American Politics Commons^™

Healing Racial Injustice With Mindfulness Research, Training, & Practice, Danielle "Danae" Laura

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This thesis offers a collection of authors and studies in support of improved research, training, and practice connecting mindfulness with racial justice through intergroup applications. The paper identifies barriers at work (e.g., colorblindness, spiritual bypass, white fragility, and implicit bias) in contemplative science, Western Buddhist communities, and secular mindfulness centers, which block the sizeable contributions possible in studying the intergroup application of mindfulness practice—specifically Lovingkindness Meditation, among others—when used as an intervention with anti-racist aims. Through secondary qualitative research, I reviewed six key works from Black authors on mindfulness and race, as well as six sample studies on the prosocial …

The War On Drugs And Its Legal Effects On Black Americans, Alexia L. Howard-Mullins

2022 Symposium

The differences in treatment between Black and white Americans in the past fifty years has been a topic of thought in the minds of political and sociological scholars since the inception of the War on Drugs in 1971. These differences in treatment may lead to discrimination legally, resulting in longer prison sentences and a higher proportion of Black Americans in prison. This study analyzes the results of the War on Drugs that led to disproportionate imprisonment of Black Americans, including mandatory sentencing laws, drug classifications, and discrimination within law enforcement and the legal system. This study will use primary sources …

Between Text And Sermon: Ephesians 6:10-20, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States. Mass shootings are now almost daily occurrences, and no one, not even Christians, seems to know how to stop them. Last year, the Pew Research Center found that although almost half (48%) of Americans consider gun violence as “a very big problem in the country today,” and about “40% of Americans live in a household with a gun.”1 People are divided on this issue along geographical and rural/urban lines, political ideologies, religious convictions, gender, and so on.

The Interactive Impact Of Social Identities On Voter Turnout In The 2012 Presidential Election, Karla M. Mendez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The first Black American president ran for re-election in the 2012 election, which saw record-breaking voter turnout. After this election, scholars sought to examine what social identities impacted voter turnout and, found that non-Hispanic Black voters played a critical role in shaping President Obama’s success. Although the effects of social identities on voter turnout are the focus of an extensive body of existing research, many scholars study the separate effects of characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, gender or party identification. Utilizing public opinion data from the 2016 General Survey Study (GSS), this paper seeks to examine the intersectional effects of race, …

Legal Strategies Used By Black Men During The Antebellum Period, A. D. Banse

Digital Legal Research Lab

AD Banse, "Legal Strategies Used by Black Men During the Antebellum Period" [Research Poster]

Digital Legal Research Lab REU Site, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2022

The Missouri Statute of 1807 existed as the primary act that somewhat ensured the freedom of those enslaved and pursuing their freedom. The act refuted laws such as the Futgitive Slave Clause of 1793 and 1850, and the Missouri Compromise, which were evidence that slaveholders held decisive political influence and could cast the Constitution in proslave terms (Baker 2012). These clauses essentially gave enslavers the right to seize enslaved people who escaped to free states deepening …

Habeas Corpus: Breaking Reservation Boundaries, Samantha Byrd

Digital Legal Research Lab

Dr. Katrina Jagodinsky’s Petitioning for Freedom examines marginalized peoples’ use of habeas corpus in the American West from 1812 to 1924. This project has uncovered Indigenous manipulation of the American legal system to counter the challenges of colonialism. Indigenous peoples used habeas to protest, and sometimes successfully mitigate boarding school experiences, forced removal, and confinement on reservations. This study aims to show how Indigenous peoples and other minorities had a complex understanding of the law and used it to their advantage.

Advisor: Katrina Jagodinsky

The Epic Journey Of Pepe The Frog: A Study In Post-Truth, Jaq Webb

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Abstract

The internet meme Pepe the Frog is an excellent avenue for exploring the relationship between post-truth politics, new media, and viral ideas. While memes as conceptualized by Richard Dawkins are essentially timeless components of human society, internet memes as exemplified by the hijacking of Pepe the Frog by the Alt-Right and the Trump campaign are a novel force with uniquely dark implications for liberal democracy. In this study, I attempt a leftist analysis of the best thinking about Post-Truth Trump-era politics and the communication tactics of the Alt-Right, which suggests that some of the same cultural and material forces …

A Home Shielded By Laws: Freedom Suits And Enslaved Mothers, Heidi Martin

Digital Legal Research Lab

This project collects, digitizes, and makes accessible the freedom suits brought by enslaved families in the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia, Maryland state courts, and the United States Supreme Court. This project places families in the foreground of our interpretive framework of slavery and national formation.

Using TEI encoding, we focused on outcomes, relationships between individuals and the claim for freedom made. Using these data sets, I focused specefically on mothers petitioning for their children. Of the 508 cases I utilized, 131 included children and a parental figure. I set out to distinguish the additional burden mothers had …

In The Waiting: The Role Of The Slave Bastille In Antebellum D.C., Ellyzabeth Morales-Ledesma

Digital Legal Research Lab

In 1808 the Transatlantic Slave Trade ended and in turn the government created a federally protected human market. As the South's demand for human labor force increased the domestic slave trade rocketed and in turn created even more turmoil for the Black population if the United States. Slave Traders and Man-Dealers took advantage of the market and kidnapped Free Black men women and children. While waiting to be sold enslaved people would be admitted into holding cells and jails; this was the creation of slave jails and Slave Bastilles. Slave jails served as places where the horrors of a human …

The Acoustics Of Civil Resistance: Summoning The Spirit Of The Law With A Smartphone, Sharon Sliwinski

Data and Test Instruments

Inspired by Diamond Reynolds’s radical gesture to open a live broadcast in the moments after Philando Castile was shot by police in 2016, this paper explores the ways smartphones have become a critical tool of civil resistance. The paper situates this tool in a historical context, tracking the role of visual testimony in the long struggle for Black liberation, drawing special attention to the acoustic dimension and posing questions about how attending to the sonic environment modifies our understanding of bearing witness as embodied practice and our understanding of civil resistance.

Habeas Corpus As A Means For Economic Freedom In The Progressive Era, Janana Khattak

Digital Legal Research Lab

Habeas corpus protects individual freedom by allowing detained individuals proper trial. Economic liberty, or the “right to earn a living in an occupation of choice without unnecessary government interference,” is a key component of individual freedom. Following the depression of 1893, the Progressive Era ushered in a sharp increase in productivity. This was in part because of an immigration boom. While immigrants sought economic opportunities for the betterment of themselves and their families, ideologies of nativism rose.

Advisor: Katrina Jagodinsky

Abraham Lincoln: Thoughts On Slavery And Racial Equality, Abraham Scofield

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Looking at the political thought of Abraham Lincoln, two major themes arise: slavery and racial equality. Development of his thought on these subjects spanned his entire life and is revealed through his speeches, public statements, and written works. With the sheer amount of thought that Lincoln dedicated to these subjects, it can be difficult to decipher where he truly stood on these issues. To come to a more concrete understanding of Lincoln’s thought regarding these subjects, this article offers multiple interpretations of each of these themes. Concerning Lincoln’s thought on slavery, three interpretations arise: the Anti-Expansion interpretation, the Moral Opposition …

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

The State Of Our Community Social Capital In Kensington, New Hampshire, Sawyer B. Rogers

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study investigates the transformation of social capital over time, using the example of a small New England town: Kensington, New Hampshire. National social capital assessments indicate a substantial decline in social capital since the post-WW2 era. Kensington does not follow this extreme decline in social capital, with a significant rise during the 90s and into the early 2000s. Additionally, Kensington has high levels of social capital when compared to New Hampshire residents overall. Survey findings point to strong trust, yet weak social infrastructure in Kensington. Therefore, the most consistent way to maintain social capital between shifts is to create …

Reclamation: Managing Water In The West; An Overview Of The Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, United States Bureau Of Reclamation, Roger S. Otstot

US Government Documents Related to Indigenous Nations

This undated summary released by the Bureau of Reclamation offers a concise overview of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin flood control plan which was enacted when Congressed passed the Flood Control Act of 1944. This plan led to the construction of several dams in the Missouri River basin, including the Garrison Dam. The completion of the Garrison Dam displaced the majority of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara people living on the Fort Berthold Reservation. This document contains tables, graphs, maps, and a photograph.

Back To The Sources? What’S Clear And Not So Clear About The Original Intent Of The First Amendment, John Witte Jr.

Faculty Articles

This Article peels through these layers of founding documents before exploring the final sixteen words of the First Amendment religion clauses. Part I explores the founding generation’s main teachings on religious freedom, identifying the major principles that they held in common. Part II sets out a few representative state constitutional provisions on religious freedom created from 1776 to 1784. Part III reviews briefly the actions by the Continental Congress on religion and religious freedom issued between 1774 and 1789. Part IV touches on the deprecated place of religious freedom in the drafting of the 1787 United States Constitution. Part V …

The Pardon Paradigm: The Presidential Pardons Of Donald J. Trump, Hlynur Saemundsson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The presidential pardon power is an oft-overlooked political institution that seems to be perceived as being innocuous and irrelevant to larger political concerns. This research examines the pardons issued by President Donald J. Trump in an effort to evaluate whether they align with constitutional expectations regarding the use of this unrestricted presidential power. Dr. Jeffrey Crouch, a leading scholar on the subject, has demonstrated that the pardon power was intended to be used as a disinterested act of grace or an act in the public interest. A close survey of President Trump’s use of this power shows that many of …

Finding Aid For The Tyrone K. Yates/John F. Kennedy Collection (Mum01774)

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids (alphabetical)

The Tyrone K. Yates/John F. Kennedy Collection consists largely of John F. Kennedy campaign material and memorabilia, as well as publications by and about the thirty-fifth president of the United States. It also includes a number of items related to other presidents and campaigns.

Finding Aid For The Sam Lumpkin Collection (Mum00141)

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids (alphabetical)

Papers, photographs, and scrapbooks of Sam Lumpkin of Tupelo, Mississippi. He served as a Democrat in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1932 to 1942 and as Speaker of the House from 1940-1942. Lumpkin was Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1948 to 1952. During the 1952 presidential election, he led the faction of Democrats who supported Republican presidential nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Finding Aid For The Jamie L. Whitten Collection (Mum00732)

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids (alphabetical)

Jamie L. Whitten represented his Mississippi district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1941 to 1995 and chaired the powerful Committee on Appropriations from 1979 through 1992.

Archiving Feminist Truth In Trump’S Wake Of Lies, Julie Shayne

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

This article is about an assignment I do in one of my Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies social movement classes. I revised the assignment the first time teaching the class after Trump lost the 2020 election. For the assignment, students work in groups to research local feminist and gender justice organizations and deposit all of their original materials – recordings, photos, flyers, etc. – into a digital, open access archive I co-created several years ago with librarians and staff on my campus. In 2021 I had my students do the “post-Trump” edition where they researched local organizations about how their …

Armageddon Revisited: The 1973 Gubernatorial Election In Virginia, James R. Sweeney

History Faculty Publications

Threatening a lawsuit, Howell prepared a memorandum to NBC citing evidence of voters changing their votes to Godwin, because as one put it, "A national network can't be wrong."⁷⁸ Howell's memorandum also mentioned an indirect tie of McGee to Godwin. Godwin constantly demanded that Howell disclose how he would replace the revenue under his tax plan.⁴³ Throughout the campaign, Godwin stressed inconsistencies between positions Howell took on various issues in 1973 and what he had said in the past. Godwin also cited Howell's endorsement of his candidacy for governor in 1965 and his comment in April that Godwin …

From The End Of Politics To Legitimate Opposition: Political Perceptions Of The 37th Congress Of The United States In The North 1860-1862, Lauren Dubas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper intends to explore the political landscape of the Union during the first two years of the Civil War, specifically how the people in the North perceived what remained of the Congress from 1860-1862. I will be using a combination of primary and secondary sources to cover the 37^th Congress of the United States, whose members were elected in 1860 and legislated until the next Congressional election in 1862. My research shows several significant stages in the political landscape during this period and uses these stages of partisan politics as the foundation for understanding how the federal government, …

The Political Implications Of The Evangelical Right’S Anti-Critical Race Theory Rhetoric, Elizabeth Howell-Egan

Scripps Senior Theses

Critical Race Theory (CRT), once an abstract principle used in academic circles, has exploded onto the national stage as parents fight against their children supposedly being taught its tenets. Through an analysis of key political and religious leaders, I discuss the right’s obsession with CRT in schools, where it came from, and its political implications.

Building Our Own Houses: Aapis In Congress, Daenerys Pineda

CMC Senior Theses

During the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian hate peaked and came to national attention. Given the country-wide scope of this issue, a potential avenue for its address is through federal representatives, and particularly through those representatives who identify as Asian-American. This community’s political participation began long before 2020, and this thesis evaluates how Asian-American representatives have provided meaningful political representation in various situations for a national Asian-American constituency. For the purpose of this thesis, I define substantive representation as an action of a representative, using their particular political powers and privileges, in the interest of their constituents. I conduct three case studies …

Herschel Walker, Black Voters, And The 2022 U.S Senate Race In Georgia, Janise Waites

CMC Senior Theses

The Republican Party is known as the Party of Lincoln, they emancipated African Americans from slavery and worked to grant them equalities and rehabilitate them into the US. However, over the next few decades, the GOP began to devalue the Black vote in favor of White Southerners. Black voters support candidates who advocate for their social, economic, and political prosperity. Their loyalty shifts when the party advocates for policies that are harmful to their overall development. Over time, Georgia remained a battleground state as the ideologies shifted in the Democratic and Republican parties. After being a Democratic stronghold for the …

Desperate Democrats In The Reagan Revolution: A Party Determined To Win The White House, Matthew Maxwell Akins

Senior Independent Study Theses

Bill Clinton’s 1992 election to the presidency as a Democrat ended a series of defeats for that party on the presidential level. Clinton may have won the White House, but he did not do it alone. In the decade before his victory, the “New Democrats” worked to moderate the Democratic Party from within, responding to the presidential losses of 1980, 1984, and 1988. Scholars have explored this topic from many angles, but none have explored it from the perspective of these “New Democrats” in a way that traces their story from Al From and Gillis Long to the DLC and …

Undersea Cables: The Ultimate Geopolitical Chokepoint, Bert Chapman

FORCES Initiative: Strategy, Security, and Social Systems

This work provides historical and contemporary overviews of this critical geopolitical problem, describes the policy actors addressing this in the U.S. and selected other countries, and provides maps and information on many undersea cable work routes. These cables are chokepoints with one dictionary defining chokepoints as “a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region."

Litigation, Legislation, And Love: The Comparative Efficacy Of Litigation And Legislation For The Expansion Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Civil Rights, Mallory Harrington

Honors College Theses

This research examines the comparative efficacy of federal appellate court decisions and federal legislation with regards to the furtherance of civil rights on the basis of sexual orientation. The research examines efficacy based upon the number of measures which have been implemented as well as the content of each measure. The research examines federal appellate and Supreme Court decisions, as well as adopted pieces of federal legislation since 1950. It also examines the likely causes of the disparities in efficacy that are indicated in this analysis. The findings of this research indicate that litigation has been much more effective at …

Black Leadership Zine, Aleem A., Hunter Richard, Gabriella C.

Student Zines

Leadership takes forms in different ways where the art o languages whispers subjectivity.

This zine project takes various definitions of leadership and presents it through a different lens of a political United States.