Labor History Commons^™

Remaking Life: The Culture Of Chinese Transcontinental Railroad Workers, Caroline Jordan

The Purdue Historian

This paper examines the methods by which Chinese immigrants involved with the construction of the first transcontinental railroad maintained cultural ties to their native China, as well as the changes they made to adapt to their new surroundings. The United States’ first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, primarily at the hands of Chinese immigrants. Despite their massive contribution, no primary documents from Chinese workers themselves are known to exist. Their role in the railroad’s construction was largely forgotten until relatively recently. Chinese workers faced hostile living and working conditions during their life on the railroad. This paper covers multiple …

2025-06-23 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

A message sent by the Office of the President to the campus community on June 23, 2025, regarding upcoming events on campus, the Board of Regents meeting held on June 20th, and changes to the University Non-discrimination Statement.

2025-06-17 Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from June 17, 2025.

Where's The Dim Sum? Art, Oral History, And The Chinese American Diaspora In Portland, Or, Rayli Dornan

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the history, transformation, and contemporary significance of Portland's Chinatown through an oral history framework, emphasizing the voices of Chinese American artists. Beginning with a comprehensive historical overview from the mid-nineteenth-century Gold Rush migrations and railroad labor to twentieth-century exclusion, dispossession under urban renewal, and the late-twentieth-century dispersal into suburbs, the thesis traces how structural racism and policy shaped both the physical landscape and communal life of Oregon's Chinese diaspora. Through in-depth interviews with local artists, this research aims to illuminate how individual experiences of identity, belonging, and creative expression navigate the tensions between heritage and adaptation.

Drawing …

Siliciclastic Cave Or Diamond Mine? Multiapproach Investigation In Igatu Village, Chapada Diamantina, Northeastern Brazil, Raphael Parra, Ricardo G. F. De A. Pereira, Leonardo F. Vieira, Rubson P. Maia

International Journal of Speleology

The territory around Igatu, as that of many villages in southeastern Chapada Diamantina (Bahia, Brazil), was deeply modified by diamond mine activity. Caves were special targets for miners, since they can act as diamond-bearing sediment traps, and the Canal da Fumaça Cave was one of the most important and rich of them. The question that arises is whether the formation is a natural cave or an artificial diamond mine. In order to answer this question, we developed speleological and geological studies with detailed cave surveys, remote sensing and field measurements for structural analysis, optical and electronic microscope for petrographic characterization, …

Balancing Power And Influence: U.S.-Brazil Foreign Relations In The 20th Century, Thais Russo Goncalves

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper explores the intricate dynamics of U.S. foreign policies directed toward Brazil during the 20th century. The paper examines Brazil’s unique role in Latin America as the only country in the region to actively participate in both World Wars, which led to its emergence as a key ally of the United States. This partnership influenced U.S. foreign policy, particularly in economic and military aid, fostering Brazil’s dependency on the U.S. while simultaneously granting it regional significance. The paper acknowledges four schools of thought: exclusion, reactionary, parental, and economic-political, to analyze the motivations and implications of U.S. policies. The exclusion …

The Chumash War Of 1824: Revolution And Counterrevolution In The California Missions Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, And La Purísima, Joseph V. Payne

Master's Theses

In 1824, the Indigenous Chumash of Missions Santa Inés, Santa Barbara, and La Purísima de Concepción went to war against the settler-colonial system that bonded them to the mission lands and forced labor regime demanded by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries and compelled by Mexican military force in Alta California. The conflict lasted months and included violent battles and skirmishes at all three missions, the militant occupation and reclamation of La Purísima, a mass exodus to the interior of the territory, and the subsequent counterrevolutionary collaboration of the Spanish missionaries and Mexican military to return many (but not all) of the …

Tradwives: The Housewifization Of The Girl Boss, Gagan Kaur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the reemergence of a particular performance of domesticity in the post-pandemic era, focusing on the rise of the "tradwife" (traditional wife) movement alongside the normalization and spread of Alt-Right ideology through popular social media platforms. It argues that the tradwife is not a return to tradition, but a commodified performance of domesticity built on the erasure of social reproductive labor. Tracing the lineage of the “housewife” from the enclosure of the commons to imperial domesticity and from the “girl boss” to tradwife influencer culture, this project situates the tradwife within a longer history of "housewifization"—wherein women's labor …

2025-05-23 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

A message sent by the Office of the President to the campus community on May 23, 2025, regarding upcoming events on campus, personnel updates, and summer programs.

Matthew Kinnard, Matthew A. Kinnard M.S., Ph.D.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

2025-05-06 Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from May 6, 2025.

“Take This Job And Shove It”: How Black Women’S Fight For Economic Rights Informed Their Participation In The Broader Social Movements Of The Twentieth Century, Kyndle Diane Lee

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the vital role of Black women in the American labor movement during the twentieth century, emphasizing how their leadership and union participation were central to both labor organizing and the broader fight for human rights. Black women workers navigated and resisted the effects of racism, sexism, and class exploitation in a century marked by industrial expansion, economic upheaval, and major civil rights struggles. Far from passive participants, they emerged as key organizers, negotiators, and strategists in their communities, labor unions, and national movements. Additionally, their work extended beyond their demands for better wages and safer working conditions. …

Recollections Of A Tejana Life, Carolina Yáñez

Art Theses and Dissertations

This thesis encompasses the life of a young woman navigating life in Texas through various political and social barriers. My interdisciplinary practice analyzes the historical context of Mexicans in Texas from its Revolutionary period into current injustices. Through fiber, printmaking, and photography I create a visual diary to illustrate what the political has made personal. These works display the beauty of Tejano culture, but also the power struggles that threaten communities I care for, as well as my own existence that persists against far-right wing agendas.

Current politics and government leadership in Texas have inspired me to make artwork calling …

Industrialization And Immigration: Latino And Hispanic Immigrants In The South Carolina Upstate, Matthew D. Girardeau

All Theses

European investment in the South Carolina Upstate created favorable conditions for Latino immigration. French tire manufacturer Michelin came to the region in the 1970s, and the construction of the largest BMW plant in the world in the 1990s greatly impacted the local economy. The Upstate had a history of outside investment, beginning with Northern industrialists in the textile industry and later European companies that provided equipment for textile mills. The automotive industry did not necessarily employ Latinos, but the money generated by the sector created booming construction and service industries. Latinos built a community in western Greenville County and established …

2025-05-00 Newsletter, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress newsletter from May of 2025.

2025-04-23 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

A message sent by the Office of the President to the campus community on April 23, 2025, regarding upcoming events on campus, recognition of Women's Golf Team, personnel updates, new Doctor of Engineering Program, department name changes, and building construction and repairs.

Linda Morris, Linda G. Morris B.S.

We Are NIH Oral History Project

No abstract provided.

2025-04-08 Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from April 8, 2025.

2025-04-04 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

A message sent by the Office of the President to the campus community on April 4, 2025, regarding upcoming events on campus, staff and faculty recognition, personnel updates, and building construction and repairs.

Labor And Residence Within The Mexican Community In Aurora, Illinois, 1920-1940., Eddie Guerrero

Honors Capstones

This research examines how labor opportunities in Aurora, Illinois, between 1920 and 1940 shaped the growth and development of the Mexican community. Using U.S. census data from 1920, 1930, and 1940, historical city maps, oral histories, and special agent reports, the project traces employment patterns across three distinct waves of migration. It explores the role of industries such as the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, the Cotton Mill, and New Deal initiatives like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and National Youth Administration (NYA) in the formation and growth of the Mexican community. The findings reveal that labor not only shaped …

2025-03-28 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

A message sent by the Office of the President to the campus community on March 28, 2025, regarding upcoming events on campus, staff and faculty recognition, personnel updates, and the most resent Board of Regents meeting.

Graduate Student Labor Unions: Two Experienced Academic Administrators Share Their Views, Karen R. Stubaus

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This interview of two experienced academic administrators traces the evolution of graduate worker concerns as expressed in their collective bargaining agreements over the course of 50 years, at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Initial emphases on standard terms and conditions of employment are supplemented over the course of time with attention to work/life balance, discrimination and harassment, and other social justice issues. Administrators provide insights and advice on how to establish productive and collegial working relationships with the growing phenomenon of graduate worker unions.

2025-03-04 Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from March 4, 2025.

Anarcho-Syndicalism In The Negaunee Branch Of The Finnish Socialist Association, Michael P. Selwa

HS 390 Primary Research Papers

Socialism reached a prominence as a movement in the United States during the early 20th century. Fueled by the machinations of industrial capitalism and labor reform, many workers, immigrants, and other individuals would arrive to the precepts of socialism, a political movement avowing to shirk the constraints of capitalism on the proletariat. Specifically, the question of why and how labor unions should function in a socialist society was a central tenet of debate within the faction of the American Socialist Party. The central question of this article is to examine why anarcho-syndicalists argued against traditional socialist reformist arguments in the …

2025-03-00 Newsletter, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress newsletter from March of 2025.

2025-02-04 Minutes, Morehead State University. Staff Congress.

Staff Congress Records

Staff Congress meeting minutes from February 4, 2025.

Labor And Beet Sugar, A "Modern Commodity" In The United States Between 1890 And 1920, Melanie H. Zelle

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

The turn of the twentieth century saw a booming American beet sugar industry. For the first time beet sugar rivaled cane sugar in feeding growing domestic demand. Examined here are numerous factors considered significant in the sudden explosion of an industry which had previously failed to establish itself on the continent, including trade policy, monopolization, and advancements in industrial technology. However, in returning to contemporaneous primary literature on the subject, including grower’s manuals, histories of the plant, and economic analysis, I locate labor as a significant and often overlooked base of growth in the industry. Thus it was through innovations …

2025-01-08 Convocation Speech, Morehead State University. Office Of The Provost.

Staff Congress Records

Remarks given by Raj Parikh, Provost of Morehead State University, during the Spring Convocation to the campus community on January 8, 2025.

2025-01-03 Message From The President, Morehead State University. Office Of The President.

Staff Congress Records

A message sent by the Office of the President to the campus community on January 3, 2025, regarding the potential of inclement weather in the upcoming days and possible closure of campus.

Iii.A.2 Displacement & Barriers To Home Ownership, Kim Rostan, Bria Harper, Jim Neighbors, Mark Byrnes

Crafting Democratic Futures

This document explains how systemic racism and discriminatory policies from the Civil War & Reconstruction period through the 20th century prevented African Americans in Spartanburg from building wealth through land ownership and home equity. It details barriers such as Black Codes, sharecropping, convict leasing, exclusion from New Deal programs, discriminatory housing policies, and urban renewal projects that displaced Black neighborhoods without providing equitable opportunities for economic advancement.