Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Partisanship Within The American Civil Libterties Union: The Board Of Directors, The Struggle With Anti-Communism, And Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Douglas Colin Post

Master's Theses

The American Civil Liberties Union and an overwhelming majority of its historians have maintained that the organization has devoted its efforts solely to the protection of the Bill of Rights. This thesis examines that claim, focusing on the events that culminated in the expulsion of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn from the Union's Board of Directors. Relying primarily on the organization's own publications and archives, as well as several insiders' accounts, the analysis concludes that the issue of communism increasingly polarized the Board and, in a gross violation of its nonpartisan commitment to the defense of civil liberties, led ultimately to the …

Southern Baptist Missionaries And The Sino-Japanese War, 1931-1945, Sharon J. Burnham

Master's Theses

Southern Baptist men and women had lived and worked in China as missionaries for a century when Japan began its occupation of the country. They built churches and established schools and medical facilities while spreading Christianity. When the Japanese army, in 1937, escalated the war in China the missionaries found themselves working in two arenas. Many were involved in refugee relief activities in Free China, while others willingly maintained their positions in occupied territory. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II Southern Baptists in Occupied China became prisoners of the Japanese. They were …

Congressional Battles With Franklin D. Roosevelt Over Vetoes Of Veterans' Compensation, 1933-36, Valiant J. Heyer

Master's Theses

This thesis offers the first historical study specifically focusing on Franklin Roosevelt's battles with Congress over veterans' care and compensation from 1933 to 1936. The historical problem addressed in this thesis is, why did the New Deal congresses, with overwhelming Democratic majorities, rise in opposition to Roosevelt's policies and push for passage of veteran benefit programs that were known to be unacceptable to their President? Although most historians explain away the veterans' issue by attributing congressional efforts to pay the "bonus" to simple election-year pressure, this thesis provides a markedly different conclusion. Based on the Congressional Record, manuscript collections …

Narrating The New South, Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

My book, The Promise of the New South, was intended as something of an experiment with narrative. While some reviewers thought the experiment worked well enough, others disagreed. In the eyes of such critics, my book was underdeveloped and noncommittal, refusing to say what it really meant and refusing to cast itself as an alternative to other interpretation. " Given these criticisms, I thought that perhaps a word of explanation would be useful, describing the intentions, if not necessarily the accomplishments, of Promise.

"You All Must Do The Best You Can" : The Civil War Widows Of Brunswick County, Virginia, 1860-1920, Jennifer Lynn Gross

Master's Theses

This study focuses upon the life experiences of the 70 Civil War widows of Brunswick County, Virginia, a rural, predominantly agricultural community. The death of a husband, particularly in a male-oriented society such as the nineteenth century South, forced his widow to cope not only with her grief but also with new household, financial, and family responsibilities as well as a new identity as a lone woman, a social category defined by the loss of the central source of identity and financial support experienced during married life. Factors such as age, family situation, community of residence, sources of emotional and …

The Businesswomen Of Richmond During The Civil War Era, Ilene Goldenberg

Honors Theses

The history of businesswomen, like the history of businessmen, is largely stories of failure. Most of the Richmond businesswomen during this period experienced no success, some achieved marginal success, and only a handful achieved great success. For every woman like Mrs. Lyons or Mrs. Philips, there were five who failed within five years. But when one of these businesswomen failed, the effects were generally restricted to that particular woman, since most of these women ran small businesses that did not employ many workers. While their lack of overall success stands out, these women were able to achieve more control over …

The Political Views And Parliamentary Career Of John Selden, J.T. Price

Honors Theses

John Selden rose from a relatively obscure background to become an internationally renowned legal scholar and a key parliamentary leader during the contentious Parliament of 1628-1629. Selden's father was a "ministrell," yet the younger Selden became one of the most respected thinkers in London while still fairly young, and would eventually take a leading role in Parliament. Selden's brilliant mind, personality, and actions as an "honest broker" in his turbulent times made him a man who all sides could respect and who could stay afloat and prosper in the shifting political sands of Seventeenth Century England.

John Selden was the …

Sturdy Rogues And Wanton Wenches : Response To Vagrancy And Development Of The Tudor Poor Laws, 1530-1597, Sonia T. Banerji

Honors Theses

Tudor England experienced crisis levels of poverty and unemployment which manifested in the form of widespread vagrancy during the sixteenth century. From 1530 to 1597 the central government, often with inspiration from local initiatives, enacted a series of laws which attempted to address the causes of the problems as perceived by the public, in an effort to quell popular fears and anxieties regarding vagrancy.

The focus of this paper is on the response of Tudor society to the problems of poverty and vagrancy. It studies the statutory distinctions drawn between various states of poverty and how these differences disposed society …

Eisenhower And Liberation : The Case Study Of Poland, 1953-1956, Mary Catherine Stagg

Master's Theses

This thesis, based largely upon research conducted at the Eisenhower Library in Kansas, takes a new look at the official policy of "liberation." Focusing on NSC 174, this study contends that there was substance behind the campaign rhetoric of Eisenhower and Dulles. Poland was used as a case study because through an understanding of NSC 174, the Poznan riots of June 1956 can be interpreted in a new light. The uprising can now be viewed as successful as it disrupted the Soviet-satellite relationship, prevented the consolidation of Soviet power in Eastern Eu~ope, and in some measure returned Poland to its …

Memory And The South, Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Our sudden interest in memory has something to do with the democratization of history, with our interest in how literally every one saw themselves. It has something to do too with our loss of faith in the coherence and objectivity of professional history. Memory, unlike older conceptions of "national character" or "American culture," tends to divide as much as unify.

Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers' Homes In The New South (Book Review), Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Review of the book, Living Monuments: Confederate Soldiers' Homes in the New South by R.B Rosenburg. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.