Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Black Liberation Theology In The Civil Rights Movement: Contextualizing The Works Of James H. Cone, Ella Cox

Honors Theses

In recent years, the need for racial reconciliation within the American Church has become increasingly apparent. In order to move toward justice and promote diversity, however, White Americans must first develop a greater understanding of the Black struggle for equality and equity, which has been largely shaped by liberation theology. James H. Cone, known as the Founder of Black Liberation Theology, has authored many books on this topic, but his works lack the understanding and attention they merit in predominantly White circles. This thesis seeks to shed light on the importance of liberation theology to the Black American experience by …

Hot Springs' Hidden Heroes: Jim And Leander Tugerson, Chase Hartsell

Honors Colloquium

This is the poster for the honors colloquium, "Hot Spring' Hidden Heroes: Jim and Leander Tugerson," given by Chase Hartsell. The presentation took place on February 26, 2024, in the Walker Convention Center.

Preserving Your Family Treasures, Natalie Moore, Chloe Jamora, Emma Dennis, Makena Munger, Isaac Lawson

Scholars Day Conference

Students of the Museum Studies class in the Public History program Spring 2023 - Emma Dennis, Chloe Jamora, Isaac Lawson, Natalie Moore, and Makena Munger - researched proper care and preservation for common household materials and family treasures. Their research was presented on April 29th at a workshop they planned in conjunction with Dr. Lisa Speer, the professor of the course. On Scholars day they presented a preview of the workshop. This is that preview.

Memory And Memoirs: A Study Of Civil War Soldiers' Perspectives On The Battle Of Shiloh, Brianna Taylor

Honors Theses

The most acceptable answer in today's political climate is that the Civil War was fought over slavery. Even in the rural South where I grew up, academics cast a wary eye when it is suggested that the Civil War was fought for any other reason. Historical writing is often careful to mention that other causes of the war are still interrelated with slavery, thus adding nuance. Yet still, slavery was the central cause of the Civil War, as there would have not been a war without the presence of institutionalized slavery in America. What history may remember as the spirit …

Frederick Douglass And The Patriotic Imperative, Kaitlyn Stoddard

English Class Publications

In today's post-Civil Rights era, I believe that America has lost sight of what patriotism is and where it belongs. Patriotism, as it is understood today, has become mistakenly merged with nationalism. In the minds of the public and media, patriots are supposed to exhibit undying loyalty and dedication to their country. This sentiment is better aligned with nationalism, a concept that I would argue should ideally be distinct from patriotism. While the execution of the two concepts may ultimately seem similar from the outside, the foundation of each concept is different, leading to varied execution thereof. To regrasp true …

Alexander Hamilton: Underdog Or Overrated?, Caity Hatchett

Honors Theses

This thesis uses the conflicting information about Alexander Hamilton as seen in Ron Chernow's biography "Alexander Hamilton" and Jessie Serfilippi's essay "As Odious and Immoral a Thing" as a case study showing why the analysis and evaluation of historical claims is important for building the most complete historical picture.

"Meeters In Secret": The History Of Freemasonry And Its Influence On Conspiracy Culture In The United States, Emily Mcgee

History Class Publications

George Washington. Theodore Roosevelt. John Wayne. Henry Ford. Booker T. Washington. Mark Twain. Lewis and Clark. Harry Houdini. Buzz Aldrin. The names, initially, seem to have no correlation. These men come from different centuries and economic backgrounds. They are presidents, authors, entertainers, inventors, and adventurers. They are important symbols of American culture, but their connection reaches deeper even than that. All of the men listed above, and countless others, were part of the Freemason Society. For some, this might be a shocking revelation, but, for others, this may not be surprising. Freemasons have permeated American politics and popular culture since …

What Can People Learn About The American Revolution Through "Assassin's Creed Iii"?, Katie Kitchell

History Class Publications

Video games have been a source of entertainment for people of all ages since the creation of the first video game, Pong, in 1958. Over time, video games have been improved upon to provide better graphics, better stories, better gameplay, and more fun for the family. Careers are now based on the creation of video games and their development, leading to the rise of companies such as Ubisoft, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment, and many others who base their entire company on the creation and selling of video games. Today, they have been integrated as an almost essential …

Public Verses Private Desegregation: A Comparison Of Integrating Into Arkansas' Public And Private Education Systems, Kaleb Mcadams

History Class Publications

It was May 17, 1954, when the Supreme Court issued its decision ruling the segregation of public schools to be unconstitutional. The case, Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, has maintained its significance in American history due to the way it brought about cultural change in the south. Before then, many southern states were dominated by white democratic state legislatures and had mandated Jim Crow laws which forced African American and white children to be enrolled at separate schools.

There was an uproar after the court ruling, which led many states to resist the push for integration. …

French Place Names In Clark County, Arkansas, Joe Jeffers

Articles

French place names are common in Arkansas, especially in south Arkansas, where after the French explorers left, French trappers and settlers from Canada moved in. Some of those names remain unchanged from the original French. General usage and English speaking settlers modified others. Clark County was one of five counties established in the Arkansas Territory. Its boundaries changed five times before reaching its present form in 1877. This article explores French place names in today’s Clark County and in the original Clark County formed in 1818.

What Happens In Vagueness Stays In Vagueness: The United States Constitution's Ideas On Race, Austin Clements

History Class Publications

The United States’ Constitution, while it may not explicitly discuss race in detail, has echoes of race throughout both its language and its history. Even during the origination of the Constitution, the inclusion of slavery was a hotly contested subject among the authors of the Constitution. The United States’ Constitution only uses the words “race” and “color” once and that is in the Fifteenth Amendment, which essentially gave black Americans the right to vote. While the US Constitution may not explicitly talk about race much, I argue that race is a present theme throughout the Constitution as well as behind …

Eugenics, Margaret Ann Donnell

History Class Publications

Naturally, and quite understandably, people avoid discussing the dark periods of human history, specifically the inconceivable acts of dehumanization imposed on their fellow man.

Individuals struggle to understand, sometimes simply because they cannot fathom, how a person—and in some cases, an institution—can manipulate and devalue another human being or groups of people. Often, the standards by which those with the “authority” to determine the lack of worth of the individual or population are arbitrary and subjective.

All of this is relevant in a conversation over the eugenics movement of the United States, occurring in the early to mid-twentieth century.

When …

Register Of Complaints: 1865-1868, Bureau Of Refugees, Freedmen, And Abandoned Lands

Freedmen's Bureau: Arkansas Field Office Records

No abstract provided.

Register Of Marriages: 1865-1867, Bureau Of Refugees, Freedmen, And Abandoned Lands

Freedmen's Bureau: Arkansas Field Office Records

No abstract provided.

Letters Sent, Letters And Orders Received, Endorsements Sent And Received: 1865-1868, Bureau Of Refugees, Freedmen, And Abandoned Lands

Freedmen's Bureau: Arkansas Field Office Records

No abstract provided.

Indentures Of Apprenticeship: 1866, Bureau Of Refugees, Freedmen, And Abandoned Lands

Freedmen's Bureau: Arkansas Field Office Records

No abstract provided.

The Game Warden's Gun, S. Ray Granade

Creative Works

Growing up in 1950s Evergreen, Alabama, meant more than growing up in a small, South-Alabama county-seat town. It meant growing up in a rural environment where hunting and fishing were never more than a few minutes away. Field and stream activities lured mostly males above the age of eight, and generous game laws did not obviate a brisk business in poaching. Since it was a poor county, Conecuh had its share of those who poached to put meat on the table as well as those who poached because they did not believe that game laws applied to them. Some prime …

Granada, Is It Pronounced Gruh-Nay-Duh Or Gruh-Nah-Duh: I Don't Know, But Reagan's Foreign Policy Sucked, Austin Clements

History Class Publications

The history of the Caribbean is one infested with slavery, colonialism, imperialism, and coups d’état. While these are all very important when considering the history of these island nations, what is also equally important is considering that these islands are often seen as tokens and means to convey a message by world superpowers, not as genuine nations that should be respected just as much as any European power. This is especially evident in the history of Grenada, an island nation in the eastern Caribbean. Grenada, throughout its history, has been used as a political pawn and has been bullied by …

Ambrose Civil War Letters, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Joseph Scrivner Ambrose IV was born in 1835 in Clay County, Kentucky, the sixth child of Joseph Scrivner Ambrose III and Hannah Clements Ambrose. J. S. Ambrose IV joined the Confederate States Army as a captain, Company F, 8th Kentucky Cavalry, on September 10, 1862, in Boone County, Kentucky. During the war, Ambrose participated in a Confederate incursion covering hundreds of miles of Union territory during a nearly month-long campaign, known as "Morgan's Raid." Led by General John Hunt Morgan, the legendary raid went deeper into the North than any other Confederate Army campaign, but the men were forced to …

"The Most Patient Of Animals, Next To The Ass:" Jan Smuts, Howard University, And African American Leandership, 1930, Robert Edgar, Myra Ann Houser

Articles

Former South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts’ 1930 European and North American tour included a series of interactions with diasporic African and African American activists and intelligentsia. Among Smuts’s many remarks stands a particular speech he delivered in New York City, when he called Africans “the most patient of all animals, next to the ass.” Naturally, this and other comments touched off a firestorm of controversy surrounding Smuts, his visit, and segregationist South Africa’s laws. Utilizing news coverage, correspondence, and recollections of the trip, this article uses his visit as a lens into both African American relations with Africa and …

Biographical Sketch Of Martha Green, Elizabeth Lizzie Hall

History Class Publications

Martha Glennie Greene was born on November 9, 1907 in Louisiana to Myal and Georgia Greene. Belonging to one of Arkadelphia’s pioneer families who first arrived from Virginia in 1836, her family was very involved in the community.

Franklin Haltom O'Baugh: A Short Biography, Hannah Pearce

History Class Publications

On February 9, 1922, the O’Baugh family of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, welcomed their sixth (of eight) child: Franklin Haltom O’Baugh. The O’Baugh family has somewhat of a legacy in this small town: J.H. O’Baugh, paternal great-grandfather to Franklin, was Arkadelphia’s first mayor when the city was incorporated in 1857 as county seat for one of Arkansas’ five oldest counties. As a bricklayer, J.H. O’Baugh developed the city first by building Arkadelphia’s original courthouse and then would-be Confederate Governor of Arkansas Harris Flanagin’s law office, which still stands today across from the current courthouse. Later on, he served as County Judge during …

Lizzie Borden, The Gay Nineties, And Death In Texarkana, S. Ray Granade

Presentations and Lectures

This case study of Texarkana examines the town’s existence as a new community athwart the border between Arkansas and Texas and simultaneously that between the South and Southwest. It looks at a cross-section of border-town life in the early 1890s and finds, in four disparate but common stories, that violence touched all socio-economic classes and genders as a defining cultural feature.

Purely American: How Art From Harlem And Broadway Shaped American Culture, Emily Knocke

English Class Publications

The United States of America is a relatively young country, if you consider its foundations established in the late eighteenth century. For this reason, the art forms of visual art, theatre, and literature were already well-developed by the time America had established a unique voice. Although their beginnings were segregated by race, socioeconomic status, popularity, and a couple of streets in New York City (see Figure 1), two musical styles stick out as entirely American art forms: the Broadway musical and jazz. While Harlem Renaissance writers and artists argued for a separate but valued black culture, the unique American art …

It's Reigning Men: American Masculinity Portrayed Through Stanley Kowalski, Nina Hefner

English Class Publications

“Be a man!” Popular culture shouts this seemingly innocent command at males of all ages. Throughout the twentieth century, both men and women experienced shocking changes to society’s expectations of their gender norms. With the rise of the feminist movement during the twentieth century, women were able to leave the home and embrace the workforce. More opportunities opened up for women, such as factory jobs and secretary positions, making America’s society more egalitarian between the sexes. On the other hand, after the trauma of WWII and the onset of the Cold War, men experienced a twist in society’s expectations during …

Sons Of Temperance, Maryland: Jazar Division #40, Sons Of Temperance, Smithsburg, Md Esp., S. Ray Granade

Articles

No abstract provided.

Hazel Guyol Collection On U.S. Reparations To Japanese Americans, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Hazel Sample Guyol was a teacher and writer. She was born on February 10, 1910, in El Dorado, Arkansas, to Lavelle and Fannie Belle Murphy Sample. Guyol began her teaching career in 1927. She taught in Ohio, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Michigan. In 1931, she graduated from Ouachita Baptist College (now Ouachita Baptist University) in Clark County, Arkansas, and later pursued a master’s degree at Ohio State University. She was also a member of the South Arkansas Historical Society. After Guyol’s retirement in 1973, she moved to Clark County, Arkansas, and began writing articles for the New York Tribune, Arkansas …

The Life And Legacy Of Judge Richard S. Arnold, John Jacob Lively

Honors Theses

The world of politics entails a large variety of men and women from diverse backgrounds. Politicians range from mayors of local cities and state representatives to Congressmen and presidents. One other group that I consider to be included under the realm of politicians are those that serve in the judicial branch of the United State government. While Judges may not be labeled Republican or Democratic, the political backgrounds of appointees are some of the driving forces to decide who serves on the bench. Studying the judiciary leads to coming across some historical figures that shaped history through the opinions that …

British Perspective On The Colonial Rebellion, Kayla Smith

Honors Theses

Great Britain and her colonies began their disagreements leading up to the American Revolution over the idea of taxation and representation in Parliament. A new form of taxation came with the passage of Sugar Act in March, 1764. This form aimed at raising revenue to pay for part of the cost of Britain's colonial expenses in North America. All previous taxation on the colonies had only been used to regulate commerce. The British judged the colonists should be taxed to help pay for the cost of the French war that had been fought in their defense and protection. The previous …

Much More Than Ragtime: The Musical Life Of George Hamilton Green (1893-1970), Ryan C. Lewis

Books and Monographs

This document preserves and synthesizes the unpublished information within the Green Family scrapbooks and miscellaneous archival materials with existing source materials to construct an accurate and documented account of the musical life of George Hamilton Green (1893-1970) hitherto deficient. The stereotype of Green as a novelty ragtime xylophonist diminishes as the many facets of Green’s diverse musical career are revealed: talented musician, versatile performer, recording and radio artist, pedagogue and author, composer-arranger, and influential instrument designer, as well as formidable athlete, talented artist-cartoonist, and devoted family man. George Hamilton Green is a significant twentieth-century American musician who lived an extraordinarily …