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Theses/Dissertations

Florida

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Articles 1 - 17 of 17

Full-Text Articles in History

The Battle Over Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion And Critical Race Theory In Florida: A Case Study On The Stop W.O.K.E. Act, Grace Anne Castelin Jan 2024

The Battle Over Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion And Critical Race Theory In Florida: A Case Study On The Stop W.O.K.E. Act, Grace Anne Castelin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Accelerating from 2022 and continuing through 2024, the state of Florida has experienced significant policy changes, particularly within the realm of higher education and affairs of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Many progressive officials, experts, and activists assert arguments that the state is on the verge of evolving into an authoritarian regime while many illiberal policies are being produced through the Florida legislature and current executive leadership—social and economic sectors are consequently threatened in order to maintain political oppression. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act has served as a catalyst for shifting the state's political stance on DEI, culminating in a chain …


Conquistas And Chronicles: A Social History Of The Fernando De Soto Expedition Of Conquest, 1538-1543, Morgan Norman Greig Jun 2022

Conquistas And Chronicles: A Social History Of The Fernando De Soto Expedition Of Conquest, 1538-1543, Morgan Norman Greig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the course of the last century, Fernando de Soto’s conquest of Florida has been a central topic of debate among scholars of the United States. In particular, the written sources generated by expedition members during and after their time in Florida have been used primarily by archaeologists and anthropologists for ethnohistoric data on Native American societies in the early-sixteenth century southeast. However, there are two central problems in the historiography that have plagued the field of Soto studies, both of which are the central focuses of this study. First, there has never been a full-length historical study conducted on …


"The Spirit Of The Old South Can Never Die": Postbellum Middle Florida And The Elite Struggle For Social Hegemony, 1850-1942, Alexander J. Bowen May 2022

"The Spirit Of The Old South Can Never Die": Postbellum Middle Florida And The Elite Struggle For Social Hegemony, 1850-1942, Alexander J. Bowen

All Theses

The Lost Cause is an ideology that falsely portrays the antebellum South as an idyllic, agrarian society, the Confederacy’s cause as a just defense of states’ rights, and slavery as a benevolent institution. Historians of the U.S. South rightly attribute much of the Lost Cause’s creation to the South's prewar elite, particularly women from the planter class who led Confederate memorialization efforts. As the Lost Cause celebrates an antebellum slave society and Confederacy controlled by elites, it is clear the ideology also celebrated the South's prewar elite. However, previous studies of the Lost Cause fail to seriously question what benefit …


On The Other Side Of The Tracks: Hannibal Square And Eatonville In The Interwar Years, Margaret Stewart Jan 2022

On The Other Side Of The Tracks: Hannibal Square And Eatonville In The Interwar Years, Margaret Stewart

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to add nuance to the understanding of the Great Migration period, not only as a period of migration of North to South. The lives and migration of African Americans living in Hannibal Square and Eatonville highlight that African Americans were not just moving North. The Great Migration became more than a simple movement; it was a complex tapestry of African Americans moving where they felt the best opportunities were. This examination will stand within the bound of the early Great Migration period, from 1920 to 1940. The growth of each community will be analyzed …


Beyond The Big Top: The Legacy Of John Ringling And The American Circus, Casey L. Nemec May 2020

Beyond The Big Top: The Legacy Of John Ringling And The American Circus, Casey L. Nemec

Graduate Masters Theses

Beyond the Big Top: The Legacy of John Ringling and the American Circus is a focused interpretation of the impact of the American circus post-Civil War through present day, most particularly that of circus impresario, corporate magnate, and philanthropist John Ringling, in what was once a quiet Florida fishing village named Sarasota. It is my observation that John Ringling, through moving the winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey to Sarasota, investing in a sizable amount of real estate, and spearheading a campaign to bring a world-class art museum and school to the area, played a key …


My Feet Are Chained: Settler Colonialism And Mobility In The Florida Borderlands, 1812-1866, Christine Antoinette Rizzi Jan 2019

My Feet Are Chained: Settler Colonialism And Mobility In The Florida Borderlands, 1812-1866, Christine Antoinette Rizzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project uses the framework of mobility to understand how settler colonialism functioned in a tri-racial southern borderland in the nineteenth-century. Nineteenth-century Florida constituted a borderland characterized by competition for land and resources among Seminole Indians, African Americans, and white Americans. White Americans regulated mobility, i.e. the physical movement of peoples, in order to privilege their own settlement in Florida, divest native peoples of their land, and enslave people of African descent. Beginning in 1812 and lasting through the first half of the 1860s, white Americans used legislation, the settlement of white families, the solidification of a slave system, and …


"Let The Castillo Be His Monument!": Imperialism, Nationalism, And Indian Commemoration At The Castillo De San Marcos National Monument In St. Augustine, Florida, Claire M. Barnewolt Jan 2018

"Let The Castillo Be His Monument!": Imperialism, Nationalism, And Indian Commemoration At The Castillo De San Marcos National Monument In St. Augustine, Florida, Claire M. Barnewolt

Theses and Dissertations

The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest stone fortification on the North American mainland, a unique site that integrates Florida’s Spanish colonial past with American Indian narratives. A complete history of this fortification from its origins to its management under the National Park Service has not yet been written. During the Spanish colonial era, the Indian mission system complemented the defensive work of the fort until imperial skirmishes led to the demise of the Florida Indian. During the nineteenth century, Indian prisoners put a new American Empire on display while the fort transformed into a tourist destination. The Castillo …


Minnie And Ivy: Minnie Moore-Willson, Ivy Stranahan, And Seminole Reform In Early Twentieth Century Florida, Sarika Joshi Jan 2014

Minnie And Ivy: Minnie Moore-Willson, Ivy Stranahan, And Seminole Reform In Early Twentieth Century Florida, Sarika Joshi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During an era when the Seminoles were little regarded in Florida, despite mass Indian reform nationwide, Minnie Moore-Willson of Kissimmee and Ivy Stranahan of Fort Lauderdale attempted to bring reform to the state. Living amongst members of the tribe, both women used their familiarity with Seminole life and practices, as well as their political and social connections, to enact change for the tribe. This was done, respectively, through the creation of reservations and attempting to increase educational and vocational opportunities for tribe members. This thesis examines the lives and activism of Minnie Moore-Willson and Ivy Stranahan over the first two …


The Prophets And Profits Of Pleasure An Analysis Of Florida’S Development From The Civil War To The Turn Of The 20Th Century, Christopher Mark Esing Jan 2014

The Prophets And Profits Of Pleasure An Analysis Of Florida’S Development From The Civil War To The Turn Of The 20Th Century, Christopher Mark Esing

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation examines the emergence of Florida from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the twentieth century through the lenses of Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa, and Miami as they became the major economic and social centers within the state. Influenced by Union and Republican ideologies, early immigration tracts promised egalitarian land development rooted in the promise of citrus, diversified agriculture, real-estate, and the promise of tourism. As more northerners came to rely upon cheap black labor to make their dream a reality, the earlier narrative of egalitarianism began to loose ground to the demands for inexpensive labor. …


The Politics Of Slavery And Secession In Antebellum Florida, 1845-1861, Michael Paul Mcconville Jan 2012

The Politics Of Slavery And Secession In Antebellum Florida, 1845-1861, Michael Paul Mcconville

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The political history of antebellum Florida has long been overlooked in southern historiography. Florida was a state for just sixteen years before secession set it apart from the rest of the Union, but Florida’s road to secession was as unique as any of its southern counterparts. From the territorial days in the early nineteenth century, Florida’s political culture centered on the development and protection of slavery throughout the state. The bank wars in the pre-statehood and early statehood periods reflected differing views on how best to support the spread of the plantation economy, and the sectional strife of the 1850s …


An Environmental History Of The New Deal In Mississippi And Florida, Robert Edward Krause Jan 2011

An Environmental History Of The New Deal In Mississippi And Florida, Robert Edward Krause

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Keywords: New Deal, Environmental History, United States South, Mississippi, Florida, Gulf Coast, TVA, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, landscape, lumber industry, CCC, WPA, state parks. The 1930s represented a time of distinct and encompassing change in the United States South. In assessing the impact of New Deal agencies and public works, this dissertation examines three distinct southern areas-northeast Mississippi, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the Florida Panhandle-highlighting the dynamic and fluid character of federal projects and their impact on landscapes human and natural. In the hilly Tennessee River valley of northeast Mississippi, the federally-funded incorporation of the Tennessee Valley Authority led to …


Making Africans And Indians: Colonialism, Identity, Racialization, And The Rise Of The Nation-State In The Florida Borderlands, 1765-1837, John Paul A. Nuño Jan 2010

Making Africans And Indians: Colonialism, Identity, Racialization, And The Rise Of The Nation-State In The Florida Borderlands, 1765-1837, John Paul A. Nuño

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Florida Borderlands from 1765 to 1837 was a fluid space in which established colonial and Indigenous social, political, and economic systems were in dialogue with emerging discourses associated with the market economy, nationalism, and race. Utilizing British, Spanish, and United States government documents, diplomatic correspondence, and slave claims, this work traces the racialization of diverse Indigenous and African populations. Older colonial powers and nascent nation states sought to create political and social space between individuals within these categories in an effort to better control their labor, movement, and economic status. Consequently, Seminoles and Africans resisted and adapted, depending on …


Selling Sunshine: How Cypress Gardens Defined Florida, 1935-2004, David Dinocola Jan 2009

Selling Sunshine: How Cypress Gardens Defined Florida, 1935-2004, David Dinocola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the relationship between Cypress Gardens and the state of Florida. Specifically, it focuses on how the creator of the park, Dick Pope, created his park after his own idealized vision of the state, and how he then promoted both his park and Florida as one and the same. The growth and later decline of Cypress Gardens follows trends in Florida's growth patterns and shifts in tourism. This study primarily uses a combination of newspaper sources and promotional pictures and other media from the park to explain how Pope attempted to make Cypress Gardens synonymous with Florida. In …


Renders It Necessary That We Should Be Prepared' A Reexamination Of The Militant South Thesis In Territorial Florida, Franklin Nooe Jul 2008

Renders It Necessary That We Should Be Prepared' A Reexamination Of The Militant South Thesis In Territorial Florida, Franklin Nooe

All Theses

This thesis examines the effect of Native Americans on the martial tradition in the Old South. As proposed by John Hope Franklin, the proximity of Southern settlements to Indian tribes aroused grave apprehension regarding the safety of the settlers from hostile attack. This thesis seeks to illustrate a specific example of his assessment. Therefore, the work is focused on the events of the Seminoles in Florida and to a lesser extent the Creeks in Alabama and Georgia. Chronologically the thesis focuses on approximately 1800-1842. Geographically the text is concerned with Florida and the border areas. This thesis argues that the …


African Religious Integration In Florida During The First Spanish Period, Christopher Beats Jan 2007

African Religious Integration In Florida During The First Spanish Period, Christopher Beats

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the unique conditions for African-descended slaves in St. Augustine, Florida, during the First Spanish Period. St. Augustine was an important garrison at a remote point in the Spanish Empire at the edge of a hostile frontier. As such, economics were less a priority than defense. Slaves, therefore, received different treatment here than in English colonies or even other Spanish colonies. Due to the threat of Protestantism, religious adherence was more important as a test of loyalty than ethnicity and slaves and freed-people were able to integrate better than in other Spanish holdings. In order …


Plant City, Florida, 1885-1940: A Study In Southern Urban Development, Mark W. Kerlin Jan 2005

Plant City, Florida, 1885-1940: A Study In Southern Urban Development, Mark W. Kerlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the development of Plant City, Florida as a railroad town developing on the Southwest Florida frontier from 1885-1940. The study chronicles the town's origins and economic, political, and social development in relationship to the broader historical theories of southern urban development, specifically those put forward in David Goldfield's pioneering work, Cotton Fields and Skyscrapers: Southern City and Region 1607-1980. Goldfield contended that southern cities developed differently than their northern counterparts because they were not economically, politically, philosophically and culturally separated from their rural surroundings. Instead, they displayed and retained the positive and negative attributes of southern society …


Archaeological Pioneer Or Pot Hunter: The Life And Work Of Clarence Bloomfield Moore, Sarah Washam Jan 2001

Archaeological Pioneer Or Pot Hunter: The Life And Work Of Clarence Bloomfield Moore, Sarah Washam

Honors Theses

The early twentieth century bred a generation of amateur archaeologists with time on their hands and money in their pockets. Although amateurs, they made great advances in the science of archaeology. Among these archaeologists were men such as Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the city of Troy; Howard Carter, the discoverer of the riches of King Tut's tomb; Mathew Stirling, the man who discovered the Olmec culture; Sir Arthur Evans, who discovered the Mycenae; and Hiram Bingham, who found the lost city of Machu Picchu. Most of these men were middle to upper class and thus had the money and free …