looks at the development of West End using the Sintes family and its boatbuilding business as a case study on how generational businesses are affected by tourism, natural disasters, and urban development. This project has used oral histories of the Sintes family to tell their personal story of West End, this terraqueous gap filled with boats, crawfish boils, natural disasters, and human loss, and in doing so, preserved and recorded a part of West …

Pride Of Missouri: The Adventures Of Missouri Farm Boys In 1940s World Conflict, Haley K. Heil

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In collaboration with the Museum of Missouri Military History, an exhibition for the 203^rd Coast Artillery Battalion (Anti-Aircraft) housed in the National Guard Headquarters exhibit case will be on display March 2020 through April 2020 in Jefferson City, Missouri. The exhibit will show the Missouri men deployed for military service, newspaper articles the men wrote, and objects the men brought back from the time of service. The paper is a historical narrative essay about the mobilization of the 203^rd Coast Artillery Battalion (Anti-Aircraft) during World War II, and from the research, a physical exhibit and an online exhibit …

Recognition And Acceptance: An Examination Of The Louisiana Volunteer Battalions On Line Jackson, Donald K. Midkiff

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the motivators and legacy of the Louisiana volunteer units on Line Jackson during the winter of 1814-1815. Orleans Parish fielded three volunteer battalions to the final engagements: the Orleans Volunteers, and the First and Second Battalions of Free Men of Color. Two companies, Beale’s Rifles and a Baratarian artillery unit, were attached to the Orleans Volunteers under the command of Major Plauché. Each volunteer, both as an individual and as a unit, hoped to gain some benefit from military service beyond defense of their homes. This paper argues that each one sought recognition and acceptance from their …

A Red River City During War: Shreveport, Louisiana's Experiences During World War Ii, Katelyn N. Woodel

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This project provides research that details Shreveport, Louisiana’s experience during World War II. A physical exhibit at the Spring Street Museum and a digital exhibit display Shreveport’s World War II history, based on research conducted for this thesis. Based on a combination of archival collections, and Shreveport Times articles, the project tracks Shreveport communities and the contributions to war efforts from the broader community and local industry. Shreveport’s involvement in World War II began with the Louisiana Maneuvers in 1941. Support for the war continued with heavy metals manufacturing such as the production of shells at the J.B. Beaird Company …

"To Cement The Bond Of Friendship":The Joan Of Arc Statue In New Orleans, 1958-2020, Megan A. Miller

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a study of the importance of statuary related to historical memory and influence focusing on the Joan of Arc Statue in New Orleans, Louisiana. Gifted to the city in 1958 and installed in 1972 officially in the wake of Charles de Gaulle’s visit, the Joan of Arc Statue has been the subject of controversy and a costly reinstallation in the French Quarter. This thesis, using primary evidence from court cases, interviews, and newspapers, traces Joan’s significance and use as a site of memory and link between France and the City of New Orleans.

“New Orleans Never Was Tighter”: Jim Garrison’S Gendered Vice Campaign In New Orleans, 1962-1966, Rebecca L. Poole

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Most historical writing and research on Jim Garrison’s political career focus on his investigation of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and Garrison’s prosecution of Clay Shaw. Few scholars examine the years prior to the investigation when Garrison served as District Attorney of New Orleans. In 1962, Garrison won the election for District Attorney in part for his pledge to clean up the French Quarter of its lurid reputation. Garrison’s vice crusade targeted mostly women who symbolized the city's colorful reputation. Aided by his office and the vice squad, he raided the French Quarter to arrest prostitutes, strippers, and anyone associated …

Sexual And Erotic Transgression Through Aesthetic History: A Study Of Algernon Charles Swinburne, Ronny F. Ford

Beyond the Margins: A Journal of Graduate Literary Scholarship

This article examines the relationship between Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poetic writing and history, especially in regards to how he explores sexual transgressions. The article begins with how aestheticism works in tangent with history to further these transgressions within a historical context and especially within the realm of Victorian Christianity. Next, Swinburne’s medieval aesthetics in “The Leper” will be analyzed in regards specifically necrophilia and the taking care of a leper, and how the writing of this poem was both a condemnation of Christianity and an accidental upholding of it. The violent homoeroticism and monstrous femininity of “Anactoria” are also looked …

“A Matter Of Personal Pride”: How African American Football All-Stars Exposed Bigotry In New Orleans, Including Didactic Considerations And Lesson Plans, Andreas Hofbauer

Center Austria Research

Throughout African American history, sport has played a major role in promoting integration and full participation in American society beyond the playing fields or courts. In the 1960s, after the first wave of African American athletes entering the white-dominated collegiate and professional sports leagues, active forms of protest against racial inequality in the US became gradually more relevant. Though in relatively small numbers, some African American athletes across various sports have used their privileged situation to voice the need for a revision of the system which has failed to represent and serve their people throughout American history.

This paper focuses …

"Greek Life": Greek-Letter Student Societies In The United States Higher Education System On The Local And National Scale, Martin Schefzik

Center Austria Research

This diploma thesis takes a look at what researchers sometimes label as a phenomenon that is exclusive to the United States of America, i.e. Greek life (DeSantis 6). The aim is to explain to the reader what Greek life or a Greek life organization is and what its features are besides being student groups that name themselves with Greek letters. There is much more to be elaborated about these groups. The two core elements of this paper are the explanation of the Greek life phenomenon on a US nationwide basis and the comparison of the information obtained about Greek life …

All Trails Lead To Sterling: How Sterling Brown Fathered The Field Of Black Literary And Cultural Studies, 1936-1969, Amber E. Zu-Bolton

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Poet and professor Sterling A. Brown (1901-1989) played a significant role in the birth of black literary and cultural studies through his literary and academic careers. Brown helped to establish a new wave of black cultural and folklore studies during his time as the “Director of Negro Affairs” for the Federal Writers’ Project. As a professor at Howard University, Brown influenced black literary studies through his literary criticisms and seminars and his role as a mentor to literary figures of the next generations. Through letters to and from Sterling Brown and manuscripts, this thesis argues that Brown’s poetry, publications and …

Dr. Tichenor’S ‘Lost Cause’: The Rise Of New Orleans’S Confederate Culture During The Gilded Age, Granville R. Morris

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Serving three times as president of the Cavalry Association, Camp Nine of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), George Tichenor was instrumental in forging Lost Cause ideology into a potent social force in New Orleans. Though more widely remembered in New Orleans for his antiseptic invention, his support of Confederate monuments, Confederate activism, and his wife Margret’s role as vice-president of a chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) are lesser known aspects of Tichenor’s life in New Orleans. This paper examines the cultural changes taking place in New Orleans that allowed Tichenor to become a leader of the Lost …

“I Almost Hope I Get Hit Again Soon”: The Wartime Service And Medical History Of Leon C. Standifer, Wwii American Infantryman, Alexis M. Laguna

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The American GI’s experience in hospital during World War II is absent from official military histories, most scholarly works, and even many oral history collections. Utilizing the papers of WWII infantryman, Leon Standifer, this thesis offers the reader a rare glimpse of WWII military hospital life and chronicles one soldier’s journey from willing obedience to subversive action.

This thesis compares the stated goals and procedures of the US Army medical department to the experience of Leon Standifer, an infantryman who served in northern France during the last year of the war and the American occupation of Bavaria, whose service was …

‘Posed With The Greatest Care’: Photographic Representations Of Black Women Employed By The Work Progress Administration In New Orleans, 1936-1941, Kathryn A. O'Dwyer

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

For decades, scholars have debated the significance of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), emphasizing its political, economic, and artistic impact. This historiography is dominated by the accomplishments of white men. In an effort to highlight the long-neglected legions of black women who contributed to WPA projects and navigated the agency’s discriminatory practices, this paper will examine WPA operations in New Orleans where unemployment was the highest in the urban south, black women completed numerous large-scale projects, and white supremacist notions guided relief protocol. By analyzing the New Orleans WPA Photography collection, along with newspapers, government documents, and oral histories, a …

The Hydraulic Dimension Of Reconstruction In Louisiana, 1863-1879, Matthew P. Carlin

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Louisiana developed an extensive system of levees throughout the Atchafalaya Basin and along its territorial Mississippi River. This system reached its zenith on the eve of the American Civil War. It went into dramatic decline following the conflict due to the confluence of military activity, protracted irregular warfare, and neglect stemming from labor and capital revolution. These shifts intensified with the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and finally consolidated after the ratification of Louisiana’s Constitution of 1879. The shift of responsibility for the construction and maintenance of levees during the Reconstruction Era led to many significant changes in the character and function …

A Space Of Their Own Color: Black Greek Letter Organizations At The University Of New Orleans, August J. Darbonne

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Every semester across the United States, countless students join Greek letter organizations. While some may recognize the Greek letters, many Americans do not know the racial divide within the Greek life system, and the difference of purpose those organizations hold. This study focuses on eight historically Black fraternities and sororities and more specifically, their chapters at the University of New Orleans, a university that throughout its history has had a predominantly White student body, and often fostered an environment overtly and subtly hostile to African-American students.

Using oral histories, university yearbooks, and university newspapers this study demonstrates how Black fraternities …

‘Where Do We Go From Here?’: Discourse In Louisiana Surrounding The Foundation Of The State Of Israel, May 1948, Devan Gelle

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A study of ten Louisiana newspapers during May 15-31,1948 revealed a period in which articles varied in their coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and wider international relations. Discourse about Arabs and Israelis which became evident in newspapers in later years had emerged but was not fully developed. This coverage revealed a silence about the Holocaust and a subtext about the United Nations.

‘Habituated To Drunkenness’: Opinions Of New Orleanians About Prohibition As Revealed Through Letters To The Editor Of The Times-Picayune, 1918-1922, Ryan P. Bourgeois

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Both popular and scholarly observers have portrayed New Orleans as a city both supported and burdened by its image as a diverse cultural other within the American South, historically tolerant of certain sins of the flesh. This image has been used by proponents and critics alike in order to push their respective agenda regarding the Crescent City. This thesis will not seek to discredit this image that is based largely on fact. However, using Prohibition as a case study, this thesis will use letters to the editor to uncover attitudes of New Orleanians in opposition to this reputation to reveal …

Her People And Her History: How Camille Lucie Nickerson Inspired The Preservation Of Creole Folk Music And Culture, 1888-1982, Shelby N. Loyacano

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Over the twentieth century, Camille Lucie Nickerson excelled in her multi-faceted career as an educator, musician, and interpreter for the advancement of musical education for generations of black students in New Orleans and at Howard University in Washington D.C. Nickerson devoted herself to furthering her musical education through private instruction with her father, Professor William J. Nickerson. She then graduated with a diploma from Southern University and with a B.A. and M.A. in music from Oberlin College. Nickerson’s leadership in musical associations on a local and national level enhanced her ability to reach audiences of all ages through her performances. …

Arnold Hirsch Collection Of Ernest N. 'Dutch' Morial Oral History Interviews, 1987: A Finding Aid, Jenidza N. Rivera

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This finding aid of interviews is drawn from the Arnold R. Hirsch Collection at the Amistad Research Center. Between 1987 and 1994, historian Arnold Hirsch interviewed New Orleans’ first black mayor, Ernest Morial, and others related to that crucial era in New Orleans political history. This collection consists of 37 audiocassettes tapes that contain oral history interviews conducted by Arnold Hirsch with various New Orleanians who were active in city government and political activism. This project-based thesis covers the research and construction of the finding aid completed for this collection during an internship at the Amistad Research Center, as well …

Herman L. Midlo: Social Ally In Louisiana Religious Civil Rights, Kenneth William-Moran Taylor

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The study of social allies in the field of American Civil Rights and Liberties History is largely an underappreciated aspect of this historical era. This work argues that social allies and their stories are worthwhile histories that are beneficial to the study of American Civil Rights and Liberties using Louisiana lawyer Herman Lazard Midlo as a case study. Midlo worked as a Louisiana lawyer from the 1930s to 1960s and fought tirelessly for the religious liberties of the Jehovah’s Witness community in the state. His story shows how beneficial and consequential the actions of social allies have had and can …

Drinking Decisions: Twentieth-Century Marketing And Tradition In New Orleans Alcoholic Beverage Trends, Rhiannon Enlil

Senior Honors Theses

Over the past twenty years, the national beverage industry adapted to a growing interest in historic cocktails and classic recipes. Among the many rediscovered classics, New Orleans’ own century-old recipes, like the Sazerac cocktail, garnered praise, national attention, and consumer embrace – even legislative endorsement. However, for most of the past forty years, the city retained a reputation as a place for wild abandon doused in alcoholic beverages of mediocre pedigree. Rather than dismiss the evolution of drinking trends from elegant, classic recipes to indulgent, high-proof booze-bombs as an inherent choice of local drinkers, this paper explores evidence in historic …

Abraham Shushan: In The Shadow Of Huey Long, Brad J. Burke

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abraham L. Shushan worked in the shadow of Huey P. Long. Long’s political machine ran on the force of his personality with political power given as a reward to those he considered loyal. Shushan was one such lieutenant who benefited from his unwavering loyalty to Long. Shushan served within the New Orleans political scene helping Long achieve his goals including building the Shushan Airport on the city’s lakefront as well as being instrumental in the construction of the seawall protecting New Orleans along the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain. By the time he started working for Long, Shushan was already a …

“Your Love Is Too Thick”: An Analysis Of Black Motherhood In Slave Narratives, Neo-Slave Narratives, And Our Contemporary Moment, Kaitlyn M. Spong

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, Kait Spong examines alternative practices of mothering that are strategic nature, heavily analyzing Patricia Hill Collins’ concepts of “othermothering” and “preservative love” as applied to Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel, Beloved and Harriet Jacob’s 1861 slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Using literary analysis as a vehicle, Spong then applies these West African notions of motherhood to a modern context by evaluating contemporary social movements such as Black Lives Matter where black mothers have played a prominent role in making public statements against systemic issues such as police brutality, heightened surveillance, and the …

Entwined Threads Of Red And Black: The Hidden History Of Indigenous Enslavement In Louisiana, 1699-1824, Leila K. Blackbird

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Contrary to nationalist teleologies, the enslavement of Native Americans was not a small and isolated practice in the territories that now comprise the United States. This thesis is a case study of its history in Louisiana from European contact through the Early American Period, utilizing French Superior Council and Spanish judicial records, Louisiana Supreme Court case files, statistical analysis of slave records, and the synthesis and reinterpretation of existing scholarship. This paper primarily argues that it was through anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity and with the utilization of socially constructed racial designations that “Indianness” was controlled and exploited, and that Native Americans …

“Drinking” About The Past: Bar Culture In Antebellum New Orleans, Mindy M. Jarrett

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Women in antebellum New Orleans have often been memorialized as Voudou queens, slave-torturers who continue to haunt houses, prostitutes, and light-skinned concubines to wealthy, white men. This study focuses on women’s contribution to New Orleans’s economy through the hospitality industry as female bar owners from 1830-1861. In addition, it provides an overview of the role that alcohol and beverage consumption patterns played among men and women of all races, classes, and cultural backgrounds in antebellum New Orleans. Antebellum tourists, in addition to cotton and sugar, were an important source of income for many New Orleanians before the Civil War. As …

In Response To Totalitarianism: The Hawkish Cold War Foreign Diplomacy Of The Europeans Kissinger And Brzezinski During American Détente, D'Otta M. Sniezak

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Despite historians describing the 1970s as a time of détente, both National Security Advisors that dominated America’s foreign policy pursued harsh stances against the Soviet Union. Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski sabotaged peace talks in order help the United States keep its edge against the other world superpower. Most historians point to the similarities between these two men, but what is most often left out of the narrative is that both men witnessed persecution at the hands of totalitarian governments: Kissinger by the Nazis and Brzezinski by both the Nazis and the Soviets. This influence is strong in their first …

Contact, Christine M. Stevralia

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A year after Alyssa Milano’s tweet launched the #MeToo movement, survivors of sexual assault are being called ‘accusers’ in the media, and public opinion is swinging in favor of guilty men. #MeToo raised awareness but not understanding. What is rape? What is consent? As evidenced by the #MeToo movement and the backlash against it, clearly, as a society, we don’t know. Contact is a work of Creative Nonfiction that uses scenes and details from the narrator’s personal experiences to illuminate the micro-negotiations that occur in sex and seduction.

In a world where women are still expected to stay small and …