Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Poverty, Flooding & Grassroots Organizing: An Analysis Of The War On Poverty & The 1977 Flood In Central Appalachia, Brooklyn Lile

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There is a long history of environmental exploitation and disastrous flooding in Central Appalachia. The region has long been plagued by exploitative practices such as strip mining and mountaintop removal which have stripped vegetation from land, leading to more disastrous floods and more frequent floods. With repeated floods comes a vicious cycle of substantial damage and destruction, as well as inadequate time and resources for full recovery before the next flood strikes. Consequently, floods and poverty have been cyclical, interlinked, and inseparable. Thus, this paper explores the relationship between poverty, flooding, and relief by analyzing the connections between the War …

The 1985 Move Bombing: A Study In Perspectives, Kaci Delisle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a military grade bomb on 6221 Osage Avenue, a row house in a Black neighborhood in West Philadelphia. This home was occupied by a revolutionary group called MOVE. The bomb started a fire that the police and firefighters decided to “contain” rather than put out, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and the destruction of sixty-one homes. Only two MOVE members survived the fire. Using court records, documents from the investigation conducted by the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (PSIC), and other interviews regarding MOVE and the bombing, this paper reconstructs different perspectives …

Autherine Lucy & The University Of Alabama Integration At U Of A 1952-1956, Tamera Lott

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the University of Alabama was chartered in 1820 and is Alabama’s oldest public university. Prior to 1956, the University was segregated; admission was limited to white men and women. On February 3, 1965, Miss Autherine Lucy stepped foot on campus for the first time to attend classes at the University; history was made as she was the first African American present. Lucy’s attendance stirred conflict throughout campus and the state of Alabama. Unbeknownst to many, Lucy’s attendance garnered both national and international attention. The central argument here is that Lucy’s experiences at the University of Alabama …

Neither (Fully) Here Nor There: Negotiation Narratives Of Nashville's Kurdish Youth, Stephen Ross Goddard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nashville, Tennessee, is home to nearly fifteen thousand ethnic Kurds. They have come in four distinct groups over the course of two decades to escape the hardship and horror of brutal central government policies, some directed toward their extinction. Many of that number are young people who were infants or toddlers when they were whisked away to the safety of temporary way stations prior to their arrival in the United States. What that means is that these youth have spent the majority of their formative years within the context of the American culture. This thesis is a study of how …

Jefferson's Abomination In The Valley: A Study Of The Economic Effects Of The Embargo Of 1807 On Louisville's Frontier Economy, Williams Lewis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis examines the effects of the Embargo of 1807 on Louisville and its surrounding areas. The purpose of this study is to discover if the interior suffered to the same degree as other regions of the country as a result of Thomas Jefferson's trade restrictions. Louisville is the focus area because it is not only representative of the Ohio Valley and the interior but also because it marked the end of civilization and the beginning of the frontier. Distinctions between class, economic status, and occupation between the inhabitants of Jefferson County are also observed. This particular approach leads to …

Claybrook V. Owensboro: Equality, Integration, And Struggle, Lori Coghill

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In 1883 the case of Claybrook v. Owensboro was one of the first challenges to equal educational funding under the Fourteenth Amendment. The definition of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause was vague and left blacks with little guidance about their new found constitutional rights. By analyzing the case along with legal, educational, and local racial attitudes toward blacks at the time, historians and educators can better understand the evolution of the Fourteenth Amendment in state and local issues. The case record from Federal Reports as well as the case file from the law final record book at the National …

Place, Disease And Mortality: Trimble County, Kentucky 1849-1894, Nancy Demaree

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This researcher describes the characteristics of place...physical, cultural and human...of a small Kentucky county and looks at the incidence of disease and dying that occurred in that place in the last half of the nineteenth century. The impact of death on particular subsets of the general population was given a closer evaluation. Very young, females and the slave/Black communities were investigated individually. The overall site and situation of all aspects of Trimble County, Kentucky were viewed in an effort to support the notion that it is the manner in which man interacts with this environment that causes disease and death …

Striking Resemblance: Kentucky, Tennessee, Black Codes And Readjustment, 1865-1866, Beverly Forehand

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To date, the scholarship covering the Black Codes has centered on these laws' role as the predecessor of Jim Crow. Little study has been given to the laws as a whole--the one encompassing work being Theodore Wilson's Black Codes of the South. Other studies have examined the Black Codes' effect on specific states; however, no specific study has been done on the Black Codes of Kentucky and Tennessee nor has any study been made of these laws' relation to the antebellum Slave Code. This project therefore will represent an attempt to show that the Black Codes of Tennessee and Kentucky …

Effectively Radiated Powers: The Cultural Impact Of Media On A Kentucky Community, William Drury

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis chronicles the development of Henderson and its media. Unlike most pioneering towns that sprung up west of the Allegheny and Appalachian Mountains during the 18th century, Henderson assumed a unique position in the development of the Midwest as an important and major tobacco port, as an agricultural conduit to the North and industrial path to the South. and as an outpost of trade to the West. A clearer picture of its aggressive nature becomes evident by tracing the hard-fought beginnings of the region. As Henderson grew in importance, so did its lust grow for excitement and entertainment. Compared …

President Reagan's Rhetorical War Against Nicaraugua, 1981-1987, Donald Morton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Reagan administration launched a two term campaign to win support for the Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua. The rhetorical war began in secrecy and ended in scandal. With Reagan's reputation as a "great communicator" and the priority he assigned to the Contra cause it seemed surprising to find virtually nothing on the topic in a search of the communication journals through mid 1992.

The central research question of this thesis is whether President Reagan used rhetorical strategies and similar depictions to other presidents in his prowar rhetoric against Nicaragua. A common theme of war rhetoric is the dehumanizing of the …

Folk Custom As A Barometer Of Social Change In A Tennessee Community, Chad Berry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using the techniques of oral history, residents of the Cypress Creeks area of southwestern middle Tennessee were questioned about their perceptions of the social change since 1940. In that year, the National Park Service hired men in the area to help snake out logs for the Natchez Trace Parkway's right-of-way. For most men in the area, the temporary positions on the Trace were the first "public" jobs they ever had. After these positions were no longer needed, outmigration brought residents north to factory-cities; thus, the building of the parkway remains a watershed in residents' memories as the benchmark when change …

A History Of The Bowling Green Fire Department: A Look At Two Traditional Methodologies, Edward Mccurley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The history of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Fire Department is presented through the use of two methodologies. Traditional historical methodology has been applied to compile the first ninety years of history while traditional folklore fieldwork--the collection of personal narratives through interviews--has been applied to compile the last fifty-six years, concluding with 1970. Six years, from 1914 to 1920, reflect the blending of the two methodologies.

The personal narratives used in this study are those of Assistant Chief Harold Hazelip, who joined the fire department in 1952. Recognized informally as the department's historian, Hazelip's recollections include his own personal experiences as …

The Public Career Of Maurice Hudson Thatcher, Randy Ream

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The public career of Maurice Hudson Thatcher was wedded to one of the most interesting epochs in Kentucky history and Kentucky politics. From 1895, with his election as county clerk of Butler County, to his defeat for the United States Senate in 1932, Maurice Thatcher was intimately involved in almost every statewide political campaign. He participated in the rise of the Republican party to a point where it was a definite force in state politics and won almost as many statewide races as it lost. He also participated in the party’s relegation to minority status with the advent of the …

The American Liberalism Of Eleanor Roosevelt, Janet Wolfe

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A biographical study of the life of Eleanor Roosevelt was undertaken to explore the various obstacles she was required to overcome as she grew to become an influential figure in the world of liberal politics. During the New Deal years her influence was most visible as she traveled across the country and relayed to her husband the concerns of the average man. As a delegate to the United Nations, after the death of her husband, Eleanor's devotion toward attaining a United Nations which would keep peace among all nations and her ability to carry out tasks in a patient and …

The 1938 Kentucky Senate Election: Alben Barkley, The New Deal & The Defeat Of Governor A.B. "Happy" Chandler, Walter Hixson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Analysis showed that the 1938 Kentucky State primary became the focal point of a national political struggle over the New Deal. The Kentucky campaign was the most significant of the mid-term elections which represented a major test of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's political strength. Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley gave unwavering support to Roosevelt and the New Deal while his opponent, Kentucky Governor Albert B. Chandler, represented conservative Democrats who sought to wrest control of the party from Roosevelt. The clash of two powerful Kentucky politicians and the widespread use of federal and state patronage distinguished the campaign. Barkley's …

Thomas Jefferson And The West, Denise Baker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

From his childhood on the fringe of the Virginia frontier until his years of retirement at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson displayed a special interest in the vast expanse of land stretching westward. The land provided the ideal place for the expansion of Jefferson’s dream of an American empire for liberty. He viewed the continent as the home of an agrarian nation living under the principles of democracy.

Chapter one is introductory in nature, linking Jefferson’s ideals to his interest in the West. Chapter two concentrates on his early contributions to the West. Emphasis is placed on land speculation, the western land …

“They Made Us Dance In The Pig Trough!” Mrs. Blanche Story’S Oral Accounts Of Dating, Courtship, Marriage And Sexual Attitudes In Northcentral Nebraska, 1885-1910, Gayle Waggoner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Oral recollections concerning dating, courtship, marriage and related attitudes were collected from a single informant, Mrs. Blanche Story of Butte, Nebraska. Through in-depth questioning during twelve tape-recorded interview sessions, value- and attitude-oriented accounts were secured for the years 1885 to 1910, the late frontier period in northcentral Nebraska. These detailed reminiscences focus on common life experiences related to interpersonal relationships and the institutions related to them, resulting in a personal or folk history. The single greatest problem in research was the lack of documentation for the attitudinal content of the texts. Corroboration of both specific information and broad patterns of …

United States Foreign Policy Toward China In Transition: 1966-1976, Chang Sheng-Ih

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study analyzes United States foreign policy toward Communist China in the transitional period since 1966, based on the American China experts' writings in journals dealing with international affairs and their views expressed in Congressional hearings. The contents explain the changing of American policy toward China from "containment without isolation" toward a rapprochement with Peking and progress toward normalization. The achievement of normalization has been a basic policy goal of the United States and has received bipartisan support, but the formula to accomplish normalization still remains obscure, due mainly to the settlement of the "Taiwan question."

The essay includes four …

The Paper Repertoire Of The Students In One Elementary School, Ruby Rufty

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This collection project is concerned with traditional paper objects made by students in fifteen classes in one elementary school in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Chapter I describes the school and classroom environments and the procedures followed during the collection project. Chapter II differentiates between the play and ornamental items collected, describes the different items and their variants made by the students, and attempts to show what persons (relatives, teachers, other children) or other factors (mass media, the students' environment) affected the paper items made by students. Chapter III statistically evaluates the collected paper items according to the sex, race, and grade …

The Oral Folk History Surrounding The Life Of William Bernard "Big Six" Henderson, Peggy Boaz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The oral folk history of William Bernard "Big Six" Henderson is unique in that Henderson himself has been a contributing factor in keeping the tales of his moonshining experiences in the oral traditions of distinct areas of Kentucky, especially Cumberland County. Interviewing Henderson and apprehended and non-apprehended moonshiners allowed speculation into the concept that Henderson was indeed a folk hero. Using Dixon Wector's requirements for heroes, the hero performing unselfish service, acquiring a nickname, obtaining sympathy for handicaps, struggles, and failures, and reaching hero status after death, and providing examples of Henderson's encounters with moonshiners, verifies Henderson's hero status, except …

An Interpretation Of The Florida Ex-Slaves' Memories Of Slavery & The Civil War, Dianna Zacharias

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is an analysis and interpretation of oral folk history preserved in the Florida Narratives, one state collection of ex-slave narratives from the larger Federal Writers' Project collection compiled in the 1930s. Fifty-four tales were extracted from this state collection and used as a basis for this study. These personal reminiscences, called memorates by folklorists, fell into two categories: slavery and the Civil war. The tales about slavery were compared to the theses and conclusions regarding slavery held by sociologists and The tales about the Civil War and emancipation were gathered by historians.

The comparison revealed that there …

Tobacco Farming: The Persistence Of Tradition, Eugene Umberger Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The culture of tobacco has been associated with the history of Kentucky almost from the beginning and remains to this day a vital force in the state’s economy. In this age of scientific and technological advances – of increasing automation – we find that in tobacco farming, hand labor still figures prominently in the production of a major staple crop. This has resulted in the retention of traditional method, technology and terminology, long since lost in the culture of other crops which lent themselves more easily to mechanization.

The study is divided into three parts. Chapter I deals briefly with …

The Cedar Grove Community In Oral Folk History, Ada Parker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The thesis was originally done for the Center for Intercultural & Folk Studies which no longer exists.

A Statistical & Cartographic Analysis Of The Size-Distribution Of Retail Grocery Stores In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Luke Hall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the spatial distribution of retail grocery stores in Bowling Green, Kentucky using the formal element of store size as a controlling theme. This purpose was behaviorally accomplished through a cartographic analysis of the city wide arrangement and a statistical analysis measuring the degree and intensity of selected variables. A survey of pertinent literature was undertaken to discover locational trends and to uncover sixteen specific variables suggested to provide association with grocery store distribution. One general and six specific hypotheses were presented! all were rejected. The cartographic displays did, however, yield promising similarities …

Luke Pryor Blackburn: The Good Samaritan, Nancy Baird

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Luke Pryor Blackburn, Kentucky’s only physician governor, is one of the forgotten public health figures of the 19^th century. As health officer of Natchez in the 1850s he instituted the first effective quarantine used in the Mississippi Valley and became a strong advocate of its use as a preventive measure in the control of yellow fever. During his lifetime Blackburn also became well known for his unselfish aid to communities stricken with the disease.

In March 1878 announced his candidacy for governor of his native state. Local politicians scoffed at his chances for election, but his actions during the …

The Rhetoric Of Laura Clay: A Southern Argument For Woman Suffrage, Margaret Wesolowski

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study focused on the persuasive efforts of Laura Clay (1848-1941) as they represented a particularly southern argument for woman suffrage as opposed to the northern, or National American Woman Suffrage Association, suffrage argument. As a Kentuckian, she believed she understood southern attitudes on the three major issues she encountered during her thirty-two years as a suffragist.

The three issues were those of woman's traditional role, the race question, and state versus federal legislation. The arguments of Miss Clay concerning these issues were premised on justice and expediency, which formed the rationale of suffragist rhetoric.

Her arguments, tailored to southerners, …

The Beeson Farmstead: A Study Of The Functional Aspects Of A Black Farm In The Richland Community, Annelen Archbold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study documents the lifestyle on a small, prosperous black farmstead in the Richland community of Butler County, Kentucky. It is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted with Percy Beeson, owner of the farm for aver fifty years. The result of the fieldwork and interviews was the documentation of how this farmstead, maintained without mechanical farm equipment, worked as a functional unit on a year-round basis.

As a functional unit, the Beeson farmstead is described in terms of the Beeson family and their ownership of the farm and the breakdown of the property into two dependent units. In the …

Logging In The Upper Cumberland River Valley: A Folk Industry, Steven Schulman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the logging industry found along, the upper Cumberland River from the 1870s to the 1930s. Because the industry was very much a part of the economic lifeblood of the people of the region, the study will focus upon the loggers and raftsmen who worked with the timber. Any attempt to describe the lumber business alone would be futile due to the nature of the industry. It is impossible to separate the logging industry of the Cumberland from the general folk life of the area, because of the involvement of the people in …

The Little People Of Pea Ridge, David Sutherland

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cumberland County, Kentucky, is situated on the Tennessee line just at the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The county's terrain is typical of land in the foothills of a mountain range and varies from flat farmland and good bottomland along the Cumberland River to steep, wooded hillsides and rough, rocky ridge tops. Areas often take part of their names from outstanding topographic features of the land. Community names such as White's Bottom, Howard's Bottom, Cherry Tree Ridge and Bow Schoolhouse Ridge are common in Cumberland County. On Pea Ridge, which runs along the north shore of Dale Hollow Lake, …

Geographical Analysis Of The State-Administered Roads In Kentucky, 1920 To 1970, Sudesh Singla

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There are several problems in the study of the growth and analysis of roads and highways. The first purpose of the study is to determine the stages of expansion in the State Highway System of Kentucky with respect to the density and the types of roads in Kentucky. A comparison has been made with other states of the nation with regards to percentage of roads paved and the total road mileage during the same stages.

The second purpose of the study is to determine the structure of growth, locational pattern of roads and major nodal points. The third purpose of …