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“If, In That Strife, ‘T Were Given To See / The Glory Of Thermopylae”: Connections To The Classics In The Alamo And The Texas Revolution, Austin M. Pritchett

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This historical research paper argues that connections to classical tradition were made in the rhetoric and symbolism of the Texas Revolution as a means of creating a national identity as Texans and as a way of garnering support from the Unites States for their cause.

Having established the background of the Texas Revolution of 1835-1836, the famous Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, and the Battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece, I bring forth examples from primary sources of important figures using comparisons to classical history. The classical connections made in those writings were used to justify their …

Failure For Avon, Failure For Labour A Waterworks Project And The Shortcomings Of Left-Wing Groups In Pre-Wwi Aberdeen, Garrett Mast

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On September 16th, 1909, the Aberdeen Daily Journal ran a single article that encompassed one and a half pages of the ten- page printing. This article did not discuss any national or international news, but rather a town council meeting for the city of Aberdeen in northern Scotland. This meeting was anything but standard procedure, lasting six and a half hours, a record for the council with at least 27 of the 34 councillors participating in the debate. The debate discussed the rather mundane question of from which river the council should seek approval for pumping new drinking water.1 “The …

A Historical And Legal Analysis Of The Life Of Ellett Robinson, Abigail Hilbig

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

To look deeply into the lives of individuals is to begin to understand the intricacies of American life. Ellett Robinson was an African American woman, born at the inception of the twentieth century. Like the century she lived through, Ellett’s life was defined by sociocultural concepts that began long before she came to be. Perceptions of race and the family were being transformed throughout the 1800s and 1900s. Born into this tumultuous time, Ellett was destined to experience the prejudice that existed against African Americans in the South. With slaves having been freed just thirty- six years before Ellett’s birth, …

La Junta Development Of U.S. Opinion And Interaction With Chile, 1970–1981, Carson Cambell

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was hot outside in the late afternoon of the seventeenth of September when Charles Horman stepped out of his car. Horman was exhausted from a long day of many futile attempts to contact the United States ambassador in Santiago, Chile. Many hours were spent in the endeavor to secure emergency travels back to the U.S., but thus far there was no success to be found. Carrying such important information regarding the successful coup of the Chilean General, Augusto Pinochet, Horman knew he needed to reach the safety of his home country.11 The American journalist entered his house, and mere …

“No Finger In The Dike Could Have Stopped It” The Effects Of The Governmental Failures Surrounding The Teton Dam Flood, Brooke Wilks

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Lyle H. Moon, mayor of Sugar City, Idaho, was a petroleum man. He drove trucks for the greater area of Southeastern Idaho, supplying all their petroleum needs. On June 5, 1976, his route took him within a mile and a half of the Teton Dam. Unbeknownst to him, the dam had sprung several leaks that morning. Two bulldozer crews labored through the morning, trying desperately to plug the holes. While on his route, radio operators called him and told him to drive away from the dam as quickly as possible. Thinking it was a joke, Moon quipped, “Tell me another …

The Possession Of John Toldervy Early Quakerism And The Polarization Of Print Polemic In Cromwellian England, Hyrum Veach

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the winter of 1655, ex- demoniac, dismissed apprentice, and sometime Quaker John Toldervy published a short memoir entitled The Foot out of the Snare.1 The pamphlet presented itself as a part conversion narrative and part anti- Quaker exposé, and told a startling story of demonic possession. After Toldervy became a Quaker, he told his readers, his mind was corrupted by a “seducing spirit” that convinced him that he was both Christ and the Archangel Michael and drove him to perform many bizarre acts.2 Two months later, after a brief pamphlet war with soon- to- be- disgraced Quaker James Nayler,3 …

Superheroes To Regular Joes The Vietnam War Through The Lens Of American Comic Books And Cartoons, Ella Henricksen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Historians generally agree that American comic books got their start in 1842 with Rodolphe Töpffer’s The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck,1 but pairing images with text is far from a novel idea—it is practically as old as the invention of writing. By the late 1800s, cartoons and caricatures were staples in papers. Satirical editorial cartoons poked at serious issues, and single- panel gag cartoons showed a humorous picture with a caption. Short comic strips like The Yellow Kid featured regularly appearing characters,2 and in 1933, Famous Funnies (a reprinting of popular humorous news comic strips) finally made the jump to …

Sounds Of Solidarity Pan Africanism, Internationalism, And The Black Experience At Blue Note Records, Nathan Neher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Blue Note Records is considered one of the most prolific and influential independent American jazz record labels of the mid- twentieth century. The label was founded in 1939 by German- Jewish immigrant Alfred Lion who had fled Nazi Germany. Lion’s longtime friend, Francis Wolff, would later also leave Germany to join Lion and help with photography and other business affairs.1 Originally recording traditional jazz and swing groups, Blue Note transitioned to modern jazz in 1947, eventually helping facilitate the development of hard bop, post- bop, and avant- garde jazz in the mid- twentieth century.2 Lion played a prominent role in …

Pain For Profit The Motivations Of Slave Surgeons In The Eighteenth To Nineteenth Century Caribbean, Gabe Smock

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When late eighteenth- century British surgeon Dr. Alexander Falconbridge ventured belowdecks to check on the hundreds of slaves chained there, he had no illusions about the horrors of the Middle Passage. After all, this was not his first voyage providing medical care for slaves until they disembarked at the infamous markets of colonial Kingston, Jamaica. He took a moment to brace himself, then ventured down into the damp air below only to encounter a sight so awful that it was difficult to put into words when he recounted the experience years later to Parliament. As a consequence of being packed …

“Radio . . . What [Is It] Doing To Our Children?” The Impact Of Radio On Families During The Golden Age Of Broadcasting, Samuel Pulsipher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Eerie string music, a dark cackle of laughter, and then a sinister voice says, “Who knows what evils lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”3 Suddenly, an interruption by the Goodrich Man. He has something to say about Goodrich tires with their lifesaving tread and blow- out protection: “So, play safe, equip your car with Goodrich, safety Silvertown!” The Goodrich- Man is ushered out by organ music as our hero Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, is introduced. He is heralded as a man of wealth and science who devotes his life to righting wrongs, protecting the innocent, and punishing …

Personal Politicking Dolores Huerta’S Key Contributions To Farmworker Organizing, Keylla Ortega

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When she was just in her mid- twenties, Dolores Huerta served as a board member of one of the most influential mid- century civic organizations in California, the Community Service Organization (CSO). Huerta quickly established herself as a key voice in the farmworker movement for labor rights, but she recognized early on that as a woman she had to work strategically to win votes in board meetings. She later recalled, “If I wanted to get a vote on a tough case, like to fight the police department, I had to really use . . . all of this personal kind …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Japanese Imperial Education In Korea And Taiwan And The Lens Of Reciprocal Assimilation, Devin Sanders

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

During the 19th century, the nation of Japan underwent a variety of political, social, and economic changes, including but not limited to events such as the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895. This paradigmatic shift sought to usher in a new era of Japanese dominance on both regional and international scales. Japanese dominance and international relevance, as indicated by Meiji-era domestic and foreign policy, was to be realized through adopting demonstratively successful policies, technologies, ideals, governments, militaries, economic approaches, and even the appearances of Western powers.1 Indeed, influential Japanese leaders such as Fukuzawa Yukichi believed …

Vanguards Of Change In The “Georgia Of The North” Youth Activism In The New Jersey Civil Rights Movement, Emily Peterson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On February 17, 1948, the small suburb of Somerville, New Jersey began preparations for its annual “Brotherhood Week” meeting, part of an annual national initiative to address racial and religious prejudice. That day, the planning committee for the event received the following letter from a local high school student who served on the Brotherhood Week Youth Planning committee: “Every February…Brotherhood Week rolls around...But what about the other 364 days of the year? What happens to our fine ideas of cooperation, understanding, and goodwill then? Nothing ever comes of these meetings. We, the youth of Somerville, feel there should be a …

An Investigation On Food Restriction In The Medieval British Church, Cope Makechnie-Hardy

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When Seaxburh, Queen of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent, retired to her sister’s newly established religious house at Ely in 665 she was a physically broken woman, with “wan cheeks from fasting” and a body frail from years of food restriction.1 Already throughout her life Seaxburh had used her body as an integral part of her devotion to Christ, and after arriving at Ely “signed her stomach with the mark of Christ so that she might not burden it with food.”2 Nearly six hundred years later, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary would engage in a similar practice, referred to by historians …

Breaking Apartheid With Interractial Friendships, Izzy Maire

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In August 1956, thousands of South African women marched in front of the Union Building in Pretoria, South Africa. In their arms they carried petitions that demanded the abolishment of apartheid era pass laws, which required non-white South Africans to carry passbooks. The photo above depicted four women that lead this united legion of women. The white woman in this picture, Helen Joseph, commented on the racial identity of these leaders. She wrote, “Four women had been chosen as leaders for the day, Lillian Ngoyi, the African, Rahima Moosa, the Indian, Sophie Williams, the Coloured and I, the white.”1 As …

The Civil War And The Apocalypse Insights From The Millennial Sta, Megan Mcconnell

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

An editorial published in the Millennial Star on May 11, 1861, almost exactly one month after the start of the American Civil War, declared that the war that had broken out on the American continent was part of the “signs of the times” and that it “should be an incentive to diligence and faithfulness” to the European members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The war would be a calamity to a degree that had never before been seen on the Earth and one which the “nations of Europe cannot escape from.”1 The editor pronounced that the …

Blood In The Snow The Mormon-Timpanogos Conflict At Battle Creek, Nathan Hale

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On March 5th, 1849, a group of 36 Mormon men surrounded the Native American camp of a small band of Timpanogos at Battle Creek, which is present-day Pleasant Grove, Utah. The Mormon militia suspected this band of cattle rustling, and a conflict ensued that resulted in the shooting and killing of four Timpanogos men. During the battle, the women and children of the native camp took cover and endured exposure to the cold elements and frigid water of Battle Creek. Six days later, these same women and children arrived in Salt Lake City. Among the group of Native American survivors …

Remembering The Lady Representations Of Abigail Adams In The Women’S Rights Movement, Allison Haack

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In November 1975, Redbook, a women’s magazine, included a “call to action” issued to women of the United States. This call was set forth both in response to the bicentennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence as well the UN National Women’s Year. In it, over fifty organizations came together to lay out an eleven-step plan to achieve greater political equality between the sexes—namely, the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. To introduce this call to action, Bess Myers, the author, shared several anecdotes about Abigail Adams, including Adams’ charge that her husband “remember the ladies” when he went off …

The Incomplete Conquest Of Spanish Guinea 1471-1910, Pual Guajardo

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Mary Henrietta Kingsley, the famous early female explorer of Africa, once remarked that an appointment to the Equatoguinean island of Fernando Po was “equivalent to execution, only more uncomfortable.”1 Similarly, historian Randall Fegley remarked that Port Clarence, which became the capital of Equatorial Guinea, was known as “death’s waiting room.”2 When we think of the Spanish Empire, we usually envision the empire that decimated the Aztecs and the Incas, not a regime that failed to conquer and colonize an island one-fifth the size of Hawaii. Yet, for more than 400 years, the small indigenous community of Fernando Po quietly defied …

Whistleblowers: A Maya Narration On The Participation Of The Dead In The Cycle Of Life And Death, Emma Belnap

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

There is a common saying in modern American culture inspired by opera and the drudgery with which people view it. As the maxim goes, “It is not over until the fat lady sings.” If the Maya were to have their own variation on that saying, it may perhaps go, “Life is not over until the whistle is in the grave.” At burial sites on Jaina Island, an island near Campeche, Mexico rich with Maya history, hundreds of sculpted whistles have been found in graves, depicting various gods, animals, and humans.1 These objects give invaluable insight into the beliefs and practices …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Relational Pedagogy For Teaching The History Of American Religion In Collegiate Classrooms, Pearl Young

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

There is something odd about teaching religious history in collegiate classrooms. Most academic historians agree that religion is central to the history of any society, yet discussions of religious history or even religious culture are strikingly peripheral to historical narratives taught in college classrooms. Instructors frequently sidestep religion, deeming it too personal and divisive for an objective, scientific study so frequently associated with the academic field of history.

I argue that a more deliberate approach, one of relational pedagogy, overcomes these obstacles while recognizing the legitimacy of such concerns. This approach serves students well and can cover a breadth of …

The Emotional World Of Ex-Confederate Expatriates In Latin America, 1865–1870, Chase H. Mccarter

History ETDs

From 1865 to 1870, tens of thousands of ex-Confederate soldiers, officials, and citizens fled the South for destinations in Latin America. They did so because their defeat in the U.S. Civil War instigated an emotional and identity crisis. Ex-Confederates felt that they could no longer live in the South given the changes wrought by Reconstruction. Rather than remain in the region, many looked toward Latin American states, such as Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and British Honduras (Belize), where they believed they could create a way of life like that experienced in the Old South. To do so, ex-Confederates sought settlement in …

Navigating Modernity: Political And Economic Shifts In The Nineteenth Cenutry, Austin Delsontro, Andrew Cox

Chronicles: Journal Of History

No abstract provided.

The Grizzly, April 3, 2025, Kate Horan

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

This is an April Fool's parody edition of the Ursinus College Grizzly newspaper entitled "The Goofly."

William T. Sherman And The Union's 'Hard War' Approach In 1864-1865, Lori L. Infanzon

GLI MA in American History Student Works

This research is a historiography of the extent to which Sherman's actions in 1864-1865 represented a significant shift to a 'hard war' approach utilized by the Union army. Upon review of contemporary accounts, scholarship from the World Wars period, and scholarship from the 1960s to the present, this paper concludes that the scope and scale of Sherman's actions in 1864-1865 represented a significant escalation in the usage of hard war tactics designed to secure Lincoln's election 1864, accelerate the ending of the war, and dramatically revolutionize Southern society.

From The League Of Nations To Pearl Harbor: Measuring Isolationism In The Interwar Period 1918-1939, David K. Bendlin

GLI MA in American History Student Works

The complicated and contradictory task of balancing the isolationist foreign policy backed by public-opinion and political pressures, while remaining influential and involvement in international affairs, is best exemplified in the early years of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. In his first few months in office, Roosevelt positioned himself as an internationalist and moved to expand American influence overseas. In 1933, Roosevelt recognized the Soviet Union and pushed for arms embargos on aggressor nations. In 1934, Roosevelt passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act to boost international trade. In 1935, Roosevelt pushed for the US to join the World Court to extend American …

Our National Reckoning: A Historiographical Approach To Emancipation And Lincoln, Jaie R. Pizzetti

GLI MA in American History Student Works

This historiographical paper examines scholarship on Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation in our national reckoning with the legacies of slavery and race in American History since 1865. This leads scholars to inevitably confront the question of Lincoln’s true motivation for pursuing emancipation as a war goal: to save the Union or to provide a “new birth of freedom?” Following the tumultuous period of Reconstruction, which gave rise to segregation in the South, many white historians focused little attention on slavery and emancipation in studies of the Civil War. Attention returned in the twentieth century, especially with the centennial of …

Newport Dorrites And The 1842 Dorr Rebellion, Erik J. Chaput, Russell J. Desimone

Dorr Scholarship

The Dorr Rebellion Project http://library.providence.edu/dorr

The Dorr Letters Project
https://library-projects.providence.edu/dorrletters