History Commons^™

Discovering Historical Data In Clark County: Sociology Of Research Methods, Layten Moseley

Scholars Day

Learning how to conduct studies using ARC GIS mapping, enabled this class to gain a new perspective of the historical significance of Clark County. Becoming educated in this software, along with obtaining a deeper knowledge of the history in Clark County, has enabled integration and appreciation for the community and higher learning.

Negritude And The Black Pen, Sarah Carnahan

History Class Publications

The emotions toward having black skin can only be known through firsthand experience. This disposition is known as negritude. Negritude refers to the values and beliefs held in black culture and heritage. These feelings shape a person's worldview, and the way they understand society. This effect can be seen through art, music, and writing. The attitudes and feelings of negritude can be seen through the emotional writing in Birago Diop’s poem The Black Pen.

The Accessibility Of The American Dream To Racial Minorities In America, Kimberly Wong

English Class Publications

For centuries, people have had the American Dream. It has permeated the media in various forms: Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby,” and even the movie “An American Tail,” where animated Russian mice sing, “There are no cats in America and the streets are full of cheese!” The term “the American Dream” was first made popular in 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America. Adams believed the American Dream was a “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller …

Avenging Carlota In Africa: Angola And The Memory Of Cuban Slavery, Myra Ann Houser

Articles

Fidel Castro’s meta-narrative of Cuban history emphasizes the struggle – and eventual triumph – of the oppressed over their oppressors. This was epitomized in Nelson Mandela’s 1991 visit to the island, when his host took him to the northwestern city of Matanzas, and the pair gave speeches titled “Look How Far We Slaves Have Come!” The use of Matanzas as a site of public political memory began in 1843, and the memory of slavery soon became a surrogate for Cuba’s flawed liberation movement. One-hundred and fifty years after the execution of Carlota, one of the enslaved leaders of the Triumvirato …

South Africa’S History Of Struggle And Liberation, Myra Ann Houser

Articles

Clive Glaser’s The ANC Youth League, Colin Bundy’s Govan Mbeki, and Saul Dubow’s South Africa’s Struggle for Human Rights together contribute to Ohio University Press’ new series, Ohio Short Histories of Africa. The three works fit within the larger set of eight brief monographs, written by eminent scholars in a simple and publicly digestible format. The series provides an entry point for new scholars and the general public to familiarize themselves with contemporary histories in a format that is short and easy to read. At the same time, all three works have many challenges to offer more established …

Southern Families, Jennifer Burkett Pittman

Articles

The emphasis on family unity that is characteristic of the southern family has its roots in the traditional values of the agrarian upper class. The English, Scottish-Irish, and African immigrants to the south, who arrived in the 1600 and 1700s, instituted the basics of southern culture, though these patterns continued to develop and progress, as they do today. The basis of the southern lifestyle was farming and rural living, which lingered well into the 20th century, at least in certain parts of the south. Even today, agrarian traditions continue to influence southern culture. Because of the influential governing classes, family …

Women And Watchmen: Opening Alan Moore's Refrigerator, Sally Ferguson

Honors Theses

Zack Snyder's film adaption of Watchmen was my first exposure to the rabid side of the comic book enthusiasts. During that year, I took tottering steps towards comic books and superheroes, but the clamor of frenzied supporters of the film battling zealous purists nearly blew me off my feet. Alan Moore--the name reverberated through the internet and spilled onto the sidewalks in front of the movie theater. I pondered the identity of this individual for an infinitesimal amount of time before contenting myself with Batman for a few years. Years later, various enthusiasts were singing his praises to me, …

Secularization In Orleans, France: A Case Study Utilizing Mark Chaves' 'New Differentiation Theory', Stephanie J. Beck

Honors Theses

Steeped in a heavily religious history, Europe and specifically France provide an intriguing backdrop for a closer look into secularization in present-day Orleans, France. Many various approaches to secularization theory have arisen over the past sixty years. This paper explores the evolution of secularization theory, delving into Mark Chaves' "New Differentiation Theory", based upon religious authority's influence on t he individual, societal, and institutional levels. Though created by an American academician, the "New Differentiation Theory'' provides a new basis of analysis with which one may draw conclusions regarding the state of secularization in a European city (in this case Orleans, …

Ticket Splitting In Arkansas Elections, Chase Carmichael

Honors Theses

The Republican Party is sweeping the South, or is it? Throughout the Old South Republicans have been making gains in an area that has traditionally been a bastion of Democratic strength in American politics. While Arkansas may appear to be following this trend, in reality GOP gains in the Natural State may be only superficial. Despite strong showings by Republican candidates for higher offices in Arkansas, a GOP contender has yet to win a statewide office past the Lieutenant Governor's race.

This research paper examines "ticket splitting" in Arkansas elections. Ticket splitting is the practice of voting for candidates of …

Islam "Saint-Ified": A Description Of Islamic Saint-Worship Practiced By Middle Atlas Berbers, Alaina Cates

Honors Theses

Man has ever invaded, pushing aside previous owners to claim possession. Thus history tells us: of nations conquered, peoples displaced, and foreigners that become inhabitants, who will in tum be conquered, displaced, and replaced. In this telling of history, however, a position exists for those whose story knows no previous inhabitants. These people are called indigenous. The shore of North Africa is a vast land that has known countless invasions and times of foreign rule. It has also known the continuation of a single people group, indigenous to its soil for as long as history can recall. These people are …

The Paradox Of Presidential Popularity, With An Emphasis On Rhetoric, Amanda Wiley

Honors Theses

This study considers how President Bill Clinton maintained consistently high levels of public support in the face of the incessant scandals that plagued his presidency. It is my assessment that it is the nature of the presidency, Clinton's political skill, the economic environment during his terms, Clinton's rhetoric, and his personality that made his survival possible. I will place special emphasis on the areas of Clinton's personality and rhetoric as the key components for this explanation, both because I feel these characteristics are most relevant to my study and the most unexplored.

Transitions From Isolation: An Ethnographic Study Of A Contemporary Ouachita Mountains Hillman Culture, Reyda L. Taylor

Honors Theses

[Excerpt] Among these American hillmen descendants is the MacCleod Family (pseudonym). In early 2001, I heard stories about a clan that lived in the Ouachita woods like "savages." Not originally from Arkansas, I had often heard scornful jokes about Arkansas being a backward state. This perpetuated stereotype enticed m to find out if these extreme MacCleod tales were true. What I found in the region from which the stories originated was a large extended family. I also found that the stories I initially heard were not the only inflated tales circulating the region regarding this particular group. As I become …

Slavery In Hempstead County, Arkansas, Dena White

Honors Theses

A great number of general works on American Negro slavery have been published, but most are based upon records from the plantation belt. With the notable exception of Orville Taylor's Negro Slavery in Arkansas, these works almost entirely ignore Arkansas. Although slavery had certain uniformity throughout the South, the study of these previously untouched areas add to, and may eventually modify, our knowledge of the Old South's "peculiar institution."

A relatively new concept among historians is the study of slavery at the local, or county, level. Alfred North Whitehead has written, "We think in generalities, but we live in …

Contemporary Soviet Life, Phyllis Theresa Faulkner

Honors Theses

In October of 1917, the Bolshevik Party, under the leadership of V.I. Lenin, led a revolution and took over the Provisional Government. Unlike others, who had failed before them, the Bolsheviks were successful in that they involved the peasants in the revolutionary effort. Theirs was a revolution for the people, for the workers. It was not directed as had been the others, toward the upper and middle classes. To get the support which they so desperately needed from the peasants they promised nationalization of the land. No longer would the peasants be exploited by their landlords. They were promised the …

Temperance In Pre-Civil War Arkansas, Janis Percefull

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Little Rock School District 1966-1968 Elections And Their Effect On Public School Policy, Ray Earl Garner

OBU Graduate Theses

For many years, the school elections in Little Rock have followed a traditional pattern of meager voter turnout . School elections, prior to the 1967 election, were mentioned briefly in newspaper articles. The platforms were of the same general nature year after year. They included taxes, school expansion, better facilities, and higher teacher salaries. Candidates seldom, if ever, campaigned publicly and actively. Posters were usually placed throughout the city. A few days prior to the election, newspaper ads with the candidates' pictures would appear in the Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette. The 1967 school election was significant, because that …