United States History Commons^™

Journeying To A Third Space Of Sovereignty: Explorations Of Land, Cultural Hybridity, And Sovereignty In Ceremony And There There, Jillian Eve Sanchez

English (MA) Theses

In Native American literature, there is a discourse that solely focuses on the relationship between Indigenous people and the land. This relationship is vital to understanding the traditions, rituals, storytelling, and practices of Native Americans. The presence of settler colonialism changes the relationship, effectively changing the nature of cultural and spiritual relationships as well. Indigenous literature provides examples of the modern relationship Native people have with their land; an example of this is Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony and Tommy Orange’s There There Despite modernity, assimilation, and ways of life introduced by settler colonialism, Native people maintain a relationship to the …

Are Small Businesses The Framework For A Successful U.S. Economy?, Carson Clevenger

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will investigate the impact of small businesses on the United States’ economy. I will be assessing several impact areas including gross domestic product, employment, and local economy contribution. This thesis will cover a study from the time periods of 1998-2014 of the gross domestic product and employment levels and will use numbers from the years of 2018- present for other impact areas. Furthermore, I will be analyzing certain sectors of the economy, comparing small businesses contribution to corporate contribution, in order to discuss if small businesses are necessary for our country’s successful economy.

More Than Just A School: Medicinal Practices At The Abiel Smith School, Dania D. Jordan

Graduate Masters Theses

The Abiel Smith School, located on the North Slope of Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest Black schools in the United States in one of the oldest free Black communities. The Abiel Smith School was constructed between 1834 and 1835 as a means to resist racial discrimination in the public school system. The Smith School is central to Beacon Hill’s Black history because it helped Black Bostonians advance in society and mitigate against the effects of racism through education. However, the Smith School may have served a dual role in the Black community. Medicinal bottles excavated …

Racial Terror Lynching In Northwest Arkansas: Recounting Of The Story Of Three Enslaved Males Lynched In 1856 In Washington County - Documentary, Obed Lamy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While Northwest Arkansas is considered as diverse and progressive today, it also shares a common history of racial violence, and yet almost unknown, with the Southern United-States. Little is being said about the slave plantations in Elkins, racial cleansing in Springdale, or public spectacle lynchings in Fayetteville. This is because white people who hold political and economic power also control how history is written and decide what is to be learned from their perspectives. Marginalized communities, especially Black people, have not always had agency to tell their own stories. The lynchings of three enslaved males, Anthony, Aaron, and Randall, in …

"I Love Judges, And I Love Courts:" Chief Justice William H. Taft And Reform In The Federal Judiciary., Alexandra M. Michalak

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

As the only former president to ever serve as the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, William Howard Taft’s legacy is best exemplified through his impact on the federal judiciary. Taft proved in time that the judiciary was his one true passion, undertaking revolutionary federal court reform that expanded the federal district courts, introduced the Judicial Conference, strengthened the chief justiceship, expanded the Supreme Court’s discretionary jurisdiction, and established a freestanding Supreme Court building. Following the reform trends of the period, Taft accomplished his reforms with the help of his political connections and experience, his colleagues on his …

Amplifying Collections With Oral Histories In A Virtual World: The Student Help Lived Experience Project At Queens College Cuny, Annie E. Tummino, Victoria Fernandez

Publications and Research

In response to the challenges brought on by the onset of the pandemic, the Queens College Special Collection and Archives (SCA) created the “Student Help: Lived Experience” student fellowship, designed to be completely remote. The project is an initiative to further document the activities of Queens College students who participated in both the Virginia and South Jamaica Student Help Projects in the early to mid-1960s. The Virginia Student Help Project was an intensive education effort during the summer of 1963 in Prince Edward County, Virginia where public schools were closed for five years in massive resistance to integration. The Jamaica …

"At The Peril Of Our Lives": Race, Citizenship, And Philadelphia's 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic., Abigail Posey

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The late-eighteenth century was a crucial time for determining the social role of black people in Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania at large. In 1780, the state legislature began a gradual abolition process that contributed to a growing free Black population in the city, while many other Black Philadelphians remained in bondage. Their livelihoods remained restricted by anti-Black laws that contributed to the overall poor health of Black Philadelphians. As the yellow fever epidemic began in 1793, Philadelphia’s medical community supported racist scientific myths that Black people possessed a natural immunity to yellow fever. In an agreement with the city and Dr. …

Failoure On All Fronts: The United States Army In The First Year Of The War Of 1812, Gary H. Nobbs Jr.

History Theses

The United States declared war on the United Kingdom in the hopes of defending the nation's national honor. However, the United States Army was unprepared to go wage war. The army's supply system, militia system, and field commanders failed and led to a disastrous first year of conflict.

Distinctly American: The Roots Of Secessionism And Nullification In The United States, Patrick F. Ryan

History Theses

A retrospective study of the role that secessionism played throughout American history, beginning in the late 18th century. The purpose of this work is to show how John C. Calhoun's (and other Southerners') ideas and rhetoric were not novel. This paper investigates the early whispers of nullification and secessionism in the United States; the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, Essex Junto, Hartford Convention, indecision by the founders, and how they shaped later American politicians in the mid-19th century.

“Attracted By The Light But Repelled By The Heat”: The Final Years Of The Southern Conference Educational Fund (Scef) And The Turn To The New Communist Movement In The South., Hannah C. White

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This thesis focuses on the final years of the Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF), including the organization’s split in 1973. During the late sixties and early seventies, SCEF operated, with its headquarters in Louisville, as an interracial southern civil rights organization that focused on organizing whites in the struggle against racism, oppression, and exploitation. This thesis unpacks SCEF’s relationship with Louisville’s Black Panther Party and examines the ways in which interracial organizing grew to be more problematic during the turn of the decade with the rise of nationalism, Black Power, and a new attention to the intransigent racism that continued …

Positive Rhetoric, Prejudiced Policy: The Contradiction Of Islamophobia In American Government After 9-11., Molly Bilz

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Following the tragic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, local and national leaders responded to the security crisis by uniting the country under the American ideals of freedom and democracy while condemning the Islamic terrorist group responsible. With beliefs rooted in historical American and European prejudice, Western scholarship promoted a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West wherein the cultures’ supposed irreconcilable differences would inevitably lead to warfare. Simultaneously, many Americans grew suspicious of Muslims after the attacks, including government officials. As hate crimes against Muslim and Middle Eastern Americans soared in the U.S., government leaders used positive rhetoric …

Ephemeral Existence: Tracing Early Twentieth Century Tattoos And Perceptions Of Identity Within The New Orleans Police Department Mugshot Collection, Kaylie M. Mccarthy

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

People have long used tattoos as markers of identification. However, there remain limited scholarly studies on the history of tattoos within the city of New Orleans. This thesis argues that through analysis of the tattoos recorded in the New Orleans Police Department Mugshot Collection, it is possible to situate the early twentieth century arrested population within a greater societal context, allowing for the intimate details of individual lives and personal stories to come to the forefront. Through the synthesis of demographic data from the 152 mugshots that pertain to tattooed arrestees, and three case studies on arrestees with patriotic, nautical, …

We, Too, Have Deeds Of Heroism To Tell Our Children: The Role Of The United Daughters Of The Confederacy In The Perpetuation Of The Confederate Lost Cause In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Madison Whipple

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

The conversation surrounding Confederate memorialization has become increasingly relevant, especially as it relates to public monuments. One of the groups that perpetuated Confederate memorialization was the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In the early twentieth century, this organization was prolific in not only memorializing the Old South, but also in seeking to vindicate the Confederacy. While this topic has been discussed and analyzed by scholars on the national level, and even regionally, the conversation skips over Fayetteville. Fayetteville’s history is considered more progressive due to the presence of the University, but there is little coverage of Fayetteville’s memorialization of the …

Bears Ears National Monument: An Integration Of Social And Environmental Justice, Helen Greene

Honors Theses

In 2015, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition of the Hopi, Navajo, Uintah and Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni Tribes submitted a proposal to President Barack Obama for the creation of Bears Ears National Monument. In 2016, using the power given to the president in the Antiquities Act, President Obama issued a presidential proclamation establishing the monument. But in 2017, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation that significantly reduced the acreage of the monument. Bears Ears is located in the southeast corner of Utah, and is a remote and geographically unique area of land that holds historical, cultural, and …

Coming To Terms With Legacies Of The Vietnam War, Paul Morrow, Shelley Inglis, University Of Dayton. Human Rights Center

Reports and Promotional Materials

This report is the result of a symposium convened by the University of Dayton Human Rights Center in October 2020. For their contributions to that symposium we thank the following speakers: Allison Varzally, Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, Yen Le Espiritu, Tom Grace, David Cortright, Cynthia Enloe, David Kieran, Patrick Hagopian, Scott Laderman, Andrew Bacevich, Chuck Searcy, Dang Quang Toan, Colleen Murphy, Katherine Gallagher, John Goines III, Ben Schrader, Susan Hammond, Bich-Ngoc Turner, and Tim Rieser. Heather Bowser, Đạt Duthịnh, Garett Reppenhagen, and Mike Boehm enriched the symposium by discussing experiences of advocacy around war legacies; we are particularly thankful for the chance …

Reading On The Home Front: The Evolution Of U.S. Children’S Literature And American Values During Wartime Conflicts, Sophie Barton

Honors Theses

Children’s print culture is an understudied dimension of American history. It is well established that children’s history is vital to understanding the role of the child in American history and how modern childhood has developed. This study aims to uncover how children’s print culture plays a vital role in understanding how children’s perspectives changed and the varied messages adults imposed on children during the Civil War, World War One, and World War Two. In this Honors Thesis, I study various types of print productions including short stories, comics, and school textbooks in order to understand the various ways adults attempted …

The Congress Of Industrial Organizations: Operation Dixie And A Legacy Of Worker Activism, Trevor G. Porter

Honors Theses

Trevor George Porter: The Congress of Industrial Organizations: Operation Dixie and a Legacy of Worker Activism (Under the Direction of Dr. Jarod Roll)

The passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 overhauled United States labor law, and it shifted the balance of power in favor of organized labor. Seizing upon this monumental moment in history, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was founded with a mandate to “organize the unorganized”. The labor federation made its primary focus the mass production workers of America, many of whom had not previously been afforded the opportunity to join a union. This …

The Iran Hostage Crisis: A Media Narrative, Catherine Claire Hausman

Honors Theses

The Iran Hostage Crisis, from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, was a defining moment in American foreign policy and US – Iranian relations. The news media – local and national newspapers and television – was saturated with coverage of the situation in Tehran and the subsequent US reaction. Americans watched the news over the 444 days, feeling sympathy and forging a collective national bond with the hostages; the international conflict was deeply personal for many Americans. The media played a central role in the establishment of the narrative of the hostage crisis, developing specific roles and personas of …

Through The Wilderness: Andrew Jackson's Military Road And The Settlement Of The Southern Frontier, Dustin Mitchell Wren

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Shortly after the War of 1812, the U.S government attempted to construct a new military road system connecting Nashville, Tennessee to strategic ports at New Orleans and Mobile. The road was intended to grant faster military responses to British, Spanish, and Indian threats within America’s southern frontier and to aid in the region’s settlement. The American government directed iconic General Andrew Jackson to spearhead the road’s construction, believing the construction would be rapid and the expenses minimal. However, the impenetrable thickets and inundating swamps of the Mississippi Territory proved untamable, while shifting geo-political dynamics mitigated the road’s necessity. Never used …

We May Undertake To Run The Churches: The Stanton-Ames Order And Union Military-Supported Church Confiscation During The American Civil War, Todd Ernest Sisson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

During the American Civil War, the Methodist Episcopal Church was authorized and supported by the federal government to take control of Methodist Episcopal Church, South, churches and parsonages in which a loyal minister appointed by a loyal bishop did not officiate. Authorized under the popularly styled “Stanton-Ames order,” northern Methodist agents traveled southward alongside the Union army, and the two parties worked in conjunction to eject southern Methodist ministers from their pulpits and replace them with ministers who were loyal to the Union. These confiscations happened across the South, but they were executed by northern Methodist officials who engaged in …