History Commons^™

Poles And Puerto Ricans: Immigration And Assimilation In The Pioneer Valley, Gabriel S. Proia

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

This paper attempts to explain why Polish immigrant farmers who came to the Pioneer Valley around the turn of the century assimilated more fully into the dominant culture and achieved on average greater economic success than Puerto Rican immigrant farmers who engaged in similar work in the same region roughly fifty years later. I begin by reviewing American Studies literature on assimilation dynamics to develop a framework for qualitatively evaluating how both groups changed over time. The evaluation is thereafter based on local newspaper articles and secondary ethnographic and historical literature from throughout the twentieth century, as well as interviews …

“Students Find Corporate Reforms Absurd”: Bryn Mawr Student’S Mobilization For Divestment From Apartheid South Africa, Madeline Rose Kessler

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

In 1986, Bryn Mawr College’s endowment held $8 million or 8.33% of its $96 million endowment in investments tied to Apartheid in South Africa. In line with other major US institutions who believed they must act moral in the face of violent and exploitative system of racial discrimination, the Board of Trustees, the governing body that oversees college operations and finances, proposed a plan in 1985 to divest from subsidiaries of their stock in South Africa if Apartheid was still in place 24 months later in 1987. This came at the tail end of the international movement to oppose and …

Rogers, Arkansas: The Impact Of The Frisco, Jeffrey Weaver

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The second American railroad revolution transformed areas like Benton County, Arkansas, from rural farmland to urbanized cities. The railroad provided affordable transportation during the period called the New South. The railroad sparked the agricultural boom in Rogers, sending millions of apples and other agricultural goods to surrounding states. By 1900, Benton County had produced more apples than any other county in the country, elevating Rogers to one of the leading shipping hubs in Northwest Arkansas. The population increased by double-digit percentages, resetting the settlement dynamics of Benton County. In turn, the small town with a robust economy created a sensation …

2024 O'Callahan Society Newsletter, O'Callahan Society, College Of The Holy Cross

O'Callahan Society Newsletters

This annual newsletter of the O'Callahan Society includes articles about the 2023 Annual Dinner. Admiral James G. Stavridis, United States Navy (Retired) was guest speaker. President of the College of the Holy Cross, Vincent D. Rougeau, made introductory remarks. VADM Peter Daly, US Navy (Ret) was 2024 Annual Meeting Speaker.

Review Of Repression, Resistance And Collaboration In Stalinist Romania, 1944–1964: Post-Communist Remembering, By Monica Ciobanu, Stefan Cristian Ionescu

History Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Repression, Resistance and Collaboration in Stalinist Romania, 1944–1964: Post-communist Remembering by Monica Ciobanu.

Italian Mutual Aid Society Of West Mineral Collection, Brent Mcdowell

Finding Aids

The Italian Mutual Aid Society, Carl Marx Chapter was created by Italian miners in West Mineral to serve as a social and mutual aid society starting in 1906 according to the society’s ledger. This society helped hurt miners and their families, as well as families of miners killed while working in Southeast Kansas mines. Groups like these would go on to become unions, the members being important in negotiations with mine owners for better working conditions and benefits such as pay or money that went to the injured or the families of those killed in the mines. Examples from this …

Maternal Sacrifice And Resilience: The Legacy Of Harriet Jacobs And Enslaved Black Motherhood, Beverly A. Duran

GLI MA in American History Student Works

This paper explores the unique role of enslaved Black women in preserving family and cultural identity during the American slavery era, focusing on the life and writings of Harriet Jacobs. Through her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs exemplifies the extraordinary sacrifices and resilience of enslaved mothers, who navigated the dual burdens of racial and gender oppression. The study delves into Jacobs’s years-long confinement in an attic to avoid separation from her children and her use of storytelling, education, and cultural practices to resist dehumanization. It highlights how enslaved women, despite systemic constraints, developed strategies to …

Come As You Are: The Rise And Fall Of The Grunge Movement And Its Implications On The Identity Of Seattle, Colin J. Wood

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

This paper evaluates the rise of the Grunge movement through Nirvana’s Nevermind album as a unique burst of culture through the city of Seattle. Culturally, in the late 20th century, Seattle found its identity in the area around it, though other American cities overshadowed its significance. Through music, figures such as Jack Endino and the iconic Kurt Cobain gave Seattle an unfathomable uplift within global culture. This paper argues that grunge culture emerged as a distinct facet of Seattleite identity, with elements like flannel clothing and thrifting playing pivotal roles in shaping the city's recognizable and esteemed cultural landscape. It …

Interview No. 1787, Antonio Marín

Combined Interviews

Mr. Antonio Marín is a former resident of El Segundo Barrio. Arriving to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico, at the age of 5, he recalls entering for the first time through the Santa Fe port of entry from Ciudad Juárez to downtown El Paso. He and his family first rented a single-room apartment and then moved to a two-room flat in a tenement. Antonio attended Aoy Elementary and Bowie High School. He talks about how Southside El Paso was a segregated community of Mexicans and Blacks, where they would get along well in places like Douglass Elementary. Mr. Marín …

Interview No. 1789, Jorge Peña

Combined Interviews

In this interview, Mr. Jorge Peña describes his childhood living in Ciudad Juárez. Walking to school, playing with other kids on the street, as well as his family are some of the memories he has from these early years. One that stands out is crossing to El Paso to eat at restaurants and go shopping, creating a positive impact in his desire to cross the border in the future. When the time came for Jorge to enter high school, he came to El Paso to live with an aunt. He then attended Irving High School, went to El Paso Community …

War Relief In World War Ii: Women And The American Red Cross, Rebecca L. Trecek

Great Plains Graduate Review

This paper recognizes the growth of the American Red Cross (ARC) and the contributions women throughout the network of the ARC made to various goals during World War Two. This paper focuses on the work women completed particularly on the home front. While some aspects of the ARC are publicized, others, particularly on the home front, are less well-known. As the demands for women within multiple aspects of the American workforce grew, organizations like the American Red Cross contributed to bridging the gap between women in the workforce and home needs. ARC volunteers also took on the responsibility of recruiting …

Saint Brigit And Her Habits: Exploring Queerness In Early Medieval Ireland, Jacqueline K. Stephenson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Saint Brigit's behavior and reception by society highlight an avenue by which women in the early medieval period could escape societal strictures, exercising agency over their bodies and their romantic choices, and carve out a distinct and unexpected place for themselves in a Christian patriarchal society. In Saint Brigit’s case, this is especially demonstrated by the breadth of her portrayed power as not just a nun but a saint, her extreme resistance to marriage, and her frequent comparisons to men. Indeed, her hagiography, written by Cogitosus in the seventh century, positioned her as one of the three principal and earliest …

Fleeing Towards Healing: How Cam Can Heal Refugee Communities, Sarah B. Shaalan

Master's Theses

Alternative methods of healing can be found across the globe and are used by all kinds of people including refugees. This thesis will explore the potential benefits of Complementary and Alternative Medicine otherwise known as “CAM” as a supplementary strategy for helping refugees to deal with stress, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other harmful effects sustained on their journey and lives as displaced peoples. I will do so by first situating my project in the literature on Eurocentrism in healing practices and the emergence of CAM as an alternative. Then, using extensive primary and secondary sources, supplemented by an …

Interview No. 1788, Simon Chandler

Combined Interviews

Simon Chandler was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. He graduated from North Staffordshire in 1990. After that, he began traveling through America. He got to El Paso in 1991 to work as a volunteer in Casa Anunciacion.

Before coming to the United States, Simon had impacting life experiences in Africa and Israel, shaping his approach to community life and community service. After that, he came to the United States to know the culture more profoundly, leading him to El Paso as a volunteer at Casa Anunciacion. His plans to travel to Peru changed unexpectedly, keeping him and his family in …

Korean Newspapers And The “Irish Problem”: Japanese Censorship In Colonial Korea, 1920-1930, Jaehyun Kim

Student Work

Jaehyun Kim’s thesis, “Korean Newspapers and the ‘Irish Problem’: Japanese Censorship in Colonial Korea, 1920-1930,” touches upon a subject that scholars of colonial Korea have given insufficient attention to. Kim asks why there featured so many colonial Korean run newspaper articles on the Irish Independent movement in the 1920s and 1930s when the Japanese colonial government actively censored Korean newspapers. Indeed, in the wake of the March First Independent Movement, the colonial authorities shifted its harsh military rule to a more conciliatory cultural policy, allowing Koreans to vent their nationalistic sentiments within the confines of state control. However, the level …

The One-And-A-Half Chinas’ Problem: Taiwan And The Origins Of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988, Lucas Miner

Student Work

Lucas Miner’s thesis, “The One-and-a-Half Chinas’ Problem, Taiwan and the Origins of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988,” deals with attempts by the Chinese Communist Party and the Guomindang to achieve unification between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan during the early phase of China’s reform era. The thesis seeks to update our interpretation of Cross-Strait relations by exploring the origins of peaceful reunification, tracing its early evolution from 1978 to 1985. Primary sources from both sides of the strait—especially from the rich repository at the Academia Historica in Taipei—allows Miner to construct a nuanced and significant narrative that uniquely incorporates …

Usa Archaeology Museum Newsletter - June 2024, Archaeology Museum

Archaeology Museum Newsletters

In this edition of the museum's newsletter:

• Document the Historic Plateau/Africatown Cemetery?
• Giving to the Archaeology Museum

Class And Class Consciousness According To E. P. Thompson, Daniel Cunningham

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In this article, I extract a theory of class from E. P. Thompson’s historical works of the 1960s and 1970s, focusing especially on his 1963 magnum opus The Making of the English Working Class, the articles later collected in the 1991 volume Customs in Common: Studies in Traditional Popular Culture, and the essays “The Peculiarities of the English” and “Eighteenth-Century English Society: Class Struggle without Class?” In the first section, I argue, following Ellen Meiksins Wood, that Thompson developed a genuinely historical materialist theory of class formation as a “structured process” that moves from class struggle to class …

"Crush The Monster": Homosexuality And Moral Panic In 1950s Idaho, Ian Hadrick

University Honors Theses

On October 31, 1955, three men were arrested and accused of performing homosexual acts in the quiet, suburban community of Boise, Idaho. The arrests set off a sweeping investigation of Boise's "widespread homosexual underground" that made national news and resulted in more than one thousand police interrogations and the conviction of fifteen homosexual Boiseans. Though Boise's moral panic and the ensuing investigation are among the largest of the sex panics of the 1950s, the city's 1955 homosexuality scandal has attracted relatively little scholarly attention. An in-depth analysis of the social, economic, and political forces that combined to produce hysteria in …

Abusive Abbots And Malevolent Monks: Monasteries And Violence In The Early Anglo-Norman Period, Timothy B. Smart Jr.

University Honors Theses

This investigation examines the conduct of abbots and monasteries from 1066 to 1087 in the context of violence and monasteries. It analyzes monastic chronicles and Anglo-Norman histories. The two historiographical lineages that emerge: the Norman Conquest and religious warfare. After the initial conquest in 1066, four native abbots offer insight into a range of local monastic behaviors during the early years of Norman rule. The Normans, in their combat against rebellious monasteries, developed procedures to remove local abbots in 1070. This connection between rebellions and monasteries drove the militarization of monasteries by both the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons. The militarization …

Past * An Introduction To The Problem, Zelimir Zilnik, Boris Buden, New Media Center Kuda.Org, Olivera Jokic

Publications and Research

Who can know what is in the past? Is it what historians can tell us? Should we also trust what we can remember? Past • An Introduction to the Problem proposes that the problem of the past now concerns everyone. Visions of a different, brighter future defeated in the Cold War and its heated afterlives, we are being offered the past as the only horizon of possibility. And what are we supposed to find in that past? Philosopher Boris Buden considers these questions in a series of essays and conversations with filmmaker Želimir Žilnik, one of the most prominent filmmakers …

Book Review: Christopher F. Rufo. America's Cultural Revolution: How The Radical Left Conquered Everything. New York: Broadside Books, 2023., Alexander Robbin Marks-Katz

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Neo-Marxism. Critical Race Theory (CRT). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). All of these ideas are conventional wisdom today, yet until the presidential election of 2016, they were well outside the public sphere. Christopher Rufo explains in America's Cultural Revolution the mechanisms through which American culture reached its present state. While there are many reviews of his book, this one is unique because it considers his scholarship from a religious history perspective.

“My Kingdom For A Horse!” The Development Of Equestrian Influence In Early Modern Europe, Jane Goode

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Humanity has always had a close relationship with horses, from using them for work to warfare to recreation. The era of early modern Europe is especially telling because of the transition of horsemanship underwent during that period. The horse has been used as a symbol of status and power that can be seen strongly throughout the culture of the 17th and 18th centuries with the development in breeding, the impact on different courts throughout Europe, and their elevation in art.

Samovars In The Snow: The Rise Of A Distinctively Russian Tea Culture, Abigail Coker

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

In the 18th Century, tea culture emerged in the Russia of Catherine the Great. Following the lead of the westernizing empress, Russians of the aristocracy adopted the refinement, which the spread across the empire. By the mid-19th Century, Russians from all social classes enjoyed tea not just as a drink but as a means of socializing and extending hospitality. Tea culture also manifested itself in new types of foods as well as cups and plates, as well other elements of broader Russian culture.

Legal Slavery In America: A Precedent Set By A Black Plaintiff, Edwin Vazquez

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The legal precedent for slavery in America was set by a free black in a case decided by a seventeenth-century court granting the ownership of a black defendant to a black plaintiff. Slavery was not introduced by the arrival of the first Africans at Point Comfort in 1619. Ironically, it was introduced by precisely one of these first African arrivals to the New World. From this point, it developed into the known institution of slavery that later had to be quelled by a Civil War.

Sedimented For The Future: Can Technology Sustain Tradition?, Nihal Bursa

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Turkish coffee is unique in its brewing technique and deeply rooted in the culture developed throughout the Ottoman geography since the sixteenth century. The knowledge, skills and rituals of Turkish coffee are transmitted to new generations through observation, participation and practicing. Be it an elaborate ritual at the Ottoman court or a modest peasant pleasure, Turkish coffee requires dedicated time, manual skills and decorum. The pace of industrialization and urbanization in the twenty-first century forced people to acquire new lifestyles. This has put Turkish coffee service in jeopardy especially in public spaces. Owing to the Turkish coffee machine designed by …

The Creation Of An African American Jewish Culinary Tradition: Michael Twitty And The Passover Seder As A Vehicle For Remembering Trauma And Celebrating Survival, Samira Mehta

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The Exodus of the Israelites has long held meaning for African American Christians, as noted by scholars of African American religious history. Jewish studies scholars, meanwhile, have written about both Passover and Jewish relationships to the Exodus. Michael Twitty, public historian, James Beard award-winning author, and memoirist, has fused an identity for himself by drawing on the foodways of both traditions to remember and memorialize the trauma of both traditions While Twitty uses food to create meaning in the context of holidays, his memoirs, Kosher Soul and The Cooking Gene, explore how the food of trauma, poverty, and resilience provide …

Obedient Bellies And The Coming Of Urbanization In Fourth Millennium Mesopotamia, Saikat Mukherjee

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Hunger has always been a persistent trauma of mankind in every age. As a matter of fact, “hunger” which according to Seth Richardson can be defined as the "routine and everyday sub-nutrition, less than a famine and more than a temporary inconvenience" is “one of the most powerful, pervasive and (arguably) emotive words in our historical vocabulary” (Richardson, 2016; Murton, 1988). Food has been the only way to satiate the mass cry and is overlooked by social and economic historians and/or archaeologists as a potent medium to understand an interdependent mass psychology. We seldom try to study food at the …

An Abundance Of Cakes: How A National Trauma Created A Unique Culinary Practice In Southern Jutland, Nina Bauer

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The southern part of Jutland has its very own distinct food culture and traditions. Its history differs from other parts of Denmark because this region was under German rule from 1864 until the Reunification in 1920. Special laws were imposed to curtail the population’s political and cultural ties to Denmark. Any political gatherings or sentiments were strictly forbidden. However, cooking was free of restrictions and cooking thus became one of the primary ways to hold onto a Danish identity. This led to a conservation of recipes and traditions that were disappearing in other Danish regions. The farm wives became the …

The Legacy Of The Humoral Theory In Modern Culinary Tradition, Andrzej Kuropatnicki

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

The humoral theory, an ancient medical doctrine originating in Greece and championed by eminent physicians like Hippocrates and Galen, served as the cornerstone of medical understanding for millennia, preceding the emergence of modern medicine. This enduring theory postulated that an individual's health was intricately linked to the delicate balance of four bodily fluids or humours. Over the course of nearly two thousand years, it not only shaped medical practices but also profoundly influenced the choices people made regarding their diets and overall well-being. Its reach extended far beyond the realm of medicine, leaving an indelible mark on our culture and …