Digital Commons Network^™

Collecting Hurricane Katrina Oral Histories: Amplifying Campus Voices, Chandler D. Smith

Library Faculty Publications

Background: A look at the process of the creation of an oral history project about Hurricane Katrina at LSU Health New Orleans Libraries.

Description: Hurricane Katrina was a major event for our campus and region. This year is a major anniversary of the event, and we wanted to memorialize the hard work, struggles and stories people had about Hurricane Katrina and its recovery. A search was done to see what oral histories had been done about Hurricane Katrina. Next, we checked with our Institutional Review Board (IRB) to see if approval was needed for the project. Our IRB determined that …

Revisiting The 64th: Assessing And Updating A Historical Collection With New Technologies, Elizabeth H. Holt

Library Faculty Publications

Background: In November 1940, the LSU Medical Center organized the 64th US Army General Hospital to serve in the Mediterranean from 1943 to 1945. In the 1970s, members of the unit donated approximately 3000 items to a faculty member, who then donated that collection to the LSU Health Libraries; it comprises photographs, newsletters, Army reports, interviews, and correspondences. In 2011, the Libraries faculty & staff undertook digitizing and describing the collection. In 2025, given the advances made in technology since the original project, it was decided to reassess both the physical and digital versions of the collection.

Description: This presentation …

Casar Public Lecture: The Fierce Battle For The 2024 Us Presidency: Race, Gender, And The Power Of Identity Politics, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

In light of the upcoming 2024 US Elections, we hosted this lecture on SUNDAY OCTOBER 27TH - 1-2 pm titled: "The Fierce Battle for the 2024 US Presidency: Race, Gender, and the Power of Identity Politics." Speakers: CASAR guest speaker Dr. Sherri McFarland - moderated by CASAR Assistant to Director and Adjunct Faculty Yasmeen El-Ghazaly. Dr. Sherri Lynn McFarland's academic and professional careers demonstrate her passionate desire to contribute to the economic, social, and political progress of African and Middle Eastern North African (MENA) countries and their diasporic communities. Her keen interest in the people of these regions led her …

Charlotte Dickerson, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Oral history recorded for the Bronx African American History Project on August 26, 2020 with Charlotte Dickerson, who grew up in the United Workers Cooperative Colony, or the Allerton Coops, during the 1950s and 1960s. Her mother, Dr. Angie Dickerson, was an African American human rights, peace, and African independence activist as well as a member of the Communist Party U.S.A., the Civil Rights Congress, the World Peace Council, the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women, and other organizations. In her oral history, Charlotte speaks about her childhood in the Coops with her mother, father Buddy, and brother …

Marion "Tiny" Frampton, Wildman, And Mike Sherman - Part 1, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Part 1 of an oral history with former Black Spades members Marion “Tiny” Frampton, “Wildman,” and Mike Sherman. All three are now leaders of TBS New Direction, a community safety nonprofit founded by Frampton that works with former gang members to make a positive impact on the youth. The interview was conducted by Dr. Steven Payne, Director of the Bronx County Historical Society, and Dr. Mark Naison, Director of the Bronx African American History Project.

Tiny, Wildman, and Mike talk about the conditions in the Bronx in the late 1960s and early ‘70s that led them to join the Black …

Lanthorn, Vol. 60, No. 06, October 27, 2025, Grand Valley State University

Volume 60, August 4, 2025 – April 20, 2026

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Rattlesnakes And Enlightenment Science: An Unlikely Epistemology Of Early American Herpetology, Sahir Hismiogullari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the hybrid epistemologies developed by early American naturalists, such as Hans Sloane, Pehr Kalm, John and William Bartram, and Benjamin Smith Barton that blended empirical observation, spiritual frameworks, and Indigenous ecological knowledge. These figures, implicitly or explicitly challenging the dominant mechanistic and reductionist models of Enlightenment science, pioneered a more holistic ecological thinking, even as they operated within colonial power structures.

Through historical and textual analysis based on letters, natural histories, and other written sources, the study reveals how these naturalists synthesized multiple ways of knowing, particularly in their encounters with New World peoples and environments. Within …

Unmasking The 1920s Ku Klux Klan In Tillamook County, Oregon, David A. Horowitz

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) arrived in Oregon in the early 1920s, during the history of the second Klan. The Klan quickly spread throughout the state, aided by a mostly white, Protestant population, as well as by racist and anti-immigrant sentiments which were already embedded in the region.

Much of the influence of KKK Tillamook Chapter No. 8 came between 1921 and 1928, when the lodge pursued an anti-Catholic agenda and supported Prohibition and law enforcement through its dominance of local government, the police, and the courts.

Ultimately, the struggles and decline of the Klan in Oregon coincided with the …

Community, Autonomy, Irony: Lessons From Historic Rosenwald Schools, Ronald B. Matus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing evidence suggests the Rosenwald schools of the American South, which anchored thousands of Black communities for a half century before desegregation, boosted academic outcomes for generations of Black students and helped fuel the civil rights movement. The research literature, however, is thin on what specifically made these schools successful. My research attempts to narrow the gaps by asking the Rosenwald alums themselves. Through semi-structured interviews, 10 alums in Florida identify defining features of their schools, including seamless community connections; a culture of high expectations for academic achievement and character development; and especially caring and committed teachers. The alums’ insights …

The Grizzly, October 23, 2025, Renee Washart, Julia Picklo, Nathaniel Nerone, Erin Ewing, Caitlin Cunnane, Kate Adams

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Opportunities in Motion • Spooky Spectacles and Enchanting Art • In the Blood: A Visceral Scarlet Letter Stage Adaptation • The MAA Fortnightly Question • Greetings From Ireland • The Best and Worst of C-Store (In My Humble Opinion) • An Injured Athlete's Experience: Emma Reinert • Bears' Players of the Week • Field Hockey Fights to Keep Season Alive

Who Intervenes When Jews Or Muslims Are Persecuted? Replicating A Profile Pattern From Holocaust Rescuers, Magnus Lindén, Fredrik Björklund, George R. Wilkes

Heroism Science

This study examined whether the characteristics that motivated non-Jews to rescue Jews during the Holocaust also predict morally courageous intentions among contemporary high school students. A sample of Swedish students (N = 231) completed a survey measuring parental role modelling, empathic concern, risk-taking, and identification with outgroups, and then indicated whether they would intervene to help persecuted Jews and Muslims in various hypothetical scenarios. All factors were significant predictors of intention to intervene; however, parental role modelling lost significance in a hierarchical regression analysis. Risk-taking accounted for the largest proportion of explained variance, followed by empathic concern, with a significant …

Deslenguadas: A Photo Essay On The Performative Remembering Of The Impact Of 1940s Americanization Programs In Northern New Mexico, Yvonne M. Montoya, Fawn-Amber Montoya

International Journal on Responsibility

This photo essay captures the dance performance Deslenguadas by choreographer Yvonne Montoya. Deslenguadas, a dance inspired by a writing of the same name published in Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, is a series of three dances – one duet and two solos. The dances in the series explore the impact the forced loss of the Spanish language had on three generations of one nuevomexicano family from the 1940s to the present day. Through dance, movement, projected animation, and spoken word, the dances explore how each generation internalized racism and shame. At the same time, these generations …

Analysing Visitor Perceptions Of Storytelling: The Eileen Gray Exhibition, National Museum Of Ireland, Dublin, Keeva Burns, Jacqui Doyle

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

Eileen Gray is widely regarded as a pioneer of twentieth century interior and furniture design. An exhibition of her work is on display in the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin. This research aims to shed light on the perceptions and experiences of visitors to the museum. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to provide insights into the quality and standard of the museum storytelling in order to generate recommendations for the enhancement of the current visitor experience. A pragmatic approach is taken, utilising both quantitative and qualitative methods of surveys and participant observation. The findings reveal that …

Student Senate Meeting Minutes October 22, 2025, Student Senate-Winona State University

Student Senate Meeting Minutes

This document is the official Winona State University Student Senate Minutes for October 22, 2025.

The British Photographic Industry And The Roles Of Women 1840-1920: A Survey, Michael Pritchard

Art Inquiries

This essay surveys the role of women within the British photographic industry to 1920 and attempts to quantify the numbers involved, their roles and how they were perceived by contemporary commentators. In common with so much of nineteenth century arts and sciences women are rarely present having been excluded by legal constraints on wealth and property, from the membership of professional bodies, and by being ignored by the contemporary press, this essay provides substantive numbers emphasising their significance.

Socialism’S Contribution To An Important Episode In Bronx And New York Music History, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

At a time when NYC may be electing its first openly Socialist mayor, it is time to share this story about Socialism’s contribution to an important episode in New York Music History.

The Brilliant Muslim Students Transforming Educational Institutions In New York City And The Nation, Mark Naison

Occasional Essays

For the last twenty years, as the Bronx African American History Project has taken its research findings into educational institutions as well as community organizations, I have spoken at or done teacher training in at least thirty schools in the Bronx, and been invited to quite a few schools outside the borough, including Stuyvesant High School. In doing this, one of the things that leaped out at me was not only the growing number of Muslim students in New York City Public Schools, but the number of Muslim students winning academic awards at those schools, particularly becoming class valedictorians and …

Rachel Cheeks-Givan, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

As a Bronx native and long-time resident, Rachel Cheeks-Givan embodies the community service she preaches throughout her work in different organizations, namely Jack and Jill of America, Inc., which focuses on providing a community for families of color. Growing up in Underhill, she had a strong sense of unity amongst other families in her neighborhood and their children. Each house on the block became her house, and each family was a surrogate for her own. Her mother, who immigrated from Puerto Rico, made their home a community pillar, fostering an area full of welcoming energy. Her father and his parents, …

Carline Frazier Crews, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Carline Frazier Crews’s interview with the Bronx Historical Society’s Director, Stephen Payne, is a captivating collection of stories from diverse racial and economic backgrounds. Born and raised in New York City, by plantation workers from South Carolina, her blend of southern history and city education made for an interesting upbringing that would empower her throughout her life.

A self-proclaimed “thinker,” Crews was labeled an exceptional student in junior high. Although her parents, who lacked a high school education and the ability to read and write, disagreed with her pursuit of education, she was forced by her father to drop out …

Theresa Land Latta, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Born and raised in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, Theresa felt a sense of community as a child and vividly remembers feeling the security of her block. Her southern household, family right across the street, and West Indian neighbors prompted a cultural exchange that encapsulated her youth through socialization, food, relationships, music, and expression. Attending a majority white elementary school, PS 76 was a time where she cherished her teachers, while starting to understand the discrimination and racial circumstances of our country. Olinville Junior High School was a time in which her character of excelling in school was tested …

Crystal Isom, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Crystal Isom is a New York native and the eighth president of the Bronx chapter, also known as the family chapter, of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Jack and Jill works to improve the quality of life for African American mothers and their children through providing them easy access to new opportunities such as scholarships for college and other job opportunities . Isom was raised within a small family dynamic. Her mother was a seamstress who raised Isom on her own. Isom lived in an apartment in East Harlem with her mother, aunt, and grandmother. Her childhood was filled …

Terrill Hughes, Mark Naison, Steven Payne

Oral Histories

Born to parents with roots in Jamaica and Mississippi, Terrill Hughes grew up in the Bronx, which is surrounded by cultural diversity and community pride. His early experiences were shaped by both the challenges of his environment and the strong guidance of family and fraternity brothers. Hughes described how joining Kappa Alpha Psi provided him with not only mentorship but also discipline and purpose, which changed the course of his life. He reflected on his role in helping to charter the Bronx Alumni Chapter and his hopes for expanding undergraduate chapters across local campuses.

In the interview, Hughes highlighted brothers …

Fort Brooke After 200 Years: A Public Heritage Approach, Alex F. Fawbush

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fort Brooke, established in 1824 at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, shaped the growth of Tampa and Florida’s west coast for nearly sixty years and served as the nucleus for the forced removal of Indigenous people. Though the Fort itself has long since vanished beneath the modern city, archaeology has preserved its legacy. Excavations since the 1970s have uncovered rich assemblages of ceramics, glass, military equipment, faunal remains, and domestic refuse. These materials reveal daily life at the post, highlighting the interactions of soldiers, Seminoles, African Americans, white settlers, and Cuban fishermen, while also uncovering the deeper prehistoric, referred …

The Orange Glow In The Sunshine State: Three Visions Of Plato In Florida (1970-1990), Ryan Mcgahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The PLATO network, a collection of mainframe computers, terminals, and educational software, has received an increasing amount of scholarly attention in the last decade as a social precursor to the modern internet. Existing histories have neglected to investigate the ways in which PLATO and its related business enterprise worked to accelerate the shift in university governance away from classical liberal ideas centering the public good and towards a more profit-centered neoliberal rationality. By tracing the rise of PLATO in Florida universities, this paper argues that PLATO aided and was aided by the shifting priorities of American universities in the 1970s …

Noblest Enterprise: Jimmy Carter And The Fight To Establish The U.S. Department Of Education, Stephen R. Merritt

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State

This paper seeks to survey some of the political forces which clashed in the late 1970s as the U.S. Department of Education was created. It also seeks to posit that President Jimmy Carter’s personal views about schooling in America had more to do with his tireless fight to establish the new department than previous scholars have indicated. Several previous papers on this subject emphasized Carter’s political debt to the National Education Association and that union’s demands that a separate department be created but none focus on Carter’s personal attachment to the ideals of education in a democratic society.

Strange And Weird Tales: H.P. Lovecraft And Horror In American History, Serafin Hector Matthews

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Author Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft (1890-1937) of Rhode Island was a transformative figure in American fiction. Hailed by one modern writer as “the twentieth-century horror story’s dark and baroque prince,” Lovecraft wrote over sixty-five works of fiction representing—alongside Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, and David H. Keller—“the golden age of weird fiction.” Lovecraft, however, enjoyed only modest commercial success during his lifetime, writing for amateur journals and pulp magazines such as The Vagrant, Amazing Stories, and Weird Tales. Most of his stories, then, were not published in hardcover or paperback form until after his death, including what many literary critics …

An Intellectual History Of The American Right To Keep And Bear Arms, John Charles Davis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation presents an examination of the intellectual history of the American right to keep and bear arms, as well as its embodiment in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. The document presents the history of ideas surrounding the concept of the right to keep and bear arms, from early Western Civilization through various channels, including English traditions, and how they contributed to the unique perspective on the right to keep and bear arms that emerged in America. Explores not only English contributions, but those of the Scots, and philosophers throughout Europe and Western Civilization, as well as …

"Concealed Sorrow": Unveiling The Implications Of Miscarriages On Women In England 1500-1600s, Krista Ann Everson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examines the societal, religious, and political implications of miscarriage in Tudor England, with a particular focus on the experiences of Anne Boleyn. Miscarriage, a profoundly personal yet historically stigmatized event, intersects with broader cultural, theological, and economic forces that shape public and private responses to it. By exploring Anne Boleyn’s miscarriages within the context of Tudor society, this research sheds light on how historical understandings of pregnancy loss have influenced cultural attitudes and policies, offering insights into the lived realities of women in the early modern period.

Review Of Ai Needs You: How We Can Change Ai’S Future And Save Our Own, Tracy A. Fernandez Rysavy

Feminist Pedagogy

AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI’s Future and Save Our Own urges citizens to band together now, while A.I. is still in its nascent stages, to head off its potentially destructive repercussions and ensure that the technology serves more than just a wealthy few. While such efforts might seem out of reach in our polarized society, author Verity Harding points to three cases from history where policy was heavily influenced by multistakeholder collaborations. This review encourages educators to use the book as a way to study business ethics; out-of-the-box thinking; and intersectional, inclusive consensus-building over a top-down approach.

Keep Searching For Stories: The Importance Of Student Historical Research In The Ai Era, Emily Westkaemper

Feminist Pedagogy

This critical commentary interprets the risk that increased reliance on AI will disrupt student researchers’ direct engagement with historical primary sources. Close analysis of primary source details supports feminist history and digital history approaches, helping researchers contextualize histories of marginalization and interrogate scholarly and popular narratives about the past. Search engines and databases can promote access to digitized documents. By contrast, large language models reflect contemporary biases and communication patterns, manufacturing general declarations about historical significance that do not prioritize digitized primary source materials. I experimented with AI queries about participants in the 1977 National Women’s Conference (NWC), a topic …