History Commons^™

Northwest Now: The Anarchists Of Home, Tom Layson, Justin Wadland, Charles Lewarne

Justin Wadland

Becoming Belafonte: Black Artist, Public Radical, Judith Smith

Judith E. Smith

A son of poor Jamaican immigrants who grew up in Depression-era Harlem, Harry Belafonte became the first black performer to gain artistic control over the representation of African Americans in commercial television and film. Forging connections with an astonishing array of consequential players on the American scene in the decades following World War II—from Paul Robeson to Ed Sullivan, John Kennedy to Stokely Carmichael—Belafonte established his place in American culture as a hugely popular singer, matinee idol, internationalist, and champion of civil rights, black pride, and black power.

In Becoming Belafonte, Judith E. Smith presents the first full-length interpretive …

World War I Military Portraits (Digital Collection), Rose Fortier, Maria Cunningham

Rose Fortier

World War I Military Portraits is comprised of more than 32,000 photographs, typewritten volumes, and service records. The items were complied from collections of the American War Mothers Milwaukee County Chapter and the Milwaukee County Council of Defense. These items contain a wealth of genealogical information and provide a candid look into soldiers' ideas and perceptions of the First World War.

The World War I Military Portraits digital collection brings online access to one of the library's most highly used research collections. The current digital collection represents the majority of the service records but is continuously growing, so stop back …

Theorising The ‘Fifth Migration’ In The United States: Understanding Lifestyle Migration From An Integrated Approach, Brian Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

This chapter is an empirically-informed discussion of relevant social theory for examining the phenomenon of lifestyle migration in the United States in both rural and urban settings. Specifically, the chapter explores key explanatory models born of research into so-called non-economic migration occurring since the early twentieth century—models that may be characterized as primarily either production or consumption oriented in their emphasis—as a context for outlining an integrated approach. The author then highlights changes in how some Americans appear to calculate personal and collective quality of life as engendered by an emerging economic order—based on principles of flexibility and contingency—whose affects …

“A Year Of Consequence,” Book Review Of 1863: Lincoln’S Pivotal Year, Eds. Harold Holzer And Sara Vaughn Gabbard (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013), Jeffrey Malanson

Jeffrey J. Malanson

No abstract provided.

“Monroe’S Doctrine Or Monroe Doctrines? A Review Of Jay Sexton’S The Monroe Doctrine: Empire And Nation In Nineteenth-Century America”, Jeffrey Malanson

Jeffrey J. Malanson

No abstract provided.

America's Forgotten Constitutions: Defiant Visions Of Power And Community, Robert Tsai

Robert L Tsai

The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming the sovereignty of all citizens: "We the People." Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into the circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion--the defiant groups that refused to accept the Constitution's definition of who "the people" are and how their authority should be exercised. America's Forgotten Constitutions is the story of America as told by dissenters: squatters, Native Americans, abolitionists, socialists, internationalists, and racial nationalists. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Tsai chronicles eight episodes in which discontented citizens took the extraordinary step of drafting a new constitution. He examines …

Freedom's Seekers: Essays On Comparative Emancipation, Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie

Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie

In The Margins Of Twelve Years A Slave, Mary Niall Mitchell

Mary Niall Mitchell

The McCoy family’s original 1853 edition of Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave has at least five authors. There was Northup himself, of course, a free black man who provided the details of his illegal enslavement in the Deep South, and his white editor and amanuensis, David O. Wilson. Beyond the two principals, at least three others made their own additions to the book. Some in pen, but most in pencil. Sorting out who wrote what, and when they wrote it, is mostly a guessing game, but a telling one even still. Northup’s account — which any reader knows was …

The Young White Faces Of Slavery, Mary Niall Mitchell

Mary Niall Mitchell

No abstract provided.

The Road To Mass Democracy: Original Intent And The Seventeenth Amendment, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

Until 1913 and passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, US senators were elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people. Progressive Era reformers urged this revision in answer to the corruption of state "machines" under the dominance of party bosses. They also believed that direct elections would make the Senate more responsive to popular concerns regarding the concentrations of business, capital, and labor that in the industrial era gave rise to a growing sense of individual voicelessness. Popular control over the higher affairs of government was thought to be possible, since the spread of information …

Yellowstone, The World's Wonderland, Tamsen Hert

Tamsen Hert

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the world. This encyclopedia article reviews the history of the creation of the park in portions of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

Evolution Of American Urban Society, 8th Edition, Howard Chudacoff, Judith Smith, Peter Baldwin

Judith E. Smith

The Evolution of American Urban History blends historical perspectives on society, economics, politics, and policy, while focusing on the ways in which diverse peoples have inhabited and interacted in cities. It tackles ethnic and racial minority issues, offers multiple perspectives on women, and highlights urbanization's constantly shifting nature.