History Commons^™

Gentrifying While Black: Exploring The Concept Of An African Homeland Through Gentrification In Accra, Ghana, Amaya Davis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

The Felix Culpa In Tolkien's Legendarium: A Catalyst For Character And Reader Transformation, Nathan C J Hood

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines the role of the felix culpa, or ‘happy fault’, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium. The article argues that this motif, originating within the Christian theological tradition, was adapted by Tolkien into the guiding structure of Middle-earth’s grand narrative. It shows the importance of the felix culpa in Tolkien’s secondary world by analysing the trope’s role in the Ainulindale and The Silmarillion. It then moves to consider the ways in which the presence of happy faults in The Lord of the Rings has a transformative impact upon the morality and spirituality of its characters and readers.

Delving Too Greedily: Analyzing Prejudice Against Tolkien's Dwarves As Historical Bias, Mitchell T. Dennis, Kenton Sena

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Tolkien's writings are imbued with the perspectives of their narrators and within them, the narrators' biases. This is most evident in the bias against the dwarves, particularly in the third age. Dismissing testimonials from neutral sources and dwarves alike, scholars have continuously inaccurately treated the anti-dwarf bias as a criticism of the Dwarves’ relationship with nature. The criticisms levelled by scholars have led to the dwarves being dismissed as particularly environmentally destructive, a direct contradiction to how the dwarves interact with natural spaces and how they construct their own. Consequently, a more nuanced reading of the dwarves lends itself to …

The Alliance Apart: Anticommunism And The Anglo-American Relationship, 1948-1954, Edward Longe

Dissertations (1934 -)

The dominant political dynamic in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s was a paranoid focus on anticommunism and the perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union, a nation many believed was seeking global domination. As a result of these fears, dissenters were cast as disloyal, federal employees lost their jobs, the press was muzzled, the entertainment industry was purged, labor movements faced increased scrutiny, and others, like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, paid the ultimate price. While historians have focused considerable attention on the domestic impact of these anxieties, few have explored the diplomatic ramifications of the …

Pillage As The Political Economy Of The Kurdish Anfal Genocide, Kaziwa Salih

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Scholars are critical of how economists overlook “the questions of genocide,” and of how legislatures have not paid adequate attention to the subject of looting, except in the case of the Armenian genocide. This article, informed by interdisciplinary perspectives, uses government documents, data, and semi-structured interviews to discuss the overlooked triangle of looting, economics, and the Anfal genocide of the Kurds in Iraq. The study refuses to limit itself only to the eight stages of the Anfal genocide that started in 1988, and instead offers data on its preliminary phases which occurred earlier in the 1980s. It then discusses the …

Discovering Dune: Essays On Frank Herbert’S Epic Saga., Edited By Dominic J. Nardi And N. Trevor Brierly, G. Connor Salter

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

G. Connor Salter reviews Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga, edited by Dominic J. Nardi and N. Trevor Brierly, considering its new contributions to studies of Frank Herbert's work. Essays included fit into four categories (Politics and Power, History and Religion, Biology and Ecology, and Philosophy, Choice and Ethics) and range from Herbert's use of ecology in Dune to how game theory may help explain certain characters' apparent ability to see the future. Discovering Dune also includes an appendix which contains the only up-to-date bibliography of Herbert's work (primary and secondary sources).

The Gallant Edith Bratt: J.R.R. Tolkien’S Inspiration By Nancy Bunting And Seamus Hamill-Keays, María Fernández Portaencasa

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Cashing The Check Of Democracy The American Revolution And Citizenship In The Black Freedom Struggle 1960-1970, Zachary Earle Clary

Theses and Dissertations

Separated into three interconnected parts, this thesis first proposes a reconfiguration of the vocabulary that historians use when classifying the memory and legacy of the American Revolution in the twentieth century. From there, I offer a comparative analysis of the Black Freedom Struggle’s relationship to the Declaration of Independence and other components of the American Revolution to demonstrate that the Revolution, while useful as a rhetorical tool or a conceptual model, functioned primarily as a counterpoint to the twentieth-century quest for Black citizenship. In other words, the American Revolution was a formidable example of radical protest in the American past, …

“We Are Created Inferior To Men”: Leveraging Horsemanship To Reinforce Gender Expectations, 1830-1861, Gabrielle Marie Mccoy

Theses and Dissertations

Horses have played a central role in human society since 3500 BCE when humans began domesticating and riding horses in large numbers. Horses continued to be important to human society during the nineteenth century as people used horses to drive industrialization, manage plantations, and transport goods, among other uses. Although historians and anthropologists have long extolled the horse’s laboring value, this paper views the horse and horsemanship (i.e., horseback riding, horse training) in a social context. Through the examination of newspapers, fictional literature, and manuals, this paper argues that Americans used horses and horsemanship to reinforce antebellum gender expectations. Reinforcing …

The Widened Hearthstone Urban Playgrounds As The Infrastructure Of Public Mothering, 1900-1930, Alexandra Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the limitations on their formal political involvement, women across the United States took control of the Progressive Era playground movement, and playground advocates nationwide argued that urban play spaces constructed motherhood into the city. While many mothers used playgrounds for child care, playground directors used the maternal authority constructed into playgrounds to promote their ideas about ideal citizenship. One playground director, Mabel E. Macomber, called this aspect of playground work the “'mother' element,” believing, as did other workers and advocates, that playgrounds were part of the apparatus of urban mothering, and in the case of many poor working women, …

Piratical Transportation: Highlighting Silences In Carolina’S Enslavement And Exportation Of Native Americans, Jordan Stenger

Theses and Dissertations

When Carolina colony was established, its early financial success was inherently bound to its enslavement and exportation of countless Indigenous people in the colonial pursuit of Native land, wealth, and enslaved labor. However, given the Indian slave trade was largely illegal in Carolina, how did colonists export Indigenous people? This study seeks to expand the land-locked historiography and explore how enslaved Indigenous people appear in the historical record across the Atlantic world. Utilizing term proximity as a methodological approach in reading historical records, and privileging Carolina’s black-market trade with pirates, I propose that the trade with pirates also included enslaved …

Lunatics, Liberals And Bloodthirsty Haters: The South In The 1972 Presidential Election, Thomas Clayton Strebeck

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will analyze the political campaigns of President Richard Nixon and Senator George McGovern in the Southeastern United States during the 1972 presidential election. Both candidates’ political careers up to the 1972 presidential election, which informed their actions and the actions of their campaigns, will also be analyzed to determine how these impacted their political decisions. Nixon’s career as Vice President, his comeback after his losses in 1960 and 1962, and his first term as President all taught lessons that culminated in a campaign that earned him one of the most dramatic landslides in American political history. Senator McGovern’s …

“All The Rights Of Native Cherokees”: The Appearance Of Black People In Cherokee Society, Ayanna Goines

Theses and Dissertations

The appearance of Blacks in Native spaces affected the very structure of Indigenous lives during the forced removal of Native groups in the 1830s to the emancipation of enslaved people in the 1860s contributing to the change from a “clan-based society to a society grounded in the modern concept of rule of law” as the need to control the actions of enslaved people called for the creation of laws. Tribal courts were also used to determine whether someone was recognized and adopted into the clan. Outside of government involvement, the status of enslaved Black people was reinforced by the social …

Transnational Identities In National Politics: The Spd And The German Peace Movements, 1921 - 1966, Shelley E. Rose

MSL Academic Endeavors eBooks

Transnational Identities in National Politics problematizes the relationship between the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and pacifists on the non-Communist Left between 1921 and 1966. It breaks from traditional master narratives by using gender, transnational, and biographical analysis to reveal understudied continuities and shifting political spaces in German politics. Rose explores the foundations of “masculine” characterizations of party politics and tensions created by common perceptions that ethical pacifism was “feminine.” Additionally, her analysis reveals that although the SPD maintained its reputation as a “peace party,” SPD leaders‘ conception of peace changed over time. It was a winner of Binghamton University …

A Country Torn Asunder: Deliberations Over The Fate Of Post-Wwii Germany, Ziv R. Y. Carmi

Student Publications

This diplomatic history examines the development of Germany’s post-WWII borders. Beginning in 1941, this thesis traces the myriad of proposals and debates about German territory, focusing particularly on the matter of division and dismemberment. This work focuses on two main topics: Allied proposals and counterproposals for a divided Germany and zones of occupation, and the relationship and interactions between the Big Three leaders and powers, focusing on how East-West tensions affected the diplomatic talks.

Reckoning With “Corporeal And Mental Disabilities”: The Bureaucracy Of Immigrant Disease Management In Early-To-Mid Nineteenth Century America, Vivek K. Rallabandi

Student Publications

This paper explores how the American bureaucratic apparatus during the early-to-mid nineteenth century dealt with immigrants who carried risks of physical and mental illness. Though previous studies have discretely dealt with physical and mental illnesses that immigrants during this period carried, this paper takes an integrated approach, arguing that these two elements should be viewed in conjunction with one another.

Blood Cries Out From The Ground: The Einsatzgruppen And The Holocaust In Ukraine, Lauren R. Letizia

Student Publications

After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied much of the western Soviet regions. The Third Reich deployed special killing squads known as the Einsatzgruppen to protect its military and ideological interests. These units were responsible for murdering over two million Jews from 1941 to 1944, primarily through mass shootings. Ukraine was one of the most afflicted countries by this “Holocaust by Bullets.” Because of the efficient genocidal techniques of Einsatzgruppen units operating in the region, one in four Jews who perished in the Holocaust was Ukrainian. The scale on which these killings …

"Life Unworthy Of Life" Aktion T4: The First Nazi Genocide, Alexander M. Remington

Student Publications

Though usually viewed as a prelude to the Holocaust, the T4 euthanasia program was a distinct genocide carried out by the Third Reich’s doctors. Allowing themselves to be corrupted by eugenics and Nazi policy, the perpetrators of the Nazi euthanasia killings transformed themselves from healers to murderers. Despite public resistance led by Bishop Clemens von Galen which resulted in the cancellation of the T4 program, Nazi doctors took it upon themselves to continue euthanizing patients until the end of the war, emphasizing the legitimacy that euthanasia had acquired. The history of the T4 program, its perpetrators, and resisters is critical …

Redefining The Agency Of Jewish Communities Through Ghetto Humor, Addison E. Lomax

Student Publications

While the Holocaust is remembered by historians and victims as a time of suffering and genocide, Jewish ghetto survivors recall numerous occasions in which humor was used to combat the oppression of Nazi authorities. Although many historians emphasized the physical hardships and tragic conditions faced by Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the existence of jokes throughout Eastern European ghettos articulated the legitimacy of humor within the greater context and discussion of coping, resistance, and unification for the preservation of Jewish life and identity in the post-war period. Rather than depicting Jews as solely victims, humor returns agency to the Jews …

Nazi Education In Vienna: The Solidification Of Antisemitism And German Nationalism In The Classroom, Abigail J. Seiple

Student Publications

In contemporary Austrian schools there is an alarming number of students who know little of Austria's involvement in WWII. They see Austria as a victim of Hitler and as a conquered nation. This post-war victimization myth has survived in schools that works to undermine feelings of Austrian responsibility in the days following the Anschluss. However, this victimization myth is threatened by looking at education on the eve of the Anschluss to Nazi policy and Nazi sentiments that had already existed for decades in Austria.

Who Tells Your Story? Microhistory And Historical Biography, Stellarose B. Emery

Student Publications

The historical method of microhistory is a small discipline that is often disputed on whether autobiography and biography are forms of microhistory; using the life of Father Richard T. McSorley as a reference, this paper seeks to address how both forms of narrative are microhistories and how they influence legacy.

“The Same Service As Our Soldiers”: Metropolitan-Colonial Military Discourse In New France, 1754-60, James E. Lemons

Student Publications

The Seven Years’ War represented a new chapter in American military history, introducing European cultures of warfare to the North American continent for the first time in generations. This led to significant intermixture, dialogue, and debate between Indian, colonial, and metropolitan military men, especially within the context of New France. While some historians have located the debate between Canadian and metropolitan French military cultures as an attempt by the metropolitans to impose their own ways forcibly onto the existing landscape, this paper contends that both sides were remarkably willing to alter their manners of fighting and adapt in a syncretic …

“In The Spirit Of A Millennial Inheritance:” The Nazi Ambition To Regenerate German Civilization Through The Visual Arts, Marco J. Lloyd

Student Publications

This paper intends to explain the complex and seemingly contradictory implementation of Nazi cultural policy regarding the visual arts by understanding Nazi cultural ideology. By examining the writing and speeches of Adolf Hitler and his ideological predecessors, it is apparent that the Nazis did not object to many modern art styles for purely aesthetic reasons. Instead, they associated the perceived degeneration of art with the degeneration of German society due to the influence of Jews and political opponents. Therefore, the Nazi hope to regenerate German civilization informed the policy of removing “degenerate art” from public display and purifying the art …

Mental Illness And The Spanish Inquisition: A Tale Of Uncertainty And Suspicion, Alessandro M. Zuccaroli

Student Publications

The Spanish Inquisition prosecuted heresy throughout its lifespan. Occasionally, the question of mental illness confronted inquisitors during proceedings. For example, Bartolomé Sánchez, an impoverished laborer, was arrested and tried by the Spanish Inquisition on three separate occasions and was institutionalized in a mental hospital. In his case, mental illness was likely a reality, yet his inquisitors struggled to determine his mental state despite his outlandish ideology. On the other hand, Miguel de Piedrola, the Soldier-Prophet, was convicted by the Inquisition as a false prophet notwithstanding his employment of the insanity defense. At the center of both cases lay the question …

In Her Possession And Keeping Revolutionary War Widows And The Politics Of Family Archives, 1820–1850, Riley Kathryn Sutherland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how Revolutionary War widows deployed family archives as partisan tools to claim pensions. By reconsidering the relationship between women, family archives, and state building, it challenges established understandings of revolutionary women, nineteenth-century political economy, and memory.

Revolutionary War pension laws ignited fierce partisan debates. Since pensions would require Congress to impose tariffs and assemble a fiscal bureaucracy, they were generally supported by Whigs and contested by Democrats. Knowing that, women tailored their applications to their partisan audiences. Widows often appealed to Whigs by requesting welfare, citing their poverty. But when addressing Democrats, they framed the pensions they …

0891: Jean Edward Smith Collection, 1916-2015, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Jean Edward Smith was a noted biographer and the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University. He graduated from Princeton University and earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University. For more than thirty years, he was a professor at the University of Toronto. His biographical subjects included Lucius D. Clay, George W. Bush, Dwight Eisenhower, Ulysses Grant, John Marshall, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Smith won the 2008 Francis Parkman Prize for his biography of Roosevelt and was the 2002 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography or Autobiography for Grant. Jean Edward Smith died on September 1, 2019.

Materials …

"Protests Will Succeed With Persistence": Student Activism For Curricular Change At Washington University In St. Louis, 1968-1990, Lexie Jordon

Mendel Sato Research Award Projects

All three case studies of student organizing, including the formation of academic programs in Black Studies and Women’s Studies, along with the dissolution of the Sociology department, represent moments when students at WashU participated in academic activism, defending their academic freedom by advocating for a specific type of curriculum. Student activists pushed the university to expand or protect educational offerings in the College of Arts and Sciences because they believed it to be in the best interest of current and future students, as well as the broader WashU campus. Historically, university administrators, faculty, and students have disagreed upon what is …

A Semiotic Analysis Of Two Linear A Inscribed Ladles, Leah Rosen

Honors Projects

On the peak sanctuary Agio Georgios on the island of Kythera, and at the archaeological site of Troullos on Crete, two Linear A (LA) inscribed ladles have been found. They are unique in that they are the only inscribed Minoan ladles found to date. Because inscription is not a common feature of Minoan ladles, the purpose of these two inscriptions is of particular interest. However, Linear A, the writing system of the Minoans, remains undeciphered and is unlikely to be translated for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, other approaches to studying Linear A inscriptions can still provide insight into …

Between Censure And Liberalization: The Press And Publishing In Second Empire France, Oana M. Iancau

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Napoleon III's ambition to construct a paradoxical liberal empire encountered a major obstacle in the realm of the press, which chafed under censure and forced the Emperor to consider the ramifications that absolutism would have for his reign, given France's revolutionary history. The article traces the history of censure under the Second Empire, to identify Napoleon III's motivations for liberalization and its consequences for his regime.

Time To Face The Music: Shostakovich’S 7th Symphony And The Siege Of Leningrad, Muhanna Al Lawati

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

It was in his music that Shostakovich expressed his thoughts and feelings about the radically evolving political landscape of the 20^th century. Bolshevism and Stalin’s subsequent inheritance of the USSR promulgated a refashion of the arts, forcing Shostakovich to be an instrument of the state in order to avoid being a victim. It was during Hitler’s Siege of Leningrad where Shostakovich, ironically, did not feel like a victim, but the custodian of a powerful weapon that dared to defy forces beyond his comprehension. In response to Hitler’s Bolshevik crusade, Shostakovich would launch an ideological crusade of his own, composed …