History Commons^™

Legislation And Its Effects On Race Relations In Southeastern Indiana, 1785-1860., D. W. Varble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Residents of Indiana debated the status of Blacks from the time the area was part of the Northwest Territory until the Civil War. An anti-slavery faction gained control of the Indiana territorial legislature and assured Black’s rights through early statehood; however, from the mid-1820s until 1851 anti-black leaders passed repressive legislation. Officials in the southeastern Indiana counties and cities ignored the repressive laws unless events forced them to act. In 1820 one in four Blacks in Indiana lived in the southeastern counties of Jefferson, Clark, and Floyd. By 1850, those county’s seats - Madison, Jeffersonville, and New Albany, respectively - …

The Riom Trial : Marshal Petain's Attack On The Third Republic., James Estel Williams 1985-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a history of the Riom Trial beginning with the French defeat in June 1940 and the foundations of the National Revolution, continuing with the initiation of the trial and its proceedings, and ending with a historiographic survey of the trial's studies. The trial began in February 1942 and continued through twenty-four sessions until it was suspended in April 1942. Marshal Philippe Pétain instigated the trial in an attempt to legitimize the Vichy government and the National Revolution by trying six leading members of the last few Third Republic governments for their responsibility in not preparing France adequately …

Types Of Mankind: Polygenism And Scientific Racism In The Nineteenth Century United States Scientific Community., Robert A. Smith

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

In the mid-nineteenth century, a group of American scientists known collectively as the “American School” of ethnology challenged the validity of the biblical story of creation. They proposed that, contrary to the teaching of Genesis, there had been a number of separate divine acts of creation, leading to the appearance of more than one human species within the genus homo. They ranked the species, also known as varieties or races, in terms of relative superiority, with the Caucasian in the highest position of all.

I argue in my thesis that the rise of the American School was a defining moment …

Integrated Relationships: The Impact Of European Integration On The Special Relationship, 1969-1973, Benjamin Jared Pack

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The special relationship has long been a topic of interest to historians of US foreign relations. The general consensus has been that the years 1969-1973 were a low point for Anglo-American relations, and have therefore been dismissed as largely insignificant. Rejecting this interpretation, this thesis contends that while certainly one of the lowest moments in the history of the special relationship, the Heath-Nixon relationship reveals much about the nature of the special relationship and America's relations with its allies more broadly. Focusing on the question of European integration (and the corresponding British entry into the European Community in 1973) and …

The Idea Of ‘Holy Islamic Empire’ As A Catalyst To Muslims’ Response To The Second Crusade, Emeel S. Lamey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The oral traditions in the Islamic world presented only the moral benefits of Jihad. Yet, the fact is that, though the moral benefits continued to exist before and after the First Crusade, though the interest seemed to have been present and the necessary intellectual theories continued on, Muslims did not advance the practical Jihad. Nonetheless, the disastrous Second Crusade struck a powerful chord among Muslims. It forced Muslims to battle for their very survival, and to do so they would have to adapt, but equally they could only survive by drawing on their imperial inheritance built up over centuries. A …

"A Song Workers Everywhere Sing:" Zilphia Horton And The Creation Of Labor's Musical Canon, Chelsea Hodge

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Zilphia Horton, a college educated, middle class white woman from the rural American south, created the canon of music that would become central to the black freedom struggle in postwar America. Horton's work in the post-New Deal labor movement established the methods of incorporating protest music in movements of social justice that prevailed for the rest of the century. The work songs and hymns that she collected, arranged, notated, and published while music director at Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, TN--including "We Shall Overcome," "This Little Light of Mine," "We Shall Not Be Moved"--motivated generations of activists as they transformed …

Cherokee Freedmen: The Struggle For Citizenship, Bethany Hope Henry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2011, the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court voted to exclude freedmen (descendants of former slaves) from voting, overturning a constitutional amendment that gave freedmen tribal rights. Cherokee freedmen argue that the Cherokee Nation is ignoring the Treaty of 1866 which granted all freedmen "rights as Cherokee citizens", and they call upon federal support to redeem their rights as equals. The Cherokee Nation, however, claims they are exercising tribal sovereignty and have a right to determine who is a member of their tribe. Using a comparative historical approach, the goal of this paper is to explore the institution of slavery among …

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 …

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 …

The Fall Of The House Of Dixie: The Civil War And The Social Revolution That Transformed The South, Brexton L. O'Donnell

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This article reviews The Fall of the House of Dixie: The Civil War and the Social Revolution that Transformed the South (2013) by Bruce Levine.

Île À Vache And Colonization: The Tragic End Of Lincoln's “Suicidal Folly”, Graham D. Welch

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

Colonization, the state-sponsored emigration and resettlement of freed slaves outside the United States, was a prevalent narrative in the antebellum United States, and had a vocal adherent in Abraham Lincoln. Despite its ideological support, American colonization had few examples of emigration in action, leading to the attempted settlement on the Haitian island of Île à Vache. Led by speculators and Wall Street financiers under the aegis of the Lincoln administration, 453 black settlers departed Virginia in April 1863 for the hopes of a new, prosperous life in Haiti. The venture proved disastrous, however, as the colony was marred by disease, …

Freedmen With Firearms: White Terrorism And Black Disarmament During Reconstruction, David H. Schenk

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

The outcome of the Civil War brought freedom to over six million slaves of African descent. These Freedmen communities remained a critical source of labor for the agrarian based economy of the southern U.S. Conflicts erupted because former slaves sought to exercise their new freedoms against the restrictions placed on them by local authorities. New laws, mob actions and acts of organized white terrorism were used to subjugate free citizens and return them to their former stations of labor. Political activities and participation in the electoral process were violently discouraged. Vocal opponents of the new system were often targeted for …

University Scholar Series: Ruma Chopra, Ruma Chopra

University Scholar Series

Choosing Sides: Loyalists in Revolutionary America

On April 30, 2014, Dr. Ruma Chopra spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Interim Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. In this talk, Dr. Chopra discusses colonial resistance to the American Revolution. Dr. Chopra’s book, Choosing Sides: Loyalists in Revolutionary America, details arguments given by America’s original colonists, including slaves and Native Americans, against the formation of the United States. Even hundreds of years into America’s existence, these arguments are echoed and championed both within and beyond our borders. Dr. Chopra is an Associate Professor in …

Ethel Pearl Johnson

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

The Contributions Of St. Cyprian: Perspectives On Epidemiology And Early Christianity, Iris M. Smith

Young Historians Conference

The Plague of 251 was nicknamed the Plague of Cyprian because of St. Cyprian of Carthage’s recordings of the epidemic. In Cyprian’s treatise ‘On Mortality’ he depicts the symptoms of the disease and offers advice to Christians on how to proceed. Cyprian offers valuable insights to the students of history by depicting a reliable account of the plague so as to build accounts of epidemiology, and as an abstract concept, Cyprian illustrates the moral battles surrounding fatality of early Christians. Records of the Plague of 251 are helpful to epidemiologists, and Cyprian's consolation tactics explain the emotions of early Christians …

Aristotle's Common Good: A Historical Analysis Of Aristotle's Politics, Connor D. Reising

Young Historians Conference

After studying societal structure in Ancient Athens, Aristotle compiled his research into a comprehensive work on government. Though he focuses on three different types of government and their citizen composition, Aristotle captures the preservation of the "common good" within each. This is the value that government should provide citizens with the ability to live well. Though historians still debate the detailed meaning behind Aristotle's words, this central theme is recognized as his key teaching on societal structure. His ideas stemmed from his home in Greece, but his influence can be seen in societies throughout the rest of world history.

Language As A Tool: The Use Of Arabic In Spain Under Islamic Rule, Madeline B. Hauenstein

Young Historians Conference

Beginning in 755 the Islamic rulers of Spain attempted to establish a culture of coexistence between the Jews, Christians and Muslims where the oppositional religions were able to unify for socio-economic benefit. The Arabic language proved to be the most significant factor in creating this unity as it was used to monitor trade, developments in the sciences and the preservation of philosophical developments from Greco-Roman antiquity.

An Investigation Into Zionism’S Inner Leadership, Zia L. Klocke

Young Historians Conference

This is a thorough investigation of Zionism’s inner leadership and specifically Herzl’s leadership and success or failure as a political leader. Zionism is a well known and widespread movement that speaks volumes to many people but the leadership during many time periods has been quite lacking. Thus the motivation to further delve into the historical problems with the Zionist movement but even more of a narrow spectrum in respects to Theodor Herzl himself. Through his whole political career, this investigation will inspect what went wrong.

To assess this character and his politics, this paper will go through the general and …

Copernicus’ Role In The Scientific Revolution: Philosophical Merits And Influence On Later Scientists, Jonathan Huston

Young Historians Conference

Nicolaus Copernicus' publication of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coesltium marks the beginning of a revolution in the field of astronomy and physics. Within 150 years, a heliocentric system became almost universally accepted in the scientific community. Copernicus’ model was significant not because it of its scientific merit, but because of its ideological appeal to scientists during the 16th through 18th century. This paper explores the philosophical foundations of Copernicus' model, and examines his influence in later work of four significant astronomers and physicists, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton.

Upholding The Monroe Doctrine: American Foreign Policy In The 1954 Guatemalan Coup D'Etat, Nadjalisse C. Reynolds-Lallement

Young Historians Conference

During the Cold War era, the US developed resentment toward the democratically elected government of Guatemala due to fears of Soviet influence in Latin America and liberal reforms orchestrated by President Arbenz that limited the interference of large American corporations in the Guatemalan economy. In keeping with a long history of imperialistic foreign policy, this distrust resulted in the Eisenhower administration and the CIA conspiring to overthrow the Arbenz administration and setting up a new Guatemalan government designed to be more sympathetic to American interests.

An Assessment Of Ho Chi Minh’S Strategies For Gaining Support In The Vietnamese Revolution, Madeline Fraser

Young Historians Conference

Despite Americans’ awareness of Vietnam in the context of America’s crusade against communism, little attention is paid to Ho Chi Minh as a national revolutionary in the creation of an independent Vietnam. This paper addresses Ho Chi Minh’s tactics for inciting a revolutionary spirit in the Vietnamese people, particularly his blending of communism and nationalism. Although Ho was characterized as a fervent communist in the West, an examination of his strategies reveals a man who recognized the need to diversify his platform. Ho not only employed nationalistic propaganda, but also adopted fragments of varying political ideologies and appealed to the …

The Nuremberg Trials And Crimes Against Humanity, Katie A. Welgan

Young Historians Conference

The London Charter, signed in August 1945 by Allied leaders to establish the International Military Tribunal, included a seemingly novel category of wartime wrongdoing in the charges against Nazi leaders—crimes against humanity. Although condemned by some as ex post facto law ungrounded in legal precedent, this codified prohibition of destructive action taken by a government against its own citizens was a culmination of humanitarian theory which began in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War. Codified law protecting noncombatants developed during the following centuries, yet the violent excesses of World War I and the failure of the subsequent Leipzig trials …

Fair Trial In A Sensationalist Society: Charles Manson And The Tate-Labianca Trial, Jamie L. Cannady

Young Historians Conference

The American legal system was created to ensure each citizen a fair and impartial administration of justice. Charles Manson, notorious criminal and leader of the Manson Family, faced one of the most sensationalistic and dramatized trials in all of United States history. This study views Manson's trial under these promised civil liberties, scrutinizing how Manson and his followers were not given the right to fair trial as secured under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Through many contemptuous actions by the court and media, the accused Family members were sentenced to death without an unbiased and lawful verdict.

The Catholic Church: Shaping The Roles Of Medieval Women, Ashley N. Just

Young Historians Conference

The paradoxical modern expectation for women to remain virgins while simultaneously being sexual objects for men to enjoy as they please is a result of the ideology of the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe. Christian doctrine at this time presented an image of women as inherently weak and prone to sexual sin as a result of Eve's Original Sin. This weakness then led to the expectation that women would remain chaste and subservient, which in turn inhibited the power and influence women possessed Medieval society. Many of the issues modern feminism fights to remedy result from these historical Christian ideas.

Alexander's Empire, Sema Hasan

Young Historians Conference

Alexander the Great is known for creating one of the world’s largest empires but, many are not familiar with the people "behind the scenes" who contributed to his success. This paper examines the role of women in Alexander’s rise to power and their influence in his political campaign. In the cutthroat world of Macedonian politics, it was Alexander’s mother who played a crucial part in establishing her son as king, and used all available tools including murder and deception to do so. Despite the fact that women had little opportunity to become rulers themselves, their involvement in Alexander’s reign was …

Griswold V. Connecticut: A Study Of Resistance To Sexual Revolution In Connecticut, 1961, Natalie Pearson

Young Historians Conference

In 1965, the last remaining anticontraceptive law in the United States was made unconstitutional in Griswold v. Connecticut. Despite widespread acceptance of the use of contraceptives, Connecticut legislatures put up incredible resistance to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and subsequent demand that the statute--outlawing individual use of contraceptives--be removed. This paper asserts Connecticut's foundation as a haven for Protestant values as the reason for this determined resistance to the acceptance of contraceptives.

Riveting Rosie's Riveting Struggles: Women Shipyard Workers In Wwii, Stephanie Lippincott

Young Historians Conference

The women workers of WWII are generally portrayed as strong, happy, independent women sporting colorful bandanas and cocky grins, yet this manicured Rosie-the-Riveter image is a far cry from capturing the experiences of the average woman laborer on the home front. An examination the Kaiser shipyards in Portland and Vancouver makes it evident that women workers faced a plethora of obstacles and stressors in the workplace, only to find themselves booted back into the position of housewife at the end of the war.

The Most Godless Region Of The World: Atheism In East Germany, Sophie L. Goddyn

Young Historians Conference

With a population of 52.1% presently identifying as atheists, East Germany ranks as the most atheistic region of the world. This anomaly can be explained through the economic lenses of supply-side theory and demand-side theory when analyzing the changes instated by the Communist Party during the life of the German Democratic Republic, from 1945 to 1989. Through a process of secularization and religious oppression, the Communist Party lessened the supply of religious goods in East Germany. On the other hand, it also minimized religious demand by providing secular alternatives to traditional religious practices, and institutionalizing anti-religious sentiment. These actions combined …

The Power Of The People In Influencing The British Government: The Kindertransport, Sophia Cantwell

Young Historians Conference

The Kindertransport was a program implemented by Britain throughout Europe during World War II to save thousands of persecuted Jewish children. While the British Parliament ultimately passed the movement as a bill and allowed it, the credit and work behind the movement belongs to the Quakers and various Jewish figures of authority in Britain. This paper explores the birth of this movement, its successes and struggles, and its lasting impact on the world today. Without the determination of a few willing people, thousands of lives would have perished during World War II.