History Commons^™

Arthur Before The Romances: Exploring Arthur's Evolution As A Literary Figure, Austin Long

History Undergraduate Theses

In 411 CE, the Roman legions left the island of Britain, never to return. This led to the slow decline of the Romano-Britons until their ultimate defeat at the hands of the Anglo-Saxons invaders. The Anglo-Saxons would remain on the island slowly supplanting the native Celtic language and culture until the Old English emerged. Out of this era emerged stories of a Celtic hero that would drive out the foreign invaders and reclaim Britain for the Celtic Britons. This story would later become very popular on the continent of Europe and the Celtic legend of Arthur would change. Using a …

Black Maternal Mortality: A Result Of The Haunting Past, Jaylynn Arnold

Global Honors Theses

Throughout history, Black women have been treated as less than human in a variety of traumatic ways for generations, all of which have negatively affected the physical and emotional well-being of free and enslaved Black women. This consisted of being victims of medical abuse, sexual abuse, degrading stereotypes, and the right to easily access basic human needs such as quality healthcare. Current research has shown that within the United States, Black women have the highest rate of maternal mortality than any other ethnicity of women especially when compared to white women. Being that 84% of these maternal deaths are preventable, …

Pierce County, Washington: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic And Public Health, Colton Abbey

History Undergraduate Theses

As of 105 years ago this October, the deadliest pandemic of the twentieth century arrived in Tacoma and the greater Pierce County area, putting its residents and officials in an arduous position. The choices made in October of 1918 were not made lightly, as the potential for a public health crisis weighed heavily on the minds of those in the face of the “Spanish Flu.” With a public health lens, I have used local newspapers, health reports, military history books, the transcripts of the Pierce County Medical Society meetings, and adjacent scholarship to analyze the influenza policies of 1918 Peirce …

Heart Story Curation: Indigenous Feminist Justice Leadership & The Philanthropic Call To Action, Joannie M. Suina

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Of the $3.9 Billion dollars flowing within the philanthropic sector, only 0.04% goes to Native American serving organizations according to a 2019 report (NAP & Candid, 2019). An even smaller amount goes toward supporting efforts for Native American women and girls. This mixed-methods study seeks to address the dire gaps in funding within Native philanthropy and seeks to define Indigenous Feminist Justice efforts from a post-COVID-19 lens. Evidenced through this study, the research highlights Indigenous resilience, as it relates to Native Women leading healing efforts in Indigenous communities. The researcher conducted a national survey and hosted two focus groups to …

"Prison Of Nations?" An Examination Of The Ideological Roots Of Contemporary Ethiopia's Nationality Policy, Sarah Moody

Global Honors Theses

Modern Ethiopia has a long history of ethnic/nationalist ideology incorporated into its political structure. Being a post-Soviet state, Ethiopia has been influenced by Marxist-Leninist ideas concerning nationalism and national identity as well as the unique history and political conditions of Ethiopia itself. This paper seeks to examine the ideological roots of modern Ethiopia following the 1991 revolution by the EPRDF and the subsequent institution of Ethnic Federalism through the lens of comparative politics.

The Truth Behind The Lies: The Canadian Federal Government's Intentions Behind The Creation Of Residential Schools, Sara Metz

History Undergraduate Theses

In this paper I discover the intentions of the Canadian federal government behind the creations of residential schools, educational institutions that were erected to control and alter the identity of Indigenous children and assimilate them into Canadian society. While assimilation was the promoted product of the federal government’s actions, there has remained an inconsistency with the belief that assimilation would occur as intended. In truth, there would always remain a divide between the Indigenous people and the forming Canadian nation whether this be racially, spiritually, or culturally. These elements would weigh upon the formation of a cohesive nationalistic identity, something …

Captain James Cook And His Fight Against The Invisible: A Closer Look At The Diseases That Plagued The Voyages Of Discovery, Gabby Quinnett

History Undergraduate Theses

A look into Captain James Cook's battle against the diseases he, his crew, and the Pacific Natives faced between 1768-1779.

The Dixie Mission, Patrick J. Hurley, And America's Diplomatic Failure In China, 1944-45, Sarah Moody

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper examines the American diplomatic effort in China in 1944-45 including the attempts at military coordination with Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government as well as the "Dixie Mission," which was the first official American contact with the Chinese Communist Party. I argue that the personalities of the American diplomats, the structural issues endemic to the China-Burma-India Theater, the fractured and complex Chinese political situation, and the lack of clear and rational foreign policy on China all culminated in the diplomatic efforts failing. While acknowledging the numerous contributing factors that led to diplomatic failure, this paper also suggests ways in which …

A Deep Voice: How Newspapers Talk About Harry Allen, 1900 - 1923., Oryan Widdowson

History Undergraduate Theses

Looking at a variety of newspaper articles published in Seattle, Tacoma, other Washington cities, and a few published sparsely across the rest of the country, I examined how these texts represented Harry Allen: his crimes, his character, and his gender expression and presentation. Reporters were fascinated with Allen’s deviancy from gender norms. Over years of culminated exaggerations and false details, they weaponized Allen’s life as a man against him. Contradictions and manipulations in reporting help to show how Allen’s dangerous persona was crafted over the course of his life. Harry Allen’s closeness, or perceived closeness, to the criminal underworld was …

The Forgotten Floods: Examining The Consequences Of The Yellow River Disaster, 1938-1947, Ryan Mantle

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper examines the shortcomings of Western academia’s coverage of the Guomindang’s decision to breach the Yellow River dikes in 1938. The catastrophe is discussed in individual segments by many in Western academia and lacks a comprehensive view of the event, which this paper will provide. Flood waters inundated the plains of the Henan, Anhui, and Kiangsu provinces, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and creating a massive refugee crisis. The lack of arable land and labor, the damaged agricultural infrastructure, and a major drought led to the Henan Famine of 1942-1943 which killed millions more. After Japan’s surrender in …

Assimilation’S Role In The Treatment Of Native Girls At Federal Indian Boarding Schools, Molly Howerton

History Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore what role assimilation played in the education of Native girls, like my grandmother, who attended federal Indian boarding during the late 1800s through the early 1900s when federal boarding schools were most active. While Richard Henry Pratt sold the idea of federal boarding schools to the United States as a way to assimilate Natives into White culture, this paper will argue through the analysis of the Carlisle Indian School that the federal boarding schools’ true purpose was to eliminate the tribes by turning Native girls against them and using that control to …

Mechanisms Of Biases And Cultural Literacy In International Language Education: One Such Story To Carry, Yukari Birkett

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

Despite equity and inclusion initiatives, the English based colonial model has permeated the kindergarten to college systems, teaching/learning, theories and methods, the perception of second language acquisition, multiculturalism, and language education (Knowles et al., 2015; Macedo, 2019; Phillips & Abbot, 2011; Battiste, 2013). Additionally, cognitive neuroscientific discoveries of the complexity of language learning, emotional intelligence, and cultural literacy systematically failed to reach educators. Few studies have focused on what factors impact on cultural biases of foreign language learners, or what factors in learning facilitate the dismantling of durable biases. What are the hidden agendas for teaching and learning foreign languages? …

The Aftermath Of The 1745 Jacobite Rebellion: How British Reformatory Measures And Chief Complicity Destroyed Clanship In The Scottish Highlands, Kyreston Jones

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper focuses on the aftermath in the Highlands of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, when Scottish Jacobite rebels were defeated by the army of the Duke of Cumberland. It mainly addresses how British reformatory measures deteriorated the relationship between clan chiefs and their clansmen, to that of landlord and tenant. I argue that the acts meant to modernize and reform the Highlands laid the groundwork for the damage, but the final blow was carried out by the clan chiefs themselves. Clan chiefs and other leaders in Highland society saw an opportunity to profit from the clan lands they …

The 1918 Flu: Lessons Learned From Seattle, Heather Somers

History Undergraduate Theses

The 1918 “Spanish influenza” was the worst influenza pandemic in recorded history. This paper traces advancements made in medicine and public health, especially those made during the latter half of the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century, leading up to the 1918 pandemic, by examining primary source materials and scholarly secondary sources. Unfortunately, the viral cause of influenza would not begin to be understood until the early 1930s. In 1918, the lack of scientific understanding of viruses led to many theories on the nature of influenza, including how to best treat it, and, ultimately, to a feeling of failure …

Women’S Impact On Cooking Culture During The Great Depression: Limited To Being A Homemaker, Unlimited In Their Authority On Nutrition In Their Communities, Michelle Molina

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper examines American cooking culture of the Great Depression, as the impact it had on everyday people’s diet was much greater than one may initially think. By analyzing interviews, photographs, and newspaper advertisements, and conducting archival research, I illuminate the public history of the Great Depression’s impact on diet and the roles women played during it. The existing scholarship on the Great Depression typically focuses on the relief efforts made to help people affected by this economic downturn, but this paper will focus more specifically on the cooking culture that involved women during this desperate time. Harsh conditions experienced …

The Englishwoman’S Domestic Magazine’S Influence On Nineteenth-Century Middle-Class Women, Amber Cook

History Undergraduate Theses

Depictions and study of women’s fashion from mid-nineteenth-century England have largely focused on upper-class women and suffragettes. The purpose of this research is to highlight another group, middle-class women, and their fashion choices through analysis of the Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine. This magazine not only gave fashion advice and instruction but guided middle-class women’s choices on what materials to purchase and where to purchase them. The fashion columns steered women into building a new middle-class identity that was unique and set them apart from the extravagant upper class.

By examining the articles printed in the magazine I was able to …

Tổi Là Người Viet (I Am Vietnamese): The Construction Of Third-Wave Vietnamese Identity In The United States, Eric Pham

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper focuses on the third wave of Vietnamese migration to the United States, which occurred from the 1980s to the 1990s, and how this group of immigrants constructed their identity in a new country. From a Western perspective, particularly an American one, it is easy to categorize all Vietnamese immigrants under the same umbrella. Although there are similarities among all three waves, one significant element that differentiates the third wave from the other two is the United States’ enactment of the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1987, which facilitated an influx of Vietnamese Americans to the U.S. mainland. This allowed …

The American Army Air Service During World War I'S Hundred Days Offensive: Looking At Reconnaissance, Bombing And Pursuit Aviation In The Saint-Mihiel And Meuse-Argonne Operations., Duncan Hamlin

History Undergraduate Theses

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to research and analyze the American Army Air Service during the Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. Aviation was a relatively new concept to warfare in the beginning of World War I in 1914 and brought many new concepts to the battlefield, such as aerial observation and reconnaissance, aerial bombing and achieving air superiority. The research conducted reflects the desire to understand the impact American aviation had on ending the war in 1918 and helps others understand the importance and sacrifice made by hundreds of American airmen. The American Air Service played …

Plowing For Pennies, Protesting For Pride: An Examination Of The United Farm Worker Union’S Impact In Washington State, 1965-1972, Israel Cuevas

History Undergraduate Theses

People of Hispanic descent have been central to the agricultural production of the United States since the eighteenth century. This paper highlights how the signing of the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement by the United States and Mexico in 1942 enabled the spread of Mexican labor workers to the agricultural fields and railroads of the US due to the labor shortage produced by World War II. This migration of labor delivered two decades of poor wages and atrocious working and living conditions for braceros by the hands of white farm growers. By the 1960s, the efforts of Cesar Chavez and the …

A Reexamination Of Emperor Hirohito's Military And Political Role In Wartime Japan, 1926-1945, Kazuaki Suhama

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper discusses and reexamines Emperor Hirohito’s degree of responsibility in Japan’s military aggression in China during the late 1920s and 1930s to the attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States during World War II. Scholars have long debated the extent of Hirohito’s role as a warmonger due to his ambiguous position as a head of state and the lack of primary evidence displaying his actions and thoughts on the war. This paper will utilize the Constitution of the Empire of Japan of 1889 (informally known as the Meiji Constitution) which delineated the emperor’s supreme position in the government …

Contextualizing Filipina/O Experiences Through The Life And Lens Of Virgil Duyungan, Benjamin Huff

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper serves a dual purpose: to examine the world of Filipina/o immigrants and Filipina/o Americans during the 1930s in the Puget Sound region, as well as look at the life and death of Filipina/o labor leader Virgil S. Duyungan. Incorporating these two different aspects into one paper reveals how Duyungan’s experiences contextualize and highlight key issues of the greater Filipina/o community in the region at the time, such as racial identity and tensions, labor rights, corruption and exploitation, and socio-economic conditions. By utilizing a body of primary and secondary sources, such as books, journal articles, government documents, images and …

Reframing Internationalization: Faculty Beliefs And Teaching Practices, Marco Tulluck

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

This study applies Critical Race Theory as a critical lens to gain a clearer understanding of highly racialized policies and teaching practices around international student engagement in US higher education. The findings help to inform higher education leaders of how to support faculty to foster more inclusive and affirming learning environments for international students of color and other diverse student populations.

This mixed methods study employed a modified version of the Colorblind and Multicultural Ideology of STEM Faculty Measure as well as focus group interviews to gain a more complex understanding of how university faculty members’ beliefs align with colorblind …

Intersectionality And Maternal Mortality: African-American Women And Healthcare Bias, Katherine Mijal

Global Honors Theses

African-American women's maternal mortality is significantly higher than that of white women. This is because of the intersectional oppression of sexism and racism, which significantly limits these women's access to quality healthcare through their pregnancy and during and after birth. This access is impeded by healthcare practitioners' implicit biases, which result in these practitioners not providing their patients with the quality of care they need.

Subtle Asian Womxn, Long Tran

Global Honors Theses

My involvement with the Global Honors Program culminates with a senior capstone project for T GH 496 Experiential Learning in Global Honors. Over the course of spring quarter, I had the opportunity to produce a documentary film, under the supervision of my faculty advisor, Dr. David Coon, to fulfill the requirements to graduate with a minor in Global Engagement and earn the full distinction from the program. My film actively engages with the intersection of the historical representations of Asian womxn and their lived experiences with dating. As of Wednesday, May 1, 2019, I have been able to interview 14 …

A Clear And Present Danger: Portrayals Of Destruction In Modern American Cinema Before And After The September 11 Attacks, Ember Ashford

History Undergraduate Theses

The attacks on September 11, 2001 were a devastating and shocking event that was observed on live television throughout the world. This event was traumatic for those that watched it on television, knew about it, and saw it in person in New York City and Washington D.C. The impacts on the American government have been profound, with emphasis placed on security, aggressiveness, war, and surveillance. These changes occurred in the United States following a studied phenomenon called cultural trauma, where a society reacts as if it were a person traumatized by an event. This can have a significant effect on …

Mortality And Meals: The Black Death’S Impact On Diet In England, Jessica Cordova

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper investigates the role of the Black Death in developing England’s eating habits and culinary traditions. The mid-fourteenth century saw a marked change in English cuisine, change that traversed the classes. This change correlates with the timing of the Black Death, an episode of extreme mortality cause by bubonic plague. Notorious as the greatest single source of death across medieval Europe, the Black Death looms in modern minds as an unparalleled tragedy. Between 1348 to 1350, the Black Death swept across Europe and killed between one third and one half of the population. England endured an average of forty …

The Rise Of The New White Nationalism In America, Megan Padgett

History Undergraduate Theses

White nationalism has been a part of United States history since the dawn of the nation but remained a secondary issue in comparison to white supremacy. Within the last thirty years however, white nationalism has been on the rise in the United States, and is slowly becoming mainstream rhetoric within politics, as well as in social and economic discussions. What has caused this rise in white nationalism? Has the popularity of social media and the internet since the 1990s influenced its growth?

With the use of primary sources such as speeches, books written by white nationalists, and insider internet sources, …

A Most Interesting Time: The Militarization Of Containment After The Czechoslovakian Coup D'Etat Of 1948, Abraham Buri

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper discusses the development of American foreign policy during the first few years of the Cold War through the containment doctrine. This doctrine, which in modern times has come to mean aggressive military action against any perceived communist threat, is not at all what the architect of containment George Kennan had in mind when he first pitched the idea to the Truman Administration in 1946. The reason that the definition shifted in the course of a few short years is because of the communist coup d’état that occurred in Czechoslovakia in February 1948. Scholars have traditionally assigned more importance …

Politicizing Our Waters: An Examination Of The Boldt Decision’S Role In Anti-Indian Activism In The Pacific Northwest, Drew Slaney

History Undergraduate Theses

The Pacific Northwest is home to a multitude of industries that utilize the region’s vast amounts of natural resources from timber to the soil. On February 12, 1974, the political fabric that encompassed the region’s state and local governments, American Indian tribes, and sport along with commercial organizations was significantly altered by Judge George H. Boldt and his decision to affirm the promises made by the Washington territorial government to Indigenous peoples over a hundred years prior. This decision was celebrated by Indigenous peoples for it guaranteed rights listed in the many treaties the United States made with American Indian …

Creating An Indigenous Multicultural Faith: The Russian Orthodox Mission In Alaska And The Centrality Of Cosmology, Niklaus Von Houck

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper applies letters, journals, history interviews, government-company contracts, international treaties, theological works, and images to examine the convergence of Russian Orthodox Christianity and Alaskan Indigenous shamanism cultures to explicate the harmonizing of an Indigenous multicultural Christian faith in nineteenth-century Russian Alaska. Central to this examination is the evaluation of effects of Orthodox Christian missiology on native Alaskans and the Indigenous religio-cultural response to Russian missionaries. Not merely a historical overview of contact between natives and missionaries in Russian Alaska, this paper harmonizes the commonality of cosmology between native Alaskan shamanism and Orthodox Christianity. It analyzes the impacts of comparatively …