United States History Commons^™

Italian Fellas In Olive Drab: Exploring The Experiences Of Italian-American Servicemen In Sicily And Italy, 1943-1945, Guido Rossi

Master's Theses

Despite constituting the largest ethnic group in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II, the experiences of Italian-Americans have received scant attention by historians. In particular, the stories of the U.S. citizens of Italian descent or Italian-born but naturalized Americans who served in Italy, have received almost none. These soldiers, sailors, airmen, and coastguardmen who could often speak Italian, had grown up in Italian-American families and neighborhoods, and still had relatives in Italy, were asked to go fight in their country of origin. During the Allied advance, these men found themselves in close contact with a destitute Italian population …

No Foreign Despots On Southern Soil: The American Party In Alabama And South Carolina, 1850-1857, Robert N. Farrell

Master's Theses

During the 1850s in the South, the American Party, also known as the Know Nothing Party, rallied southerners culturally and politically around nativism, an anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic ideology. This thesis studies nativism in the Deep South and challenges existing scholarship by Tyler Anbinder and William Darrell Overdyke. Anbinder claims that southern Know Nothings held little in common with their northern counterparts and exhibited only regional characteristics. Overdyke maintains that the American Party in the Deep South participated in the national organization, but he argues that nativism appeared only as an incidental component.

An analysis of private papers, speeches, and newspapers …

Sir Robert Thompson’S Better War: The British Advisory Mission And The South Vietnamese Strategic Hamlet Program, 1961-1963, Richard Sears Lovering

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the interactions between the British Advisory Mission to South Vietnam (BRIAM) and the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem and his American advisors. By studying BRIAM’s efforts—and those of its leader, Sir Robert Thompson—this thesis argues that many of the tactics Thompson advocated and Diem executed, especially the Strategic Hamlet Program, foreshadowed the techniques Americans used several years later under General Creighton Abrams, during the period historian Lewis Sorley termed the “better war.”

Sorley argued that the American strategy in the Vietnam War was flawed until Abrams implemented his “one war” plan. With this interpretation, however, …

Propagating Perfection: Eugenic Sterilization At The Utah State Training School, 1935 - 1974, Jennifer Rust

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Compulsory sterilization as a tool of eugenics occurred in the United States from before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld its’ constitutionality in 1927 until the early 1970s. Initial justification for removing a person’s ability to procreate was rooted in hereditarian assertions that disability was transmitted from parent to offspring, and incorporated an economic argument that individuals with disabilities placed a financial burden on the state for care. Due to scientific deconstruction of the hereditarian argument, rationalization for sterilization evolved into an anxiety over the perceived inability of the disabled to parent. The state of Utah sterilized 738 individuals with intellectual …

The Intersection Of Culture And Activism In The Filipino Community In Soma, Ericka J. Martynovych

Master's Theses

My research analyzes the intersection between culture and activism, through oral histories with participants and organizers of SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural heritage district in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I analyzed the impact of the establishment of the Filipino cultural heritage district on the Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood. I examined what motivates members of this community to be politically active by organizing and attending protests and rallies, speaking at Planning Commission hearings at City Hall, attending planning meetings for SoMa Pilipinas, building relationships across organizations and fields, and providing resources for community …

Breaking The Cycle Of Silence : The Significance Of Anya Seton's Historical Fiction., Lindsey Marie Okoroafo (Jesnek)

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the feminist significance of Anya Seton’s historical novels, My Theodosia (1941), Katherine (1954), and The Winthrop Woman (1958). The two main goals of this project are to 1.) identify and explain the reasons why Seton’s historical novels have not received the scholarly attention they are due, and 2.) to call attention to the ways in which My Theodosia, Katherine, and The Winthrop Woman offer important feminist interventions to patriarchal social order. Ultimately, I argue that My Theodosia, Katherine, and The Winthrop Woman deserve more scholarly attention because they are significant contributions to women’s …

Sonic Intolerance : Aural Yellowface During The Golden Age Of American Radio., Greyson Perry Neff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The position of the Asian in the American popular imagination has a long history, stretching back to nineteenth century vaudeville theatrical performances and remaining largely unchanged throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Portrayed as simultaneously cunning and ignorant, spiritual and corrupt, or submissive and sexualized, Oriental stereotypes have remained firmly entrenched in popular culture. While perceptions of race exist largely in a visual sense, a closer look at how people heard racial differences opens up new avenues for scholarly interpretation of the social construction of race and the shifting notions of citizenship. This thesis will investigate how listeners …

Nihon Wa New Orleans No Ongaku Ga Daisukidesu (Japan Loves New Orleans’S Music): A Look At Japanese Interest In New Orleans Music From The 1940s To 2017, William Archambeault

Senior Honors Theses

Since the 1940s, music lovers and musicians in Japan has professed a strong interest in New Orleans music, particularly New Orleans jazz. This paper examines three ways in which this interest manifests itself: Japanese musicians immigrating to New Orleans, Japanese tourists visiting New Orleans, and sales of recorded and live New Orleans music in Japan. This paper primarily revolves around oral history interviews with Japanese musicians who immigrated in New Orleans. Additionally, this paper utilizes a combination of primary source and secondary source material to examine the history of Japanese interest in New Orleans music. By utilizing these sources, this …

Silver Breathed Upon The Stage: The American Revolution As Drama And Mythology, Nathan Stone

Masters Theses

At the time of the American Revolution, several different intellectual influences were present within the American colonies: the classical tradition, taken from ancient Greece and Rome; Christianity, taken from the Bible and the Reformed, Calvinist tradition; and, Whig theory. The question that must be asked is: Were these different intellectual traditions brought together at the time of the American Revolution and, if so, by what means? By analyzing how the different traditions were present in the colonies as well as how the past was utilized through the eighteenth century understanding of time and history—particularly through the use of pseudonyms and …

Refusing To Be Dispossessed: African American Land Retention In The Us South From Reconstruction To World War Ii, Camille Goldmon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African Americans in the South were tied to the land during slavery and after emancipation. Many felt that land ownership was the key to freedom. For decades, black farmers strove for land ownership, in many cases falling prey to sharecropping and tenancy agreements in the meantime. Despite this drive toward independent farming, however, since 1920, there has been a steady decline in the number of black farm owners. This trend is especially prevalent in the Southern United States. The black farm owners who persevered through periods of economic, social, and political turmoil were able to, for varying reasons, navigate those …

Beyond The Exodus: Nauvoo After 1849, Rebecca A. Wiederhold, Dainan Skeem

Faculty Publications

Nauvoo, the City Beautiful, was named by Joseph Smith in 1839 when the Mormons began settling the area. After seven short years, the Saints had built a city to rival Chicago at the time. In 1844, Joseph was martyred and in 1847 the Mormons fled the city, changing the makeup of the town’s population and the direction of its growth. Emma Smith eventually returned with the remainder of her family and was beloved of the neighborhood children. Many other families not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continued to farm the land and raise families. As …

Defining Dartmouth: Inclusion And Exclusion At Dartmouth College 1917-2017, Laura Barrett

Dartmouth Library Staff Publications

Dartmouth College’s demographics have shifted over the past one hundred years, from an almost entirely all male, white, and wealthy student body, to one with gender, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity. During this time, the College has endeavored to maintain its reputation as an academically exclusive institution for the intellectual elite while simultaneously opening its doors continually wider to a more diverse student population. These aspirations, for broad inclusivity within the bounds of narrow exclusivity, have frequently worked in opposition to one another, and Dartmouth’s administrators have led the College in a delicate balancing act amid shifting alumni demands, student …

Rethinking The Bronx’S ‘Soundview Slums’: The Intersecting Histories Of Large-Scale Waterfront Redevelopment And Community-Scaled Planning In An Era Of Urban Renewal, Kara M. Schlichting

Publications and Research

In the 1910s, the bungalow colony Harding Park developed on marshy Clason Point. Through the 1930s–1950s, Robert Moses sought to modernize this East Bronx waterfront through the Parks Department and the Committee on Slum Clearance. While localism and special legislative treatment enabled Harding Park’s preservation as a co-op in 1981, the abandonment of master planning left neighboring Soundview Park unfinished. The entwined histories of recreation and residency on Clason Point reveal the beneficial and detrimental effects of both urban renewal and community development, while also demonstrating the complicated relationship between localism and largescale planning in postwar New York City.

Forward Myth: Military Public Relations And The Domestic Base Newspaper 1941-1981, Willie R. Tubbs

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the evolution of domestic military base newspapers from 1941-1981, a timeframe that encapsulates the Second World War, Korean War, and Vietnam War, as well as interwar and postwar years. While called “newspapers,” the United States military designed these publications to be a hybrid of traditional news and public relations. This dissertation focuses on three primary aspects of these newspapers: the evolution of the format, style, and function of these papers; the messages editors and writers crafted for and about the “common” soldier and American; and the messages for and about members of the non-majority group.

Sometimes printed …

Beyond Coattails: Explaining John Paul Hammerschmidt's Victory In 1966, Jesse Ray Sims

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the campaign issues, demographic factors, and voting trends that helped Republican John Paul Hammerschmidt defeat incumbent Democratic congressman James W. Trimble in Arkansas’s third congressional district in 1966. Much of the historiography addressing this election largely neglects the historic significance of Hammerschmidt’s successful campaign and the factors contributing to his victory. Instead, historians primarily write about the election of Republican Winthrop Rockefeller to the governor’s office that year.

This thesis pieces together several theories on how Hammerschmidt defeated Trimble, including the effect of Winthrop Rockefeller’s coattails, the demographic changes taking place in the Ozarks beginning in the …

Thomas Jefferson, Slavery, And The Language Of The Textbook: Addressing Problematic Representations Of Race And Power, Sarah L. Thomson

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

This paper uses critical discourse analysis to demonstrate how two written texts about Thomas Jefferson and slavery construct very different representations of the past. The paper suggests methods that teachers can use to help students critique representations of marginalized groups in written texts, and develop a more authentic understanding of the experiences of enslaved African American men and women.

The Trials Of Louis Benecke, David Alan Whitby

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history, and the country felt its impact in many ways. One of those ways was in the expansion of the pension system. The scale of the war left thousands of wounded soldiers in need of care, and a government that recognized its duty to help. In this thesis, I examine the new pension laws that not only benefitted veterans, but also their dependents. Women and children were included within the laws of the ever changing and expanding pension system. This system was not just for white veterans, but also for African-American …

Songs Of The Cajuns: A History And Analysis Of Joie De Vivre: Five Impressions Of Acadian-America, Wendy Kay Moss

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

My exploration of Cajun song, from its origins as a French ballade into popular American song, will reveal the musical characteristics of Cajun music. My study’s purpose is to increase ones understanding of the history of Cajun song and its music, and then determine why it is missing from the canon of American song repertoire. My study will include an analysis, performance and recording of Cajun song settings composed and arranged by Arles Estes. My investigation will research five traditional Cajun songs as they pertain to Estes’ settings in order to broaden the roots of American song literature and enhance …

Reaching Across Land And Ocean: Daughters Of Bilitis, Minorities Research Group, And Resistance Formation In The International Lesbian Network, Linsey Scriven

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

From 1964 to 1972, the lesbian rights organizations, Daughters of Bilitis and Minorities Research Group, shaped the resistance of lesbians in North America and Europe by providing a platform to challenge harmful narratives about lesbianism in their magazines, The Ladder and Arena Three. This thesis is the first to examine the close relationship of the Daughters of Bilitis and Minorities Research Group, and how their collaboration helped lesbians in the international lesbian network move from the shadows onto the international stage years before Stonewall. More often than not, DOB and MRG leaders could not agree on what was “best” for …

Stories Of Knox County Final Paper, Sarah Aguilar, Maria Brescia-Weiler, Mary Grace Detmer, Gabe Jimenez-Ekman

Stories of Knox County: Final Paper

No abstract provided.

Burhans, Rollin S., 1914-2005 - Relating To (Sc 3112), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3112. Typescripted account by an unknown author of an intercession by Rollin S. Burhans, pastor of Crescent Hill Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky, which prevented the planned suicide of “Mr. Martin,” a musician traveling with the Ice Capades.

American Prometheus: Carnegie's Captain, Bill Jones, Tom Gage

Trade & Scholarly Monographs

American Prometheus: Carnegie’s Captain, Bill Jones presents a compelling historical memoir of the illustrious life of rebellious steel genius and inventor, Captain Bill Jones.

Hero of the Civil War and Johnstown Flood, Captain Bill Jones built and supervised the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, which in its first five years advanced to the rank of the world’s most productive and profitable steel mill. His “hands-on, all over” style solved Carnegie’s production problems on the spot, enlisted baseball teams from the Works’ departments to defuse ethnic strife, promoted the eight-hour work day, and patented inventions, including the Jones Hot Metal mixer, which …

Movies, Memory, And Millennials: How Modern Films Have Influenced The Holocaust, Audrey M. Hehman

Undergraduate Theses

This thesis analyzes how modern Holocaust films affect what millennials know and learn about the Holocaust. In a world that is so technology driven, more and more millennials are turning to alternative methods of learning about a topic - this includes watching films. This thesis looks at how Holocaust films have changed since the late 1940s, and how films have grown less historically accurate. Overall, this thesis sees what millennials learn about the Holocaust through these films.

Robertson, Jane, 1925-2015 (Sc 3111), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3111. Letters sent from Jane Robertson, a nurse in Boston, Massachusetts, to fiancé and future husband Sergeant Luthene G. Kimball, while he was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, during World War II. She discusses their relationship, family life, nursing, and current events.

See also: SC 2976 "Kimball, Luthene G., 1921-1986"

The Grizzly, April 27, 2017, Brian Thomas, Kevin Leon, Erin Mckinney, Chris Karmilowicz, Courtney A. Duchene, Jordan Ostrum, Fran Liberatoscioli, Hunter Gellman

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Ursinus Makes Changes to Graduation • Mellon Foundation Awards College Grant for New Core Curriculum • Grizzly Interview with President Brock Blomberg • Recent Volunteer Efforts are Revitalizing the Organic Farm • First-Person Perspective: Student Finds Comfort and Solidarity at D.C. March for Science • History Professor Shares Love for Music with the Campus • Opinions: Neutrality is Not Enough to Stop World-Wide Fascism; Future of Ursinus Requires Us to Accept Change • Two-Sport Athlete Raises Money for Next Off-the-Field Hurdle

Broken Glass: The Decline Of Corporate Paternalism And Welfare Capitalism, A Critical Analysis Of One Company’S Systematic Socio-Economic Metamorphosis, Doug Bruno

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Battlefields And Supermarkets: The Importance Of Battlefield Preservation And The Case Of Camp Letterman, Savannah Labbe

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Gettysburg National Military Park is an immense park, encompassing and preserving a large section of the battlefield. What many don’t realize, however, is that the battlefield was not confined only to the areas that have been preserved, but also to a much larger section of the greater Gettysburg area. Where now stands the Giant supermarket was once home to land that the Confederates retreated over and also, more importantly, to a large battlefield hospital, Camp Letterman.

Uncovering The Truth: Women Spies Of The Civil War, Olivia Traina (Class Of 2017)

History Undergraduate Publications

The American Civil War is one of the most impactful events in our nation’s history. There is so much that can be analyzed within this one event, from the years leading into the war, during the war, and Reconstruction. Most historians and school history textbooks only focus on the male and battle aspects of the war. While these two topics make up a majority of Civil War history, there is another huge component that played a prominent role, and that is the women spies.

Women spies played a vital role in the Civil War. Rose O’Neal Greenhow, Belle Boyd, Sarah …

Discursive Mapping: Alvar Núñez Cabeza De Vaca And Thomas Jefferson’S Construction Of Selfhood And Otherness, Monica Doebel

Undergraduate Research Awards

The binary of savage versus civilized was deeply embedded in the structure of early American society and the consciousness of early generations of colonizers, codified through multiple methods of inscribing meaning upon native land. Thomas Jefferson, in his pseudo-scientific Notes on the State of Virginia, taxonomizes life in native America using maps, charts, and textual descriptions for the purpose of consolidating an American identity premised on superiority over native people and black slaves. In contrast, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca maps native America purely through language, constructing the illusory infallibility of European colonizers while crafting an overall narrative of native …

Oral History With Karen Edwards-Hunter, Matthew R. Griffis

Oral History Archive

Karen Edwards-Hunter was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950 and has lived most of her life there. Her father was a mail carrier and her mother, who was originally a homemaker, was later a Teacher’s Assistant at Perry Elementary School. Edwards-Hunter grew up on 15^th Street in the city’s Russell neighborhood and attended Perry Elementary School and Harvey C. Russell Junior High School when both were still segregated. She later attended Louisville Male High School before earning a B.A. in English at Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Louisville. She completed further studies at Bard College in New …