United States History Commons^™

A Southern People: The Choctaw Nation From Removal Through The Civil War, Josh Phillips

History Theses and Dissertations

While scholars have begun in recent years to give more attention to the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi region (including the Indian Territory), few have attempted to provide nuanced and comprehensive explanations for the actions of native peoples who took part in the conflict. While the pre-removal era of Choctaw history has received copious attention, the thirty years between removal and the Civil War have received only sparse examination. Historians who have written about this period have typically either gone into very little detail about why the Choctaws sided with the Confederacy or they have identified only one or two …

“The Product Of That Finer Mould”: The Role Of Chinese Porcelain In The Making Of Early American Images Of China, Emily Meryn Hospodor

Honors Theses

This thesis asserts that Chinese material culture, specifically porcelain, was instrumental in the development of American perceptions of China in the colonial period through the late 19th century. The first chapter examines how the quality, durability, and uniqueness of Chinese export porcelain led Europeans, and by extension American colonists, to view China as an advanced and abundant civilization populated with ingenious craftsmen. The second chapter addresses the emergence of negative views of China among American traders and scholars after the establishment of direct contact with China during the Old China Trade (1784-1844). In contrast, the third chapter demonstrates that Americans …

The Railsplitter And The Pathfinder: The Relationship Between Abraham Lincoln And John C. Frémont, Kourtney Yantis

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This study serves as an analysis of the connections between Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and John Charles Frémont as a Civil War general. Lincoln’s position within history is solid, unlike that of John C. Frémont. The thesis will elevate Frémont to a higher status as a historical figure by arguing that the emancipation edict that he issued for Missouri in August of 1861 would influence Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary emancipation proclamation of September 1862, even though Lincoln repealed Frémont’s decree. In biographies of each man, their interactions are merely a small part of the stories of their …

Eating German, The American Way: German And American Cooking Traditions, Potato Salad, And The Culinary Assimilation Of German Immigrants, 1820-1920., Scott Wooley

Theses and Dissertations

“Eating German, the American Way” explores how and why the mayonnaise-based potato salad came to be a staple of American culinary tradition. It examines how native-born Americans and German immigrants in the nineteenth century identified themselves based on their culinary traditions and what they ate and how the interactions between, and accessibility of, those traditions created a new identity based on the sharing of recipes as the two groups mingled and assimilated to each other. It uses food as a way to understand the processes of assimilation by defining the distinctions between the two groups based on their separate repertoire …

"If These Walls Could Speak": Judson College And The Formation Of The New Baptist Woman, 1838-1930, E.Gabrielle Walker

Dissertations

Southern Baptist women’s collegiate education and experiences led to their questioning traditional Baptist gender roles and interpreting religion to fit a modern, progressive worldview. Judson College established in 1838 in Marion, Alabama, created a space for its Baptist students to consider socially appropriate ways, outside of doctrinal boundaries, to serve God, themselves, their families, and humanity. Judson remained theologically and culturally conservative, perpetuating inherited religious and social notions of female subordination to men, while increasingly offering students more progressive curricula to meet changing economic and cultural realities. In compliance with white Southern and Baptist conservative values, Judson’s students generally accepted …

Working For The Benefit And Advancement Of Women: Three Women's Organizations That Commemorated The American Civil War, 1880-1920, Annette F. Guild

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In the past forty years, scholars and members of the public alike have obsessed over the complex legacy of the American Civil War (1861-1865). As debates over Confederate monuments and the United States’ racial past have frequently emerged in politics, many Americans have disagreed as to how the Civil War should be remembered. In examining the evolution of Civil War memory in American society, numerous scholars have noted the important role that women’s organizations played in influencing the Civil War’s collective memory in the fifty years following the conflict. However, while scholars have noted the significance of these organizations for …

Republican Party Doctrine And The West Virginia Coal Mine Wars, Thomas Kidd

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The West Virginia Coal Mine Wars of 1912-1913 and 1920-1921 are most strongly associated with the use of government and military force against organized labor. A deeper examination of the contemporary newspapers in the state, associated with the Republican Party reveals the attitudes of the party toward labor. Looking at how these editors reacted to the key events of the mine wars reveals that the Republican Party of the time supported two principles: free enterprise and rule of law. This study shows how the importance of these key principles caused the editors loyal to the party to shift the blame …

In Search For A Better South: President Johnson’S Elementary And Secondary Education Act Of 1965 In The Lone Star State, Kade L. Kahanek

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Education before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was inconsistent with the need for quality education in the United States. Extreme poverty and racial issues existed in the South. Texas was no different. Part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was to reform education across the United States while targeting poverty in the South. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is regarded as the largest education reform program in U.S. history. Its irreversible impact on school systems across the nation led to societal and educational changes—which set new standards for education.

This thesis analyzes the impact …

Ladies Of Distinction: Examining Twentieth Century African American Socialites And Civil Rights, Mackenzie Mason

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Discontent post-war Philadelphians had a full list of problems which the city had been dealing with since the beginning of the Great Depression. Conditions in the city had deteriorated so badly that by the late 1930s, a group of young middle-to-upper-class professionals who called themselves “Young Turks” began advocating for postwar progressivism in the city. These wealthy white male lawyers, architects, and university professors frequently met and discussed their reformative ideas within intellectual associations and gentleman’s clubs. During this same time period and inside the same city, two African American women born into affluent families in Philadelphia desired to design …

The Students’ Army Training Corps In Virginia, R. Matthew Luther

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The Students’ Army Training Corps (SATC) is an overlooked part of the United States’ military training system during World War I. In early 1918, the War Department realized that they would need more military officers due to the rapid expansion of the Army for the war, the high expected casualty rate of officers, and the planned spring 1919 offensive. To help fix this problem, the Committee on Education and Special Training, a subsidiary of the War Department, created the SATC. College campuses served as training locations and male students enrolled at the schools received military training in addition to their …

I Belong Here Too: An Oral History Of The Immigration Of Bangladeshis To New York City, Subat Matin

Masters Theses, 2020-current

I Belong Here Too is an oral history project which consists of twenty interviews of the Bangladeshi community in New York. The oral histories touch on many aspects of Bangladeshi-American life, history, memory, identity, culture, and the struggles of being an immigrant. It tries to put the interviewees experiences in a larger historical context in order to understand how the Bangladeshi community in Brooklyn, New York has grown and the challenges they faced as immigrants in a new city. The two chapters of this thesis examines the oral history processes and the difficulties of Bangladeshi immigrant women. The project is …

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works, Caitlyn Aldersea, Justin Bravo, Sam Allen, Anna Block, Connor Block, Emma Buechler, Maria De Los Angeles Bustillos, Arianna Carlson, William Christensen, Olivia Kachulis, Noah Craver, Kate Dillon, Muskan Fatima, Angel Fernandes, Emma Finch, Colleen Cassidy, Amy Fishman, Andrea Francis, Stacia Fritz, Simran Gill, Emma Gries, Rylie Hansen, Shannon Powers, Jacqueline Martinez, Zachary Harker, Ashley Hasty, Mykaela Tanino-Springsteen, Kathleen Hopps, Adelaide Kerenick, Colin Kleckner, Ci Koehring, Elijah Kruger, Braden Krumholz, Maddie Leake, Lyneé Alves, Seraphina Loukas, Yatzari Lozano Vazquez, Haley Maki, Emily Martinez, Sierra Mckinney, Audrey Mitchell, Kipling Newman, Audrey Ng, Megan Lucyshyn, Andrew Nguyen, Stevie Ostman, Casandra Pearson, Alexandra Penney, Julia Gielczynski, Tyler Ball, Anna Rini, Christina Rorres, Simon Ruland, Helayna Schafer, Emma Sellers, Sarah Schuller, Claire Shaver, Kevin Summers, Isabella Shaw, Madison Sinar, Claudia Pena, Apshara Siwakoti, Carter Sorensen, Madi Sousa, Anna Sparling, Alexandra Revier, Brandon Thierry, Dylan Tyree, Maggie Williams, Lauren Wols

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

DU Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

Analyzing The Relationship Between Aid Agencies And The Union Army In Civil War Arkansas From 1862 To 1865, Kimberly Green

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This thesis examines the administration of Arkansas’s contraband camps. The Union Army originally failed Black refugees in their quest for freedom as it was unprepared for the large number of African Americans seeking protection and guidance from the army. Arkansas historians have analyzed the effect the war had on the state as a whole and the operation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, but none of these works detail the various agencies that worked with federal authorities. This thesis follows the Western Sanitary Commission and the American Missionary Association as they assisted the federal government by providing supplies and forming partnerships with …

The Language Of Legal Violence: The State’S Role In Silencing Capitalist Dissent, 1877-1915, Jaclene Paolucci

Theses and Dissertations

From the 1870s to the eve of World War I, the United States government enacted a violent and repressive campaign against labor activists and political radicals to protect capitalist interests. The growing alliance between employers and the government threatened American democratic traditions and turned those who challenged the capitalist system into potential enemies of the state.

Hitchcock, William, 1843-1913 (Sc 3689), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3689. Letters of William Hitchcock, Sharon (Potter County), Pennsylvania to his wife during his service with the 136th New York Infantry. He writes primarily from North Carolina of victories at Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson, including the arrival of several African Americans seeking shelter at Fort Fisher. Includes an 1864 family letter fearing the military draft, and a letter from an Army surgeon to Hitchcock’s wife regarding his recovery from typhoid.

Peckham, L. H. (Sc 3690), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3690. Letter, 23 May 1862, to “Anson” from L. H. Peckham, in camp at Fredericksburg, Virginia. He describes the massing of Union troops in the area in anticipation of a march on Richmond, and the construction of railroad, plank and pontoon bridges. He also remarks on the recent visit of President Lincoln, whose “smiling countenance was met with many cheers by our Troops here, but with dismay by the citizens.”

Martin, Laforest John, 1844-1862 (Sc 3687), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3687. Letters, 1861-1862, of LaForest Martin, Oneida County, New York, written to his family while serving with the 26th New York Volunteers. He writes from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland of his illness; drunkenness and desertion among the troops; and engagements with the Confederates, especially at Antietam. Includes an 1856 family letter; a subscription list of locals pledging to pay Martin's expenses to rejoin his regiment after his illness; and a letter to his father from a friend offering sympathy at the news of Martin’s death at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Some of …

Pike Tobacco Warehouse - Louisville, Kentucky (Sc 3691), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3691. Trade card of James Kelly, with the Pike Tobacco Warehouse, Louisville, Kentucky.

Osborne Family Letters (Sc 3688), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3688. Letters, 1864, of Frank Osborne, Oneida County, New York, written during his Civil War service. Working in a quartermaster’s office in Hilton Head, South Carolina, he discusses the future with his father and urges him to seek business opportunities during the war; he also refers to his brother Galen’s work in the newspaper business. Includes an 1863 letter from his father to New York Governor Horatio Seymour asking for the discharge of his son “Benjamin Franklin Osborne” after he was mustered into service on a false certificate; and an 1861 letter from …

An Economic History Of Ellis County, Kansas, Danielle Knoll, Alison Helget, Matthew Lamunyon, Colton Wagner, Daniel Robert Mcclure

Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research

Like many American rural communities in the second decade of the twenty-first century, Ellis County faces tough decisions regarding economic development, population growth, and sustainable strategies. This paper examines the history of the region since the early twentieth century, tracing the evolution of various industries—from oil to farming—and the different ways the community responded to the area and nation’s economic shifts. This “big picture” view of Ellis County operates as a starting point for strategizing paths forward for area residents.

Prouty, Isaac Lothrop, 1831-1904 (Sc 3686), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3686. Letters from merchants, 1848-1849, to Isaac Prouty, a boot manufacturer in Spencer, Massachusetts, submitting orders and inquiring about outstanding shipments. Includes an 1871 agreement by Prouty regarding payments on a mortgage of land in Spencer.

John Keating & Company (Sc 3685), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3685. Memorandum of agreement, 12 April 1842, between John Keating, John S. Roulet, and E. M. Keating by their agent John King, and Jeremiah Dietz of Genesee (Potter County, Pennsylvania). King agrees to sell to Dietz 100 acres of land adjoining his father’s, “as soon as he shall have complied with the customary conditions of settlement.” The reverse shows receipts of payment on account, 1844-1853, from Cyrus Cooper, and an assignment by Cooper, 25 February 1864, of his rights under the contract to Nelson Peabody.

Black Joining The Ranks Of White: Black Slaveowning In 1800s South Carolina, Zachary M. Saddow

Graduate Theses

Exploring the lives and impact of the Black slaveholders in Antebellum South Carolina is a highly overlooked subject in a sensitive area. The idea of a Black slaveholder stands contrary to the widely held belief of slavery held by a majority in the United States. This realization is also startling as most slaveholders were White, with those in bondage being Black. These Black slaveholders actively took part in the system of slavery including the buying and selling of slaves, the production of cash crops, and even support for the eventual Confederacy. Although many began their life in chains, Black future …

Not So Set In Stone: A Digital History Of The Macalester College Campus, Andie Walker

Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major Honors Project

College communities are constantly in flux, as students typically remain in school for only four years. However, parts of the physical environment of a college campus might last for centuries. This project investigates the evolution of Macalester College’s campus and asks the following questions: What has guided the design decisions for new buildings and structures at Macalester throughout its history? How have people interacted with, manipulated, and potentially subverted these spaces and places? How is settler colonialism physically embodied at Macalester? These questions have illuminated the ways that people have attempted to control the space and place that makes up …

Guide To Resources On Women, Msrc Staff

Moorland Spingarn Research Center Publications

No abstract provided.

Little Rock’S Unique Political Opportunities For Black Arkansans, 1865-1905, Isaac J. Cross

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Little Rock, Arkansas offered unique political opportunities in the late nineteenth century. Unlike the rest of the state, Little Rock housed a prominent middle-class black community that earned political office positions in local and state government. The current historical scholarship on the state’s African American political power in these years lacks detailed treatment of the political power of black Arkansans in Little Rock. Using newspapers, census data, and local and state government documents, this thesis argues for the unique position of the state’s capital for black Arkansans. In the late nineteenth century, the black middle class was especially strong in …

Voter Registration

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

Break The Silence, Isabelle Clarkin

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

The History Of Labor Movements: Fred Hampton's Legacy

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

A Look Into Providence College, Magdalena Smith

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.