History Commons^™

Blood Sacrifice: The Connection Between Roman Death Rituals And Christian Martyrdom, Angela Dawne Kennedy

Honors Theses

Scholars from a variety of disciplines have done some incredible work on the subject of martyrdom, but the story is far from complete, particularly in terms of how and why it was so similar to the Roman concept of public deaths. The primary sources include the surviving Christian martyrologies, Greco-Roman philosophical treatises, and Roman, Christian, and Jewish histories. Martyrdom itself was a tool of assimilation that somehow bridged the communities of the empire together. There is a huge body of information in a variety of genres that contribute to this project. But there exists a hole in the combined scholarship …

“L’Héritage” Is In The Streets: The Text, Images And Legacy Of May 1968, Justin L. Baggett

Honors Theses

The events of May 1968 in France are among the most important and influential events of the Cold War period. The posters and graffiti of the movement contain significant cultural contributions whose content and legacy are still controversial and prominent parts of French culture some 46 years later. This study examines both the visual and textual portions of both the posters and graffiti from the “mai 68” movement in Paris to discuss their relevance and their origins. This study also analyzes the legacy of the slogans from the graffiti as well as that of the visual elements of the posters. …

Letters Home: Change In Mental State Of Soldiers During The American Civil And Vietnam Wars Seen Through Their Letters Home, Austin W. Hill

Honors Theses

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, has only been studied since its diagnosis after the Vietnam War. However, soldiers have always felt the affects of the wars they fought. These affects are physical, mental and emotional. Currently, PTSD is one of the most common affects of war on a soldier. While PTSD has only been studied since its discovery after the Vietnam War, symptoms almost exactly like PTSD have been present in soldiers for decades. This thesis uses letters from soldiers in the Vietnam War to create a basis of trauma that could create PTSD in soldiers. Using this base of …

Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, And Second Wave Feminism, Lauren A. Stealey

Honors Theses

The First Ladyship is an ambiguous, constitutionally undefined role. The women who have inhabited this role since Martha Washington have had to interpret this role in their own ways and encounter the scrutiny or approval of their country along the way. On this national stage, these women have influenced and been influenced by contemporary conceptions of American womanhood. National discussion shifted to focus prominently on the role of women particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, in the resurgence of an organized women’s rights movement known as Second Wave Feminism.

In this qualitative study, I focused on two First Ladies during …

From Marilyn Monroe To Cindy Crawford: A Historical Analysis Of Women’S Body Image Depicted In Popular Magazines From 1952 To 1995, Jayme S. Nobles

Honors Theses

For this study, the researcher viewed advertisements in popular magazines from 1952 to 1995 that focus on women’s body image. The sample consisted of advertisements found in Life and Cosmopolitan magazines. Instead of observing every issue throughout the forty-three year period, the researcher chose a few issues from each magazine every five years. 180 advertisements were viewed in this study. The researcher observed three different elements found in the advertisements: the product being sold, the appeals of sexuality, if any, in the ads, and the appearance of the advertisements’ models. This research attempted to prove that over the course of …