United States History Commons^™

We Need A Little Christmas: The Shape And Significance Of Christmas In America, 1945-1950, Ellen D. Blackmon

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

As soon as the weather turns cold, countless commercial, domestic, and cultural landscapes across the United States begin their collective metamorphosis into Christmas wonderlands. Christmas is such a force that, not surprisingly, it has received considerable scholarly attention. Numerous historians have traced the evolution of Christmas from a pre-Christian pagan winter festival to a staid Victorian domestic holiday, citing the latter period as the final stage of its development. Christmases since the Victorian Era, they argue, have not deviated significantly enough to warrant further analysis. Others have recognized the uniqueness of Christmas’s twentieth-century form but have not paid sufficient attention …

Stonewall On The Potomac: Gay Political Activism In Washington, Dc, 1961-1973, Peter Bonds

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The first organized demonstration on behalf of gay rights in the United States occurred in front of the White House on April 16, 1965. Six years later, Dr. Franklin E. Kameny became the first openly gay American to run for a seat in the United States Congress when he launched his campaign to become Washington’s delegate to the House of Representatives in February 1971. The following year, Washington’s school board voted to include sexual orientation alongside gender and race as a protected category in its non-discrimination employment policy. This victory for gay Washingtonians was expanded on in 1973, when Washington’s …

Good Union People: Enduring Bonds Between Black And White Unionists In The Civil War And Beyond, James Schruefer

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The thesis investigates the nature of the relationship between white unionists during the American Civil War and their enslaved and free black counterparts. To do this it utilizes the records of the Southern Claims Commission, which collected testimony from former unionists and their character witnesses from 1872 to 1880. For comparative purposes, it focuses on two regions economically similar and frequently contested by opposing armies: Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and the region of central Tennessee to the southeast of Nashville. As the war began, white unionists were suddenly alienated from the larger community and faced persecution by authorities and threats of …

The Inuit Vs. The Steamboat: Human Exhibitionism And Popular Concerns About The Effects Of The Market Revolution In The Early Republic, Ryan Bachman

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In the early nineteenth century, a new form of human exhibitionism spread through eastern American cities. While public displays featuring live human beings had existed since the colonial era, these new shows specifically focused on Native Americans. This paper examines one such show, the Inuit Exhibition of 1820-1821, as a case study of this phenomena. Primarily through the use of contemporary newspaper accounts, this project argues that shows like the Inuit Exhibition occurred within a cultural context that legitimized the practice of human exhibitionism as a genuine, post-Enlightenment method of educating citizens about the natural world. Furthermore, so-called “Indian Exhibitions” …

Richmond's Urban Crisis: Racial Transition During The Civil Rights Era, 1960-1977, Marvin T. Chiles

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Between 1960 and 1977, Richmond, Virginia, experienced a tremendous racial shift in its overall population. The shift from majority white to majority black brought about the city’s first black majority city council, black mayor, and majority black school district with a black superintendent. How and why this racial transition happened is the focus of this work. Richmond’s racial transition was a part of Civil Rights legislation destabilizing the sociopolitical landscape. As federal Civil Rights legislation was intended to create a post-racial America, in Richmond, blacks and whites ensured the opposite. Both races combined class interest, past racial norms, and future …

The Highway To Hell In The City Of Angels: The Automobile And Its Role In Influencing The Transportation Infrastructure Of Post-World War Ii Los Angeles, William Ronald Rehbock

Honors Thesis

In this paper I am analyzing the automobile as the driving force behind the development of the freeway system in Los Angeles during the Post-World War II period. My research was driven by the following questions. To what extent did the popularity and accessibility of the automobile in the United States govern the way cities such as Los Angeles grow and develop? To what extent did the car’s presence as a status symbol impact this trend? In this paper I argue that Los Angeles exists as it does today primarily as a result of its development during the automotive age …

A Peculiar Institution Within The Peculiar Institution: An Examination Of Affluent Free Black Slave Owners In The Third Caste, Colton Adams

Journal of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

“The Union Forever”: Frederick, Maryland In The Elections Of 1860 And 1864, Megan E. Mcnish

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Frederick, Maryland has been remembered as a bastion of Unionist sentiment during the Civil War. However, in the Election of 1860, on the eve of the nation’s internal conflict, a large portion of the city’s 8,000 residents voted for a secessionist candidate. The Election of 1860 is famous for straying from the typical bi-partisan election; four candidates ran for office and each appealed to different political sentiments. [excerpt]

Haymarket & Immigration: A Legacy Of Anarchist Fear, Kaysie Harrington

Honors Projects

The 1903 Alien Immigration Act, more commonly known as the Anti-Anarchist Act, was the first United States immigration policy to exclude persons based on political ideology. The following research explores the evolution of anti-anarchist sentiment in the US, following one of the nation’s first experiences with anarchist behavior: The Chicago Haymarket Affair of 1886, an incident in which a pipe bomb thrown in midst of a labor riot ultimately led to the arrest and highly publicized prosecution of eight anarchists. After the Haymarket Affair, both the United States government and the public defined anarchism as being the domain of alien …

Are We In The Clear? : A History Of Military Treatment Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder From The Civil War Until The Wars On Terror, Susanna O. Lee

Graduate Theses

Post-traumatic stress disorder is known as a common element of warfare. However, it has only gained significance during the last century. The Civil War was the first time that the military began to record soldiers who were diagnosed with “nostalgia.” With every conflict that followed, the name of the disorder changed. Along with changing the name, new treatments were implemented.

The goals of the paper are to show depictions of the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder beginning with the Civil War until the present Afghan/Iraqi conflicts and how it was dealt with by military organizations. This paper will also cover …

"Do Not Fashion The Other": Representing Contemporary Haudenosaunee Literature 2016, Michael Patrick Brewster

Master's Theses

Historically, the issue of representation in postcolonial studies is one of some contention. While scholarship might recognize the necessity for highlighting the plights and struggles attendant to postcolonial societies, the primary literature being studied is most often written by natives of those societies themselves. This gap is especially evident with Indigenous cultures, because there are relatively few Indigenous scholars working in the academy. We are at the point now when we have a multiplicity (but not a plurality) of Indigenous voices writing literature (poetry, memoir, fiction, film, etc.) and academic criticism. However, there is value in non-Natives reading and writing …

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (May 2016), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Society’S Influence On Gender Roles, Ana Perez-Senic

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The Civil War was a time of hardship for everyone regardless of gender. Louisa May Alcott and Stephen Crane embody the spirit and mood of the Civil War through their novels and the use of the gender lens.Through the protagonist of the novels we see the influence war has on their state of mind and on their home and social life.

The novels Little Women and The Red Badge of Courage capture the essence of the Civil War era. Louisa Alcott and Stephen Crane reflect their own experiences and thoughts through their character's mindset, personality and hardships. Gender roles and …

When Ink Turned Into Bullets: The Effect Of The Press In Buffalo, New York And The Nation Along With Its Role In Igniting A Civil War, Nicole C. Kondziela

History Theses

The American Civil War was a multi-faceted conflict: North versus South, states’ rights versus federal law, slavery versus abolition. Due to increasing and constant advancements in technology, this was the first war in American history that developed in full view of the public through newspapers. The Industrial Revolution and capitalism allowed the press to evolve into rich and powerful soap boxes for political bosses and editors alike to voice their opinions far beyond the village square. Unbeknownst to much of the public at the time, the Union had been at the mercy of newspaper editors and politicians in a grand …

Relive The Roycroft: Bringing History To Life At A National Landmark, Amizetta J. Haj

Museum Studies Projects

This project defines and validates the concept of the Roycroft Campus as a living museum and explores how the implementation of a “living” component to its educational programming would strengthen visitor engagement. It also focuses on the various ways in which to fortify the utility and visibility of a museum within a community, demonstrating how the Roycroft Campus can become a center for community engagement and cultural development. Through this research, I present the Roycroft Campus’ potential as a living museum and have created an educational based event which will bring to life the year 1915 on the historic Campus …

Men Who Coach Women, Shannel Blackshear

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although Title IX helped to shape athletics in educational settings, the legislation also transformed the world of coaching. Due to the growing demand for competitive female athletics at the collegiate level, the need for qualified individuals to coach women’s sports continues to grow. As colleges and universities continue to create women’s athletic opportunities, coaching collegiate female teams has become equally competitive to coaching male athletes in terms of pay, benefits, compensation packages, and national attention (Welch & Sigelman, 2007). Despite the fact that 57% (Pilon, 2015), of female collegiate athletic teams are coached by male coaches, there is a gap …

Holy Children Are Happy Children: Jonathan Edwards And Puritan Childhood, Russell Allen

Masters Theses

The eighteenth century is often considered the most important era in the history of childhood. Old Puritan conceptions of original sin and physical punishment gave way to Enlightenment concepts of childhood innocence and rationality. Jonathan Edwards was a central figure who stood in the midst of this intellectual change. Situated quite literally in the middle of the transitioning eighteenth century, Edwards’ attempted to bridge the gap between Puritan conceptions of childhood and new ideas made popular by John Locke. Sometimes the bridge held firmly, and other times it cracked widely. Edwards’ theological and philosophical understanding of childhood was at the …

Conflict Beyond Borders: The International Dimensions Of Nicaragua's Violent Twentieth-Century, 1909–1990, Andrew William Wilson

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research is to identify the importance of Nicaraguan political contests in the global twentieth century. The goal is to demonstrate that, despite its relatively small size, Nicaragua significantly influenced the course of modern history. This has been done by examining the international contestations between Nicaragua’s revolutionary and counterrevolutionary currents from Augusto Sandino’s resistance to U.S. imperialism, to the machinations of the Somoza family, and the Contra War of the 1980s. Upon examination of these events, it becomes clear that Nicaraguans on both sides of the conflict proved adept at cultivating and utilizing transnational networks of material …

Machines In The Valley: Community, Urban Change, And Environmental Politics In Silicon Valley, 1945–1990, Jason A. Heppler

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Using Silicon Valley as a case study, this dissertation examines how activists influenced by the environmental movement reconfigured urban culture in the American West. *Machines in the Valley* argues that the spatial influences of the region's urban development gave rise to modern environmentalism that arose to criticize growth, but along the way failed to ultimately shape growth policies. While high technology sought to introduce a new urban form predicated on "clean and green" industries and an environmental urbanism, the premise of "clean" industry proved elusive.

High technology industrialization emerged as a key component of economic and urban development in postwar …

George Leonard Andrews: Bridgewater's Forgotten General, Orson Kingsley

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Bridgewater And The Influenza Epidemic Of 1918, William F. Hanna

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Internal Affairs: Untold Case Studies Of World War I German Internment, Jacob L. Wasserman

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

Internment of German-Americans and Germans in the United States as the country entered World War I marked a turn in the relationship between America’s governing institutions, its citizens, and its non-citizen aliens. The power and reach of the American state inflected upwards during World War I. Internment was the most drastic facet of a new state involvement in the makeup and dynamics of communities and the liberties and perceptions of minorities. Aside from whether such an effort was justified, internment lies at a crucial point in a sustained American history of powerful state (and state-like) actors interacting with newcomers and …

The Roots Of Radicalism: Natural Rights, Corporate Liberty, And Regional Factions In Colonial Connecticut, 1740-1766, Thomas Hopson

Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections

This essay traces the roots of radicalism in Connecticut to the religious and economic upheavals of the early 1740s. Thereafter, radical ideas developed through debates over the independence of Yale College, the nature of the colony's religious institutions, and the territorial expansion of a proprietary company. These debates had important similarities: All three addressed the validity of natural rights and the scope of corporate liberty, the right of groups to run themselves without outside interference. Moreover, the debates were politically bundled; the same men who held radical views on religion also held radical views on expansion. This faction led the …

Glimpses Of Marshall In The Military, Kevin C. Walsh

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Reality Of Combat!: An Analysis Of Historical Memory In Broadcast Television, Kaleb Q. Wentz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the World War II television drama COMBAT!, which ran from 1962 to 1967, and how this program dealt with and addressed the national memory of the Second World War. The way in which the “Good War” is remembered has changed over time. In the years of the conflict and immediately following its conclusion, there was a sense of zealous patriotism surrounding the war, but as our culture changed, a more critical approach was taken.

This paper examines the way in which the show deals with its two main subjects – the American forces …

Archaeological Potential Of The Rio Grande Valley: A Look At Brazos Island With A Historical Focus On The Civil War, Robin L. Galloso

Theses and Dissertations

The history of the Rio Grande Valley and the role it played in the Civil War is a developing field for both history and archaeology. This work helps to fill the existing gap that is present in academia and shows the archaeological and historical potential of this unique coastal area. The Brazos Island was heavily used during the Civil War by both the Confederacy and the Union. This thesis shows the rich history of Brazos Island and its archaeological potential through a multi-interdisciplinary lens, although rooted in the field of history. It covers a brief overview of the road to …

William Faulkner's Southern Landscape, Rachel V. Ford

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

The American South is a region full of rich and complicated history, undergoing slavery, war, poverty, ecological devastation, and racial violence. One of the most famous and distinctly southern writers of the twentieth century is William Faulkner, whose works challenge the idealistic Lost Cause mentality of white supremacy and highlight major issues within southern society. Faulkner’s writings are set in Mississippi, grounded with a distinct sense of place. The southern landscape provides more than simply a backdrop to the stories, but plays an active role in plot and character development. This thesis examines three of Faulkner’s novels, discussing their historical …

“The Ground You Walk On Belongs To My People": Lakota Community Building, Activism, And Red Power In Western Nebraska, 1917-2000, David Christensen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Framed by histories of Lakotas in the twentieth century, American Indian Activism, and the “long civil rights movement,” this dissertation seeks to provide new perspectives on the American Indian civil rights movement. Although the United States government removed Lakotas from western Nebraska in the late nineteenth century, some returned to a portion of their homeland, settling and working in the border town of Gordon and the region’s two largest towns, Alliance and Scottsbluff, in the twentieth century. Between 1917 and 2000, Lakotas living in off reservation communities in western Nebraska created a grassroots reform movement, whose goals differed from the …

Father And Servant, Son And Slave: Judaism And Labor In Georgia, 1732–1809, Kylie L. Mccormick

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In 1732 a philanthropic trusteeship was granted the charter to Georgia with the lofty goals of bringing aid to the impoverished in the British Empire and the persecuted Protestants of Europe. Within these goals was an emphasis on using the labor of indentured white servants, an unofficial ban on slavery, and a reluctance to allow Jewish colonists. To understand how both slavery and Judaism took hold in Georgia, this two part study explores the changing labor institutions through the lives of Benjamin Sheftall and his youngest son Levi—the two men who maintained the first Vital Records for Savanah’s Jewry. Benjamin’s …

"Puritan Hypocrisy" And "Conservative Catholicity" : How Roman Catholic Clergy In The Border States Interpreted The U.S. Civil War., Carl C. Creason

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how Roman Catholic clergy in the Border States—Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland—interpreted the United States Civil War. Overall, it argues that prelates and priests from the region viewed the war through a religious lens informed by their Catholic worldview. Influenced by their experiences with anti-Catholicism and nativism as well as the arguments of the Catholic apologist movement, the clergy interpreted the war as a product of the ill-effects of Protestantism in the country. In response, the clergy argued that if more Americans had practiced Catholicism then the war could and would have been avoided. Furthermore, this thesis illustrates …