History Commons^™

A Price On Freedom: The Problems And Promise Of The Vietnam Era G.I. Bills, Mark Boulton

Doctoral Dissertations

At the end of World War II, the federal government bestowed one of the richest rewards ever given a mass mobilized army in the form of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the OJ. Bill of Rights. The OJ. Bill offered veterans generous loans, education benefits, and unemployment insurance to help them readjust to civilian life. The bill is widely lauded as one of the most important federal acts of the twentieth century. Further 0.1. Bills followed for veterans of the Cold War including those who served in Korea and Vietnam. Despite their continued impact on the …

From Social Improvement To Scientific Racism: The Effects Of World War I On The Definition Of Racial Hygiene In Germany, Robyn Lee Hendrick

Masters Theses

During the First World War, there was a decisive change in the focus of the racial hygiene movement in Germany. Prior to the war, the terms "racial hygiene" and "eugenics" were synonymous. In contrast, during and after World War I while eugenics continued to be recognized as a "science" in Germany, as well as in other Western European countries and the United States, the racial hygiene movement was becoming increasingly racist. Although, as the term implies, racial hygiene included racial components, the radically racist overtones did not become prevalent until the Nazis' rise to power. Racial hygienists separated themselves from …

Atomic Childhood: An Analysis Of The Impact Of The Manhattan Project On The Children Of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, John David Prince

Masters Theses

The city of Oak Ridge was one of three major project sites built by the US Army during the Manhattan Project – the top-secret mission started in June 1942 in order to develop an atomic bomb within a three year period. The Oak Ridge site, chosen in September 1942, was responsible for the production of the uranium that armed the world’s first atomic bomb. Prior to the dropping of the atomic bomb, however, the real mission of Oak Ridge was known to only a few select individuals. Indeed, most of the residents and workers at the production plants in Oak …

Black Children And Northern Missionaries, Freedmen's Bureau Agents, And Southern Whites In Reconstruction Tennessee, 1865 -1869, Troy Lee Kickler

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores one of the forgotten characters of Reconstruction and African American history: the black child. It begins with the experiences of young black Tennesseans during slavery and the Civil War. then examines their lives after freedom within and outside the family and schools, and ends with an account of their memory of Reconstruction.

During Reconstruction, black children's lives were affected daily by the ideological conflict among freedmen, white Southerners, Bureau agents, and Northern missionaries. By and large slave children had experienced a childhood-thanks to the efforts of slave parents in sustaining family bonds. Yet after the tumultuous change …

Appointing Stability In An Age Of Crisis: Lord Charles Cornwallis And The British Imperial Revival, 1780-1801, Bradley S. Benefield

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the ideological impetus to the founding of the second British Empire. The loss of the thirteen North American colonies left the British Empire in a state of crisis. Yet, by the early nineteenth century, the British Empire was once again in a position of global dominance. Many historians have theorized over how Britain united to face and overcome this period of crisis. One historian, C.A. Bayly, has argued that British elites rallied behind a progressive conservative ideology, which became the prerequisite to the founding of the second British Empire. To test this …

American Media Perspectives On Post-War Germany: The New York Times And The Wall Street Journal, May 1 - June 30, 1949, Ryan Charles Edens

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

A River For War, A Watershed To Change: The Tennessee Valley Authority During World War Ii, William Wade Drumright

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how the Tennessee Valley Authority responded to, and was affected by, the demands placed upon this agency by America’s participation in the Second World War. Established by Congress in May 1993 at the behest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Authority was charged with physical alteration and rehabilitation, and the economic revitalization of the Tennessee River basin and watershed. These tasks included making the river suitable for ship and barge navigation; achieving flood control through a system of dams on the main river and its tributaries; and producing, transmitting, and selling electric power. During the period covered …

Southern Normal?: An Exploration Of Integration In A Deep South Town: Brewton, Alabama, 1954-1971, Anna Catherine Mcdonald

Masters Theses

This study was conducted in order to identify possible reasons for the successful integration of Brewton, Alabama’s school system. Unlike many other towns in South Alabama, Brewton chose not to create a private school as an alternative to attending an integrated public facility. Known as “white flight” schools, these private institutions are still a viable factor in the education of Southern children. Although Brewton had the money and the resources to create such a school, it did not. This thesis seeks to understand why.

Two factors are central to approaching Brewton as a topic of research. One is Brewton’s wealthy …

To Disturb The People As Little As Possible: The Desegregation Of Memphis City Schools, Kira Virginia Duke

Masters Theses

This study will look at how school desegregation in Memphis unfolded according to the phases of desegregation as argued by J. Harvie Wilkinson in From Brown to Bakke and in relation to the evolution of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Brown’s meaning. This study will also examine how mob violence was avoided as desegregation took place in the city. Evidence for this study was gathered from the oral histories of Judge Robert McRae and Maxine Smith, executive secretary of the Memphis chapter of the NAACP, newspaper coverage, NAACP records, and John Egerton’s report to the Southern Regional Council as …

Willie, Waylon, And Me: Mythopoetic Narratives In Outlaw Country Music, Charles Robert Wurl

Masters Theses

The primary objective of this thesis is to analyze the role of masculinity in Outlaw country music as part of a constantly changing ideal of American manhood. The secondary objective is to understand the distinct southern affiliation inherent in Outlaw country music and how that related to the movement. Accordingly, this thesis represents an effort at continuing the larger historiographical development generated by the introduction of men’s studies into contemporary scholarship. The analysis of masculinity within a historical framework provides a chance to examine factors that shape cultural perceptions of society and the individual’s place within it. Scholars of men’s …

Ideology And Genocide On The Eastern Front, Elizabeth Grace Dunham

Masters Theses

This thesis considers one of the most widely debated topics in modern European history: why the men of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads following the Wehrmacht as they advanced into Russia) participated in massacres of supposedly “undesirable” people. Although this topic has been discussed for many years, to date there has been no definitive consensus formed. This thesis examines issues of the official SS publication Das Schwarze Korps and records from the Nuremburg Trials (contained in the Winfield B. Hale papers in the University of Tennessee’s Special Collections Library) in order to bring both new evidence and a new opinion …