History Commons^™

Contested Education, Continuity, And Change In Arizona And New Mexico, 1945-2010, Stephen D. Mandrgoc

History ETDs

Sibling states split from the original New Mexico Territory, Arizona and New Mexico are neighbors geographically but very different otherwise: in how they were founded, in their ethnic makeup, in their sociocultural values, and in the forms of structural racism that are part of this history of both states. Mexican American residents who found themselves suddenly American citizens struggled in response to discrimination aimed at “Mexicans” by their Anglo American neighbors fueled by racist stereotypes built on the Spanish Black Legend and the mythology of the Alamo in Texas. Above all, Mexican Americans contested Anglo Americans for the right for …

Blackdom: Interpreting The Hidden History Of New Mexico's Black Town, Austin J. Miller

History ETDs

This master’s thesis recovers the history of Blackdom, New Mexico. Founded by an African American family from Georgia, Blackdom is a ghost town that existed in the early decades of the twentieth century near Roswell, New Mexico. Blackdom was initially imagined as both a refuge from the hostilities of Jim Crow society and as a for-profit enterprise. Entanglement in land-fraud scandals hindered the town’s early development, but Blackdom eventually grew to nearly three hundred residents, with its own school, Baptist church, post office, and general store. Blackdom settlers practiced a variety of agricultural methods, including dry farming and irrigation from …

Reckoning With Violence: Counterinsurgency, Prisons, And Gang Truces In Los Angeles And El Salvador 1979-2017, Sarah L. Knopp

History ETDs

Mara Salvatrucha is a street gang that developed organizationally in California's prisons in the 1980s and was exported to El Salvador beginning in 1992. Convicted felons were deported to their native El Salvador just as the Peace Accords brought an end to the twelve-year civil war. Most of these convicted felons had come to California as children during the civil war, and many had been present for the seminal gang truce in Los Angeles in 1992 and 1993. Some of those same gang members were also present during the gang truce negotiated in El Salvador in 2012. The latter truce …

The Heart Of K'E: Transforming Dine Special Education And Unsettling The Colonial Logics Of Disability, Sandra Yellowhorse

American Studies ETDs

This paper takes up the roles of ideology and spatiality as they impact Diné students and learners in understanding conceptions of normativity, neuro-diversity and bodily variance. I am concerned with how the movement and creation of Indigenous schools and their praxis still maintain and often times produce settler colonial ideologies of being, personhood, difference and ability. I illustrate the challenges that Diné planners and educators face in entrenching cultural knowledge and language into their educational initiatives, while some of the problematic manifestations and expressions of normativity present themselves through state polices, federal law and mainstream curriculum.

I focus on the …

The Politics Of Religion: The Irish And Protestant Dispute Over Housing In Derry, Northern Ireland And South Boston, Massachusetts, 1920–1960, Aleja N. Allen, Aleja N. Allen

History ETDs

In the latter half of the twentieth century, subsidized housing created a system of religious and racial segregation in the cities of Derry, Northern Ireland and South Boston, Massachusetts. In the following thesis, the housing projects of the Creggan Estates in Derry and the housing projects Old Colony and Old Harbor in South Boston will be the case studies for identifying the historical similarities between these two cities. By examining how the respective governments in each country used housing to achieve said segregation, it will help to identify why in the latter half of the twentieth century, Irish American Catholics …

The Transition Of Papal Politicization As Demonstrated Through Pope Gregory Ix And His Adversaries In The Thirteenth Century, Emily Northcutt

History ETDs

Gregory IX (pope 1227-41) asserted his papal authority over secular and religious leaders in an attempt to showcase the strength of the church. His pontificate took place between those of the famous Innocent III (1198-1216) and the powerful Innocent IV (1243-54), meaning that Gregory’s accomplishments are often overshadowed. This thesis aims to prove that Gregory is a worthy protagonist and a worthy subject of study in his own right. Comparing Gregory’s pontificate to those of his immediate predecessor and successor highlights the shifting nature of Gregory’s priorities. This work examines Gregory’s relationship with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II regarding crusades …