United States History Commons^™

A Pelican's Journey To Flight: A Louisiana National Guardsman, The Development Of The United States Army Air Service, And The Human Cost Of Military Innovation, James H. Smith

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

George E. Dicks deployed to the Mexican Punitive Expedition and World War I with the Louisiana National Guard. He recorded his experience in writing and photography, which reside in the Jackson Barracks Military Museum in Chalmette, Louisiana. His memorabilia reflect an officer’s perspective on early military aviation and parallel to the United States military’s experimentation with aviation. Through experimentation, Dicks became an aerial observer in World War I.

This thesis explores George E. Dicks’ memorabilia and how it both represents the development of the American Air Service and the human cost of military aviation with photographic evidence. By representing aviation’s …

Liberty Lettuce, Fertilizer Bombs, And The End Of Civilization: The American Far-Right’S Strange Relationship With Europe, Jordan K. Matthews

Honors Theses

In 2016, the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville came to a violent end. American news outlets were left with scraps of rhetoric to piece together what would become a popular narrative going forward. Their conclusion was that the American far-right is heavily influenced by European ideas of civilization, race, and immigration. European nativist ideology is what inspired the people at Charlottesville as well as the numerous attacks on different racial groups that were carried out in the years to come. This thesis rejects all of that. The American far-right does not and has never had to be influenced by …

Black History Month At The Art Institute Of Atlanta Library, Michael W. Wilson

Georgia Library Quarterly

The 2023 Black History Month program at The Art Institute of Atlanta is described. The program entailed the use of LibGuides to assist students in identifying figures in African American history, specifically individuals who were pioneers in the students' fields of study. Students were provided access to a large paper banner to create tributes to the figures they discovered using the LibGuide.

From Hellfighters To Tuskegee Airmen, Austin Teague

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The First and Second World Wars were enormous facilitators for drawing people from all over to enlist. Nowhere was this more the case than in the United States after it entered the war in 1916, and later in 1941. Although a vast majority of those who joined were white, a smaller percentage were African Americans. Due to the racial relations of the time, they were separated into their own black only regiments. The 369th Infantry Regiment would come to be known as the Harlem Hellfighters and were sanctioned to work in the French Army. The 99th Pursuit Squadron, also known …

Full Court Press: The Influence Of Midnight Basketball, Talk Radio, And Racial Coding On The Violent Crime Control And Law Enforcement Act Of 1994, George “Matt” Patino

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

During the latter half of the twentieth century, “dog whistle” rhetoric increasingly entered the common vernacular, normalized by politicians and media personalities. Initially, the terminology was ambiguous, but it became racially charged when the media started broadcasting images of African Americans alongside the “thug” label. This research explores how “dog whistles” were, in part, a neoconservative response to the liberal policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his “Great Society.”

This study explores how “Great Society” policies aimed to balance the liberal expansion of Civil Rights with neoconservative “law and order” policing strategies. This research also investigates how right-wing talk …

U.S History: The Constant Reliance On Immigrant Labor From Asian Immigrants In The 19th And Early 20th Century To Mexican Immigrants In The Bracero Program, Moises Gonzalez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

During the late 19th and early 20th century, as the United States implemented stricter immigration laws, there was a gradual shift from Asian migrant labor to Mexican migrant Labor. The Bracero Program, which was established in 1942 at the request of U.S agribusinesses, best exemplified this development in the U.S. Throughout the duration of this guest work program, it demonstrated the discriminatory and exploitative nature of U.S agribusinesses. Yet, few studies have emphasized the thoughts of former braceros. Therefore, this proposed thesis will shed light on a more positive outlook of the Bracero Program where former braceros would persevere through …

Leaders On The Ground: Command Influence On War Crimes In The Armies Of France And The United States, Hayward Hood

All Theses

Utilizing torture during the Battle of Algiers, the My Lai Massacre, and torture at Abu Ghraib as specific case studies, this thesis contends that negligence or dereliction of duty by the brigade, battalion, and company commanders were the primary factors. Additional factors included commanders stressing rapid results, and external stressors in the soldiers’ immediate environment. War crimes are defined as violations of the 1907 Hague Convention which was supported by the 1949 Geneva Protocols, and negligence is defined in the legal sense.1 Contrary to the existing narrative, this thesis contends that lower-level commanders did more to create the conditions required …

“Why I Sing The Blues”: The Blues And The Individuals Who Played Them, Daniel Byrd

All Theses

Blues music is profoundly important to not only Black history but also to American history as a whole. While the blues has been examined by several scholars and writers throughout the years such as Samuel Charters, Paul Oliver, and Elijah Wald, much of the work done seems to be geared toward biographical information on these artists or defining what exactly the blues is. In my thesis, I argue that blues is important for another reason: it speaks to the individualism that was found within the African American community following Emancipation and this can be found primarily through a robust examination …

Japanese Canadians In World War Ii: Neglected Historiography, Clayton Huff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During World War II, Japanese across North America were forced into internment camps out of suspicion and wartime hysteria. The historiography has chosen to focus specifically on Japanese Americans and their experiences. Academic and popular history is overwhelmingly focused on Japanese Americans, with minimal discussion ever given to Japanese Canadians or Mexicans who were interned. Tens of thousands of Japanese Canadians were interned during this tumultuous time. By ignoring their testimonies and hardships, history has forgotten these oppressed people. This thesis seeks to examine the current historiography of Japanese Canadians and compare it to that of Japanese Americans while also …

The Gray Area: Sexuality And Gender In Wartime Reevaluated, Natalie Pendergraft

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

These three works, two academic papers and one screenplay, challenge traditional notions of gender and sexuality during wartime. Queer Vietnam service members did not all experience oppression, all the time, but rather carved out a space for themselves amongst their peers. Female nurses in the early cold war could keep their careers in the medical field due to its unique gendered history despite demobilization efforts across the country in different industries. Finally, through the medium of historical fiction, a Civil War soldier’s fears and desires are questioned as he experiences the phenomenon of the Angel’s Glow, a blue light that …

Wives, Warriors, And Womanhood: A Study Of Women’S War Roles, Megan Lee

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

Since starting the War, Diplomacy, and Society program, my interests have included a focus on the soldier’s experience in war, women’s changing roles in war, and the study of war journalism, ranging from World War II, the Cold War, to the Vietnam War. This thesis project is a culmination of these themes.

The first article examines the crucial nature of a soldier’s connection to the Home Front by analyzing a collection of letters between a soldier and his fiancé during World War II. Filled with declarations of love and occasional expressions of insecurity, these letters reveal the importance of a …

Georgia, Lesley Brian Bargo

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

The Vietnam War cast a massive shadow, both home and abroad. Relationships, morality, and humanity hang in the balance.

The End Of The Prisoner Exchange System In The Civil War: A Case Study Into The Effects On The Daily Conditions Of Prisoners In Confederate And Union Prisons, Rachel Stoner

Honors Theses

The Dix-Hill Cartel was a system of prisoner exchange established during the Civil War. Only a year after it was created, the exchange system was shut down due to Confederate refusal to acknowledge black soldiers as prisoners of war rather than slave labor. This paper is an exploration of the effects the shut down of this system had on both Confederate and Northern prisons. In order to accomplish this, I analyzed the diaries of six prisoners who were held in the Confederate prison of Andersonville in Georgia and the Union prison of Elmira in New York.

I examine the daily …

From Enslaver To White Savior: The Blackford Family And The Memory Of The American Colonization Society, Helen Dhue

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Part of the same family but with a generation dividing them, Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford and her grandson, Launcelot Minor Blackford Junior, shared much of the same sentiment toward the American Colonization Society (ACS). Mary, active in the ACS before the Civil War, supported the organization despite criticisms wielded by abolitionists of the period. Mary looked to the ACS for salvation from discussions about the morality of enslavement while enjoying the comforts that the thought of an all-white America brought her. Launcelot, writing fifty years after Mary’s passing at the beginning of an emerging national conversation about Black civil rights, …

Mental Health In M*A*S*H: An Analysis Of The Changing Portrayal Of Mental Health Topics In The 1970s And Early 1980s, Lyndsey Clark

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This paper studies all eleven seasons of the hit television show M*A*S*H (1972-1973) and examines how the portrayal of mental health changed in the show’s plotlines in response to changing guidelines and mental health policy in the 1970s and early 1980s. This study focuses on the association of mental illness with homosexuality, the changes made to the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in the 1970s and early 1980s, the rise and fall of mental health policies from the Kennedy Administration to the Reagan Administration, and the portrayal of several pertinent mental conditions, such as …

Harry And The Rómulos: Relations Between The United States And Venezuela, 1946-1948, Ross Seidenschwarz, John Linn

ATU Scholars Symposium

This presentation briefly explores diplomatic relations between the United States and Venezuela during the period 1945 and 1948. While these years may seem arbitrary to United States historians, within Venezuela the three years were noted for a brief period of democracy, sandwiched between two periods of authoritarian rule. Known as the Trienio in Venezuelan history, the national government was headed by Rómulo Betancourt from October 1945 to February 1948 and Rómulo Gallegos from February to November 1948. Within the United States, this time period corresponds with parts of the first and second administrations of Harry S. Truman. This time period …

The Media Intervenes: Tulsa's 1921 Massacre And The Destruction Of The Greenwood District, Maclain M. Wheeler

ATU Scholars Symposium

This scholarly presentation and research paper focuses on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, specifically the ways in which the media progressed and intensified the events the Greenwood community faced. A vibrant community filled with opportunity and promise, Greenwood welcomed any African American who accepted its warm embrace. Ransacked and burned to the ground within two days, Greenwood residents were forced to reckon with the destruction. Greenwood became unrecognizable. Properties and possessions that had taken people many years to acquire were gone within a matter of hours. The framing put forth by the Tulsa Tribune provoked much of the white public …

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

ATU Scholars Symposium

From 1865 to 1905, black Arkansans experienced significant growth in political life, economic opportunities, social development, and legal protections. One of the most extraordinary and distinctive areas of change for black Arkansans was their increased involvement in political life, specifically office holding. After the Civil War, black Arkansans expanded their political opportunities in local elections, state positions, and federal appointments. However, this evolution did not provide equal opportunities to all black Arkansans. Urban areas of Arkansas experienced the most gains, for they contained significant pockets of middle-class black Arkansans able to take advantage of political opportunities. Cities in post-Civil War …

Green Store - Falls Of Rough, Kentucky (Mss 754), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 754. Day book (1831-1832) and ledger (1829-1832) of the Green store, Falls of Rough, Kentucky; a paper analyzing the contents of the volumes; and miscellaneous Green family papers.

Religious Foundations: The Educational And Conceptual Designs Of The Founding Of Mr. Jefferson's University, Schuyler Ogden

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

The Instability Of Fortunes: American Expansion Westward By The Conquering Of The Trans-Appalachian Frontier, Steven Sullivan

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

The Atomic Bomb: A Violent Means Of Peacemaking, Eric Cashion

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

Martha's Vineyard: The Island With The Flying Hands, Kaitlyn Misirian

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

The Grizzly, April 20, 2023, Layla Halterman, Georgia Gardner, Kate Horan, Marie Sykes, Erin Corcoran, Jenna Smith, Quadai Brown, Ava Compagnoni, Gavin Range, Samantha Kiessling

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Images of Spring Fever • New Photo Editor for Next Year! • Bears Helping Bears: UCREW's "No-Shame Pledge" • One Last Letter From Our Editor • Meet Layla M. Halterman, EIC • Farewell for the Summer • Good Luck to Our Graduating Senior Editors • Opinions: That's All, Folks!; No Crew Team? Why? • That's the Game! • Let Them Place Bets • Ursinus Baseball: Stealing the Odds

The Colonial American Historical Significance Of St. David's Church, Maximus Marlowe

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

Thomas Calhoun Walker (1862-1953): The "Black Governor Of Virginia", Madelyn Junker

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

The Scientific Inquiries Of Professor John Winthrop, 1714-1779, Angel Peralta

Graduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Alvin York: Life Of A Peacemaker, Katherine Larson

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Creative and Artistic

America’S New Industry?: How Guidebooks Motivated Sericulture In The 19th Century, Caroline Smith

Student Scholarship

In 1840, George C. Sibley, a Missouri resident best known for his time as an Indian agent and one of the founders of what is now Lindenwood University, received a letter from his cousin Origen Sibley the contents of which discussed family matters, politics, and lastly a peek into what Origen believed was a budding industry in America1. The industry in question, silk production. In the letter, Origen opens a hooking discussion about the requirements of silk production, primarily regarding the food supply of the silkworm and the profitability that he estimates will come from it. This is the kind …

"Between Too Much & Not Enough," A Meta-Analysis Of The 1619 Project, Nathan Pipes

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

When the New York Times released the 1619 Project in August 2019 it was met with enthusiasm and critical review. The outcome of the public debate, as of now, is mixed. Research is also mixed. Education findings suggests the project has the power to heal. Case study evidence indicates culturally centered approaches positively impact academic outcomes and mental health of historically oppressed peoples. By emphasizing and affirming African American experiences 1619 has potential to narrow the achievement gap and disrupt rising suicide rates. However, philosophy and psychology warn against overemphasizing culture. Excessive affirmation can cause groupthink. Continual praise aggrandizes the …