History Commons^™

Joshua Gordon’S Witchcraft Book And The Transformation Of The Upcountry Of South Carolina, E. Zoie Horecny

Theses and Dissertations

The life of Joshua Gordon and his intellectual product, Witchcraft Book (1784) gives access to the backcountry of South Carolina. Witchcraft Book is exemplary of syncretism in the Atlantic world, influenced by multiple European traditions, understandings of science in the early modern world, indigenous knowledge, and life in North America. After serving in the American Revolution, Gordon transitioned from a small farmer to a slaveholder. He was a part of political and economic processes that unified the backcountry with low country elites in defense of slavery. As a prominent figure in his community and church, he solidified his legacy for …

“The Once And Future Audubon:” The History Of The Audubon Ballroom And The Movement To Save It, William Maclane Hull

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the history of the Save the Audubon Movement – an activist movement in the 1980s and early 1990s protesting Columbia University’s plan to demolish the Audubon Ballroom and replace it with a modern biomedical research complex. The Audubon Ballroom is best known for being the site of Malcolm X’s assassination and was a major landmark to New York Hispanic and African Americans. It takes a cultural history lens, giving special attention on the emerging hip-hop culture that became the primary voice of protest in New York City in the 1970s through the 90s. This paper begins with …

Enslaved Rebellion And Abolitionist Imperialism In Britain’S Atlantic World, 1807-1884, Lewis Eliot

Theses and Dissertations

In 1807, the British Empire ended its legal involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. The relationship between slavery and imperialism had defined British American imperialism for the preceding three centuries and the end of legal British transatlantic slave trading dramatically altered the Empire’s connection to human bondage. As a result, new debates about slavery dominated the first three decades of the nineteenth century. At the same time, enslaved Africans in Britain’s West Indian colonies perpetually resisted their enslavement and in so doing forcefully inserted themselves into metropolitan abolitionist discourse. Upon the ending of British slavery in 1834, imperial officials used …

Ordinary Power: Frontier Sentimentalism And Cultural Perceptions Of Gender In The Nineteenth-Century West, Erin Elizabeth Hastings

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will examine nineteenth-century women and their primary role in the cultural formation of frontier sentimentalism. White, middle class women primarily moved west with their husbands and families, initially to the Midwest in the early nineteenth century, and were continuing to settle in the Great Plains and further west by the end of the century. The first generation of women who migrated west were the pioneers of frontier sentimentalism, but it prevailed in successive generations of westering women. This thesis will argue that in the formation of their own form of sentimentalism, nineteenth-century women were at the heart of …

“Natural Ties For Patriotic Purposes": The Committee On Public Information, Americanization, And Swedish-American Transnationalism, Race L. Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

The Committee on Public Information (CPI) was the official propaganda agency of the United States during the First World War, seeking to homogenize American public opinion and spread American ideals across the globe. Through a case study of Edwin Björkman’s work among Swedish Americans, this thesis illuminates how the CPI approached its work among immigrants, engaging questions of Americanization and transnationalism. Through an analysis of the John Ericsson League of Patriotic Service and the Scandinavian Bureau—both its domestic and foreign operations—this thesis argues that Edwin Björkman and the CPI promoted cultural pluralism rather than assimilation to a dominant Anglo-American culture. …

Planting Defamation In Arkansas: A Legal Historical Analysis Of The Development Of Defamation Laws In Arkansas During The 19th Century, Jessica Michelle Beel

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the early defamation laws in Arkansas by the constitutions of Arkansas, the laws of Arkansas from 1812 to 1874, and Arkansas case law from 1812 to 1874 as concerning defamation, libel, and slander. This research shows how defamation, libel, and slander developed in Arkansas from early territorial periods to the end of the Reconstruction period. These laws were the foundations and the precedent for today’s defamation statutory and case laws in Arkansas, without these laws, it may be argued that defamation in Arkansas would have been decades behind the American legal system. This research advocates for the …

Reimagining Move: Revolutionary Black Humanism And The 1985 Bombing, Joseph E. Cranston

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the extremist group, MOVE and its founder Vincent Leaphart (a.k.a John Africa) in the context of Revolutionary Black humanism, rather than simply a footnote in the tragic events of May 13, 1985. it explores MOVE's predecessors in the Black Panther movement, including The Black Panther Party and how these organizations and individuals might have influenced MOVE and their aims. In addition, ample examination is given to the role that systemic police brutality and racism, specifically within the Philadelphia Police department and city government played in the decisions that MOVE made as they attempted to create a community …

The Light We Cast: The Life Of Pearle Mccain, Jason Kane Littleton

Theses and Dissertations

Dr. Pearle McCain was a Methodist Missionary and educator from Hazen, Arkansas, who served in China during the years of Japanese military aggression. In the face of constant personal danger and professional difficulty, her dedication to her students, fellow missionaries, and her faith remains a living example of Christian service. The United Methodist Museum of the Arkansas Conference and Hendrix College’s Arkansas United Methodist Archives contain two unprocessed collections of Dr, McCain’s journals, photographs, and letters. This thesis is a comprehensive plan for a museum exhibit specifically designed for the museum, but one that is easily modified for any venue. …

The Basha's Tools? Imagining Alternative Justice Futures In Egypt, Farah Ghazal

Theses and Dissertations

The dominant approach to addressing violence against women in Egypt today is carceral, or relying on the punitive instruments of the state to achieve justice (most visibly represented by the prison and police). While carceral responses are perhaps unsurprisingly advocated by state feminism, they are also promoted by what would typically be described as anti-state actors. This paradoxical entanglement takes place during what I identify as the 'carceral moment', a period marked by the intensification of political and social repression and during which incarceration appears more readily available as a solution to remedy perceived problems of governance. I argue that, …

Article 6.21, Tatiana Stolpovskaya

Theses and Dissertations

Article 6.21 is a short documentary film that aims to examine the state of censorship around queerness in Russia today and its effects on personal lives in the queer community.

Twenty years after Russia decriminalized homosexuality, on June 30th in 2013, President Vladimir Putin signed Article 6.21 "for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values", also known as the "Gay Propaganda Law". Its broad and ambiguous wording allows the government significant leeway in deciding what kind of public queerness is punishable.

In 2020 Russia passed multiple constitutional amendments that affect many areas …

Morkovcha [Korean Carrot Salad], Lidiya A. Kan

Theses and Dissertations

Morkovcha, Korean Carrot Salad is a short documentary that tells a story of ethnic Koreans from Russia and the post-Soviet territories making their new home in New York City. The history of the diaspora is told through conversations with my mother, personal stories, fragmented memories, and my family photo archive. This very personal film is my attempt to revisit the 160-year history of the Russian Korean diaspora and to record and preserve our unique fusion of cultures in the melting pot that is the United States. Its purpose is to help to process and accept the tragic past of my …

Trudging Through The Brakes: Mapping River Cane (Arundinaria Gigantea (Walter) Muhl.) And Canebrake Habitat In 19th Century Arkansas, Patrick Solomon

Theses and Dissertations

River cane (A. gigantea) is one of three bamboos native to the North American continent but has been greatly diminished since European colonization. To explore this lost landscape, this paper applies an interdisciplinary approach to examine and interpret the pre-historic, historic, and current status of cane and canebrake habitat in Arkansas. Historic cane data has been collected and used to create an informed map of canebrake habitat in 19th century Arkansas. To examine references in more detail, cane points collected within the five study areas have been examined using a Geographic Information System. Maps of historic cane references have been …

The National Interest And The Roots Of American-Saudi Diplomacy, Oliver B. Wiegel

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the beginnings of diplomacy between the United States and Saudi Arabia during the interwar years and World War II. It explores how national interest was decided upon, how oil companies affected American foreign policy, and the American government’s strategic interest in Saudi oil reserves.

Us, Abundantly: From Africa To The Americas, Karisma Jay

Theses and Dissertations

"Us, AbunDantly," a Live theatrical dance performance and film, delves into the African Diaspora and its influences. An artistic and academic project built upon the amplification of Black excellence and Black pride, this paper contextualizes a work within the oral histories and contemporary dance studies of a powerfully ancestral community.

"Unite The Left": Contextualizing Bukharin's Abc Of Communism And Berkman's Abc Of Anarchism, David Hayter

Theses and Dissertations

In 1919, Nikolai Bukharin, the leading theoretician of the Bolshevik Party, published a manual entitled The ABC of Communism meant to put the governing ideology of the newly formed Soviet State into eminently readable terms. Alexander Berkman, a Russian Anarchist who strongly supported the October Revolution, became disillusioned with the new regime in 1921 and left the country. He later published his own tract entitled The ABC of Anarchism. This thesis pits these two theoretical works against each other as historical documents embodying the nature of leftist polemics that has characterized the movement since the dissolution of the First …

Yolkkh: The Story Of My People, Amna Zelimkha Yandarbin

Theses and Dissertations

The name of my project is: Yolkkh, The Story of My People. With this project I present a series of scarves each one bearing an illustrated scene in order to tell a story – my story and the story of the Noxci people. Noxci are the people who are referred to as “Chechens” by Russians and are generally known by that title. As a Muslim, I have witnessed the way Western media tend to dehumanize my community. In order to contrast this dehumanizing process, I thought that telling the story of my family would help reverse Islamophobic tendencies and raise …

"With The Commodity In The Hand": A Practical Investigation Of The Intersection Of Material Culture With Performance Theory, Katharine M. Given

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the intersection of performance theory and material culture through the practices of garment reconstruction. In chapter 1, I examine key theorists in the fields of material culture and performance studies and articulate the connections between the two fields. In chapter 2, Using practice as research, I recount the experience of building reproduction garments from the eighteenth century using historically appropriate tools and methods, as well as the experience of wearing those garments. Finally, in Chapter 3, I walk through a possible historical examination of my encounter with these reconstructed garments, and consider the way in which feminine …

The Birth Of Exceptionalism: American Newspaper Coverage In The Revolutionary Era, Benjamin R. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores American exceptionalism through the lens of American newspapers during the Revolutionary era. As American newspapers covered the revolutions in France, Haiti, and Latin America, unique narratives developed around controversial leaders like Thomas Paine, Toussaint Louverture, and Simón Bolívar. Although at first newspapers covered the events in France and Latin America with glee, their coverage gradually began to change over time, increasingly finding flaws large and small in revolutions other than their own—chaos and violence in France and Haiti, and failures in the realization of republicanism in Latin America. If Americans initially believed their revolution was responsible for …

"Savage And Bloody Footsteps Through The Valley" : The Wyoming Massacre In The American Imagination, William R. Tharp

Theses and Dissertations

Along the banks of the Susquehanna River in early July 1778, a force of about 600 Loyalist and Native American raiders won a lopsided victory against 400 overwhelmed Patriot militiamen and regulars in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. While not well-known today, this battle—the Battle of Wyoming—had profound effects on the Revolutionary War and American culture and politics. Quite familiar to early Americans, this battle’s remembrance influenced the formation of national identity and informed Americans’ perceptions of their past and present over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

From the beginning, however, Americans’ understanding of what occurred in …

Model Minorities: Asian Americans And The White-Black Racial Paradigm, Jason Tom

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the racial wedge driven by Whites between Blacks and Asian Americans during the Cold War on to the present. Model minorities is a term coined by whites in the 1960s to suppress Civil Rights protests and Black demands. By elevating a minority group through success stories, whites constructed a means to suppress Black people’s organizing for change against systemic racism and oppression.

Tools For Thought: Artifacts From The History Of Comparative Psychology, Dylan Kerr

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the history of comparative psychology through close readings of apparatuses used in seminal experiments on animal behavior, drawing connections between seemingly disparate areas of human culture—including art, architecture, mythology, and economics—and the development of the science, with a particular focus on behaviorist and cognitive approaches.

Body Snatching In Philadelphia: A Social And Cultural History, 1762-1883, Timothy R. Dewysockie

Theses and Dissertations

In 18th-century Philadelphia the first medical school in the thirteen British colonies was established. However, cadavers for dissection could only be obtained involuntarily, a posthumous punishment generally reserved for murderers and suicides. Body snatching, the disinterment of corpses for dissection, immediately became a problem because legal sources of "subjects" did not meet demand. Body snatching was resisted in popular representations and the actions of everyday citizens in riots, petitions, and other forms of protest. However, in the late 19th century the requisition of "unclaimed" bodies for dissection - that is, dead "paupers" - became enshrined in Pennsylvania's 1883 Anatomy Act, …

“They Know Too Much Already:” Black Education In Post-Emancipation Era Columbus, Ga, 1866-1876, William Dwayne Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Despite local histories that have been published on the history of Columbus, Georgia, and its school system, very little has been written about Columbus’s freedmen schools created after the U.S. Civil War. As a result, a comprehensive history of Columbus’s freedmen does not exist, and those written are fragmented. The focus of this study is to document the beginnings of Columbus’s freedmen school efforts in the post-emancipation era, through those African Americans’ own historical voices and experiences. Though an analysis of archived unpublished letters, local and religious newspapers, census data, government documents, and meeting minutes, this study recovers the authentic …

A Space For Diplomacy: The Clinton Administration's Relationship With Nasa, Jessica Corder

Theses and Dissertations

This digital library exhibit covers significant programs or events concerning the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during President Clinton’s administration. The administration established and implemented a series of space policies to address a broad range of civil, national security, and commercial activities. Secondary sources were consulted to provide the institutional history of NASA, NASA’s relationship with the executive branch, and the timeline of policies. Primary sources from the Clinton Library’s archives were used to provide evidence and context to the intention and actualities of policies. The resulting digital library exhibit shows how President Clinton’s administrative policies in conjunction with …

Maumelle Ordnance Works: From Wartime To The New Town, John Hoganson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis covers the history of the Maumelle Ordnance Works from its creation to its eventual shutdown in the 1950’s. It goes into detail on the buildings of the plant along with the materials that the plant manufactured for use in the Second World War. This thesis also covers the early history of the community of Maumelle.

The Beast And The Revival Of Rome: Mussolini And Rome In The Premillennial Imagination, Jon Stamm

Theses and Dissertations

Premillennial dispensationalism became immensely influential among American Protestants who saw themselves as defenders of orthodoxy. As theological conflict heated up in the early 20th century, dispensationalism’s unique eschatology became one of the characteristic features of the various strands of “fundamentalists” who fought against modernism and the perceived compromises of mainline Protestantism. Their embrace of the dispensationalist view of history and Biblical prophecy had a significant effect on how they interpreted world events and how they lived out their faith. These fundamentalists established patterns of interpretation that in the second half of the 20th century would fuel the emergence of a …

Blood On The Floor: Public Memory, Myth, And Material Culture In American Historic House Museums, Alyssa B. Caltabiano

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the historic narratives of the Hancock House Historic Site, The Jennie Wade House Museum, and the Shriver House Museum, analyzing the historical accuracy of each. Each site has used historic human bloodstains and other elements of material culture, authentic and fabricated, to facilitate and support their historic narratives. The traditional Hancock House narrative, as well as the current Jennie Wade House narrative, are each sensationalized and riddled with myth and legend. The Shriver House represents a well-researched and interpreted narrative, that tastefully uses historic human bloodstains as an element of their interpretation. The evolution of each site …

The Underclass Culture Wars: Underclass Ideology And Neoliberalism In The Era Of Gangsta Rap Censorship, 1993-2000, Trumaine W. Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis explores the impact of underclass ideology and the budding neoliberal consensus on black censorship efforts against gangsta rap music in the 1990s and early 2000s. While there are a few scholarly works that focus on blacks’ involvement in the gangsta rap censorship movement, they fail to provide any serious inquiry into their ideological motivations for pursuing censorship. In an effort to fill this gap, my thesis looks at underclass ideology and neoliberalism in relation to two groups that were active in the gangsta rap censorship movement: black liberals and the Nation of Islam (NOI).

I argue that censors …

The Iberian Bronze Age Through The Castelo Archaeological Research Project, Kathryn Bryles

Theses and Dissertations

This web exhibit ( https://kathrynbryles.omeka.net/ ) will examine the material remains, mostly ceramics, recovered from the Castelo Archaeological Research Project. The artifacts recovered in Castelo’s two seasons range from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron age, dated through make and decoration. Pottery has remained crucial to the culture of the people of the Alentejo, with the region being well known for its traditional style. Analysis of the selected artifacts will also be discussed, along with examining the site itself.

Gutenberg, The White Rose, And The Empty Library: Monument Stories, Memorial Culture, And German University Campuses, Rachel Walters

Theses and Dissertations

This project evaluates three monuments on or near a university campus to determine the uses that monuments may provide at a university. First the Gutenberg bust at Johannes Gutenberg University serves as a useful image for promoting their identity that is affiliated with the legacy of the famous inventor. At Ludwig Maximilian University, the White Rose Memorial serves as an important representation of the university’s history that is associated with the White Rose Resistance Movement. The Empty Library Memorial in Berlin presents questions about the university’s role in commemoration efforts along with the challenges that Humboldt faces regarding the political …