United States History Commons^™

But Not In Vain: The Civil Rights Movement In San Luis Obispo, California 1947–1969, Joshua M. Harmon

Master's Theses

Civil rights have long been an important focus of historical scholarship. As the United States continues to grapple with issues of racism and the complicated legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, it is imperative that a variety of perspectives are incorporated into scholarship on the subject. Traditional scholarship on the subject has focused on the large organizations, individuals, marches, and activities that have come to characterize the Civil Rights movement. This study seeks to integrate the perspectives of a case study population, African Americans in San Luis Obispo, California, to assess the ways in which African Americans away from large …

Stigma Cities: Dystopian Urban Identities In The United States West And South In The Twentieth Century, Jonathan Lavon Foster

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines how historical events and representation of those events relative to the wider historical context have allowed the media, opinion setters, and the ordinary public to use the names of San Francisco, California, Birmingham, Alabama and Las Vegas, Nevada as denigrating adjectives and the effect of this usage on those cities. Exploration of Birmingham’s image as a racist city, San Francisco’s as a gay Mecca, and Las Vegas, Nevada’s as an adult playground or sinful city serves this purpose. These case studies support a central argument that the nature of place-based stigmatization’s influence depends upon ever-shifting cultural values …

Computers For The Masses: The American Socio-Technological Change Of The 1970'S And 1980'S, Robert Bryan Goodman

Master's Theses

This thesis developed out of my personal curiosity on the subject of high-technological development. Specifically, high-technology’s shift from primarily a military tool to a consumer product raised several questions to answer since first taking an interest in the subject. My lifestyle, like many other Americans in my generation, incorporates computers, cell-phones, and video game consoles as not only an innovative tool, but a standard and necessary mode of production. In our contemporary society, technology is obtainable everywhere. As an entertaining tool in the form of video games to a productivity tool in our workplaces, most individuals have assimilated consumer electronics. …

“The Negro Speaks Of Rivers” An African Centered Historical Study Of The Selfethnic Liberatory Education Nature And Goals Of The Poetry Of Langston Hughes: The Impact On Adult Education, Sarah E. Howard

Dissertations

The purposes of this historical study were to 1) document the Selfethnic Liberatory adult education nature and goals of the poetry of Langston Hughes (from 1921 to 1933); and 2) to document the impact this poetry had on members of the African Diaspora. In addition, the goal of this research was to expand the historical knowledge base of the adult education field, so that it is more inclusive of the contributions of African Americans.

This study addressed the problem that the historical and philosophical literature of the field does not to any significant degree include the intellectual and adult education …

Race, Class, And Herman Melville, Joan A. De Santis

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Analyzes two of the short stories in Herman Melville's The Piazza Tales, "Bartleby the Scrivener: a Story of Wall Street" and "Benito Cereno" and argues that these stories are highly critical of the bourgeois class structure of American society that inform Wall Street, as well as the slave trade, in mid-Nineteenth-Century America. Posits that in these works Melville addresses the questions of hierarchical power in the workplace and the effects of racism and slavery in the colonization of America.

Hiding Hiroshima, Adam T. Fernandes

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Explores the representation of nuclear weapons in Japanese anime and US live action cinema in the 1980's, using methods from cultural studies. Examines, specifically, the silences and contradictions of the selected films to reveal the cultural ideologies of Japan and the United States during the time in which the films were produced. Analyzes the Japanese animated films, Barefoot Gen, Barefoot Gen 2, and Grave of the Fireflies, and the American live action films, The Day After, Testament, and Miracle Mile.

Revival And Revolution: The Political Social And Religious Role Of Colonial Virginia's New Light Presbyterians, Bethany N. Austin

History Theses & Dissertations

Throughout historical scholarship and popular memory, Presbyterians have been considered one of the more radical elements in the colonial American population because of ethnic background, theological ideas relating to the Scottish Enlightenment, and dissenting Protestants' position in opposition to Church-State structures. This study will examine the political theories, activities, and results of the New Light Presbyterians in Virginia's Tidewater and Piedmont regions between 1740 and 1780.

Chapter I describes trends in the historiographical literature of the Great Awakening, religion and the American Revolution, and more specifically, the politics of Presbyterianism in colonial Virginia, in addition to outlining the origins of …

The Norfolk Hoax: Fear Social Violence And Ethnicity At The Norfolk Navy Yard During The Strike Of 1877, John Douglas Forrest

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the contributing causes why the command of the Norfolk Navy Yard feared a labor uprising or riot in the surrounding community of Portsmouth, Virginia in July 1877. Racial, class and ethnic tensions heightened to the point that on the morning of July 25, 1877, unknown agents distributed pamphlets around the city, which appealed to workers at the Navy Yard. A culture of social violence was prevalent during Norfolk and Portsmouth's post-Civil War existence. The ground-level view offered by this thesis is of the intense fear that spread across the country in 1877 as a result of severe …

The Armor Of Democracy: Volunteerism On The Home Front In World War Ii California, Christopher Michael Head

Master's Theses

This paper is an in-depth study on the role of Home Front Volunteerism in California during World War II. It argues that Volunteerism was integral to America’s eventual victory. This paper fills a gap in historical writings on World War II and shows that Volunteerism is a topic worthy of study. Volunteerism played a major role in California. It helped to keep morale high even when the war was progressing poorly. Volunteerism also helped to create new communities out of those shattered by the upheaval of the Great Depression. It provided a patriotic outlet for Americans desperate to aid the …

Governor James G. Scrugham And The Search For Economic Prosperity For Nevada, 1923--1927, Paul Robert Bruno

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

James G. Scrugham, Nevada's 14 th governor, assumed office during the economic downturn of the early 1920s. The Comstock, and Tonopah - Goldfield mining boom days were in the past, and the new governor made development of a sustainable economic model for the state the top priority of his administration.

Governor Scrugham focused on education, irrigation, parks, and highways as vehicles for economic development, and significant accomplishments were made in all these areas during his term. The governor's initiatives, however, failed to immediately alter the state's economy away from agriculture and mining. The passage of the gambling and divorce bill …

"The Varied Carols I Hear": The Music Of The New Deal In The West, Peter L. Gough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Federal Music Project and subsequent WPA Music Programs served as components of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" efforts to combat the economic devastation precipitated by the Great Depression. Operating during the years 1936 to 1943, these programs that engaged unemployed musicians mirrored similar efforts of the Federal Theatre, Art and Writers' Projects. Though the Federal Music Project proved to be the largest of the cultural programs in terms of both employment and attendance, to date it has received the least attention from scholars. This dissertation demonstrates that, given the societal landscape of 1930s America, a regional perspective is …

Mining Wars: Corporate Expansion And Labor Violence In The Western Desert, 1876-1920, Kenneth Dale Underwood

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation analyzes the class struggle in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Mexico and the western United States to illuminate the social transformation taking place in this trans-national region. The US and Mexico both underwent a significant metamorphosis in this era. The creation of a labor based working class and the displacement of occupational professionals from the upper class in many communities into an emerging middle class disrupted traditional social structures in both nations. This systematic social change, occurring nearly simultaneously in the US and Mexico, was complicated by the emerging system of monopoly capitalism, which led …

"The Latent Enmity Of Georgia": Sherman's March And Its Effects On The Social Division Of Georgia, Michael Jason Spurr

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In September 1864, Union General William T. Sherman's Savannah Campaign targeted the growing animosity between wealthy and poor Georgians when he proposed that Union forces "arouse the latent enmity of Georgia." This thesis continues the study of the March to the Sea by examining the effect of Sherman's campaign as it pertained to the social divisions between Georgians. Sherman's army alone did not ruin the state's ability to remain a vital contributor to the war effort, but rather focused upon the already growing social disputes between Georgians over economic contributions, military sacrifice, and political support. Even before Sherman's army arrived, …