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Item An inferno of anxiety: How narratives surrounding the North Texas fires of 1860 ignited paranoia and distrust in Texas prior to secession(May-23) Hustoft, Stefanie 01/26/1997-; Blosser, Jacob; Parker, James; Van Erve, WouterThe purpose of this thesis was to examine the impact of the 1860 North Texas fires on Texas’ decision to secede. This research project looks at the various factors of these events. Chapter one looks at the environment of North Texas and how the dry conditions combined with white settlement practices created conditions that helped the summer fires spread. This chapter also analyzes Donald E. Reynolds’ prairie match, which claims that the North Texas fires of 1860 were caused by matches combusting from the summer heat. Chapter two looks at the animosity Texans had against northerners. A specific focus of this section is Texans’ assumption that all northerners were abolitionists who wanted to harm southerners and take away their slaves. The third chapter analyzes Texas coverage of the North Texas fires and how the narratives were manipulated to accuse abolitionists of setting fires across the region. The chapter also introduces how other southern states influenced Texas to secede during the state convention of 1861.Item San Antonio, Bexar County, and the Texas Rangers: The struggle of prohibition enforcement(May-23) Febre, Matthew David 10/17/1995-; Landdeck, Katherine S; Van Erve, Wouter; Parker, JamesThe purpose of this study was to examine the enforcement of Prohibition in San Antonio, Texas, both before nationwide implementation and through Governor Pat Neff’s Ranger occupation of the city between September 1923 to January 1925. Due to the challenges of Prohibition enforcement, Governor Neff, during his second term, created a new company of the famed Texas Rangers to police Prohibition within San Antonio with mixed results. This year-and-a-half-long enforcement campaign ended with the court case Neff vs. Elgin and the election of Governor Miriam Ferguson. Major primary sources of this thesis include various newspaper articles primarily from San Antonio, letters from Governor Neff and Rangers from San Antonio, including Captain Berkhead C. Baldwin, and court documents from Neff vs. Elgin. While Neff’s occupation of San Antonio successfully enforced vice laws, the campaign proved difficult to maintain because of the unprofessionalism, uncooperativeness, and violent methods of the Texas Rangers.Item An inferno of anxiety: How narratives surrounding the North Texas fires of 1860 ignited paranoia and distrust in Texas prior to secession(May-23) Hustoft, Stefanie 01/26/1997-; Blosser, Jacob; Parker, James; Van Erve, WouterThe purpose of this thesis was to examine the impact of the 1860 North Texas fires on Texas’ decision to secede. This research project looks at the various factors of these events. Chapter one looks at the environment of North Texas and how the dry conditions combined with white settlement practices created conditions that helped the summer fires spread. This chapter also analyzes Donald E. Reynolds’ prairie match, which claims that the North Texas fires of 1860 were caused by matches combusting from the summer heat. Chapter two looks at the animosity Texans had against northerners. A specific focus of this section is Texans’ assumption that all northerners were abolitionists who wanted to harm southerners and take away their slaves. The third chapter analyzes Texas coverage of the North Texas fires and how the narratives were manipulated to accuse abolitionists of setting fires across the region. The chapter also introduces how other southern states influenced Texas to secede during the state convention of 1861.Item 4-F: The forgotten unfit of the American military in World War II(1/1/2013) Smith, Tiffany Leigh; Landdeck, Katherine Sharp; Travis, Paul D.; Presnall, BarbaraThis research explores how different segments of American society understood, interpreted, and responded to militarily rejected men, classified as 4-F by the Selective Service System during the Second World War. The first area of this study explores the military's intent and meaning in the creation and use of a 4-F classification. The second section is dedicated to an in depth examination of African American rejection rates. As the only minority group in America kept statistically separate by the U.S. Armed Forces and the Selective Service System, special consideration is given to the circumstances and contributing factors influencing the higher rejection of black men. In contrast to official institutional understandings of 4-F, the third section discusses the social stigma and response to 4-F men on the American home front from the general public, business, and vocal politicians. The fourth section details the intimate implications of military rejection and its associative effects on dating and family life. The fifth and final section is dedicated to how and why some 4-F men sought military reclassification out of 4-F. This thesis seeks to broaden the space in the historical narrative for non-combatant men during WWII and re-examine the complex social dynamics of the U.S. home front.Item Identifying the moral sense: Case studies in resistance to tyranny(1/1/2013) Armor, Sara Christine; Hoye, Timothy; Presnall, Barbara; Belfiglio, ValentineThis study focuses on four individuals who resisted tyranny under Hitler during National Socialism. These four resisters: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sophie Scholl, Karel Čapek, and Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, were selected based on their varying backgrounds. It is the purpose of this study to identify a correlating motive within all four individuals that transcends their age, background, culture, and gender. An explanation of why these four people resisted Hitler can be explained by Francis Hutcheson and the moral sense. Also, our admiration for these individuals will also be addressed in Adam Smith’s philosophy of sympathy. It is the intent of this study to look within the Scottish Enlightenment philosophy of Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith, for a better understanding of why people risked their lives for humanity.Item Radical women of Texas during the Great Depression: An overview of communism and labor union activities(1/1/2013) Hise, Jaclyn; Travis, Paul D.; Landdeck, Katherine Sharp; Presnall, Barbara A.Emma Tenayuca, Charlotte Graham, and Rebecca Taylor are representative of the diversity of agitators within the Texas labor movements in the 1930's as activists fighting for the conditions and rights of workers. While all three were involved in union organizing, which sought effective workers' rights, only Tenayuca joined the Communist Party to accomplish these aspirations. During the same span of years in Texas, Graham and Taylor organized workers for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, but for several contributing factors both chose not to join the Communist Party. While both unions and the Communist Party attempted to aid workers during the 1930's as evinced by Tenayuca, neither Taylor nor Graham chose to join in communist activities. While each of these women agitated for similar goals conceptions as to how best to pursue those goals distinguish their experiences from 1930-1938 in Texas.Item The myth of Warren Court activism(1/1/2013) Johnson, Megan F.; Kessler, Mark; Robb, Jeffrey; Travis, Paul D.Judicial activism and the Warren Court became synonymous, in the 1980's, with the rise of originalism. However, the first time the term, judicial activism, was employed it was applied to the Hughes Court. This thesis compares the two Courts to determine if the originalist labeling of the Warren Court as an activist court is appropriate. The evidence presented in this thesis demonstrates that judicial activism is a term that fails to capture the inherent complexities found in the interpretation of constitutional law when applied to either Court. It further suggests that originalism, as a jurisprudential theory, would be capable of producing the same type of results oriented decisions that originalists accused the Warren Court rendering.Item Plagues, paranoia, and Cold War blowback: The continuing national security risk of the Soviet-United States biological arms race(1/1/2014) Milmine, Alexis; Belfiglio, Valentine J.; Travis, Paul D.; Robb, JeffreyThe Cold War biological arms race is a site of contention within the geopolitical landscape under the theories of containment and mutually assured destruction. Rapid proliferation of biological weapons creates instability within the construction of biosecurity and is further complicated by the status of the Russian Federation and its stiffening of international relations with the United States. The thesis will analyze the impact of the Cold War biological arms race within national security policy, particularly in terms of terrorism and Russian movement into a new Cold War mentality, marked by the increasing lack of transparency. The analysis will highlight inefficiencies of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention between the United States and the Russian Federation to delineate the reasons needed for a foreign relations focus on bioterrorism by non-state actors and the influence of the Soviet Union on the current crisis of the global eradication of biological weapons.Item Is the red line only rhetoric?: Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), Syria's civil war, the United States failed foreign policy and its unintended ramifications(1/1/2014) Milmine, Karen; Belfiglio, Valentine J.; Travis, Paul D.; Robb, JeffreyThe thesis evaluates Middle Eastern foreign policy of the George W. Bush and Obama administrations in the Syrian civil war and the utilization of chemical weapons in August 2013. The United States' response to the chemical attack on Damascus highlights an inability to deal with Middle East instability due to the Arab Spring's secular and religious conflict and long-term violent conflict further damages the American presence in this region. The thesis utilizes a historical analysis of the U.S. relationship with Syria, to highlight problematic foreign policy constructions under the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as analysis of its political ramifications. The evidence reveals erosion of the U.S. as moral arbiter of geopolitical conflicts due to "red line" rhetoric, wherein foreign policy is unable to respond to the Assad regime and Russian chemical weapons dealmaking isolates the U.S. from its role as negotiator in international conflicts.Item The impact of climate change on African American communities(1/12/2021) Diggs, Mallaya J; Hoye, TimothyAfrican American communities are experiencing the serious effects of climate change on a nationwide level. The researcher examines in detail the hardships which have been endured by the African American community, including the degradation of their environment, health, economic stability, and general well-being. These concerns remain an ongoing issue because African Americans are without a voice on the national stage. This study aims to verify that climate change, whether caused by natural or human means, has had a significant impact on African American communities. Change is required to promote environmental equality for all who have suffered from, and continue to be affected by, the aftermath of natural disasters. This thesis will identify what climate change is and how it originated in order to understand the effects it has had on society, particularly African Americans. This study will identify the criticism of climate change that disregard climate change is part of the problem. The study will research other global experiences with addressing climate change of regions that have similar problems to those of African American communities in the United States. The purpose of the researcher’s stance is to understand what the United States can extract, gain, and lose. The study will argue that the focus of the United States government is not on climate change or its effects on minority communities. On the contrary, the effects of climate change in the community are downplayed by the media, not taken seriously, or not addressed to the extent they should be. At present, the struggle for addressing this problem remains the responsibility of local communities that still need more political and governmental support. To test this hypothesis, due to the COVID-19 quarantine, an online survey was taken from a national poll of one thousand African Americans to capture their responses regarding the effects of climate change. The researcher also used graphs and research studies conducted by other institutes to support the hypothesis that African American communities are disproportionately affected by climate change. These results suggest that climate change does impact the African American community, and that without the U.S. government enacting effective climate change policy, the problems are likely to persist. African American communities can only rely on non-profit organizations to help their communities deal with the consequences of climate change and to promote change and equality when disaster strikes.Item The shadows of truth: The search for morality in the Berachah Industrial Home for the Redemption of Erring Girls, 1915-1926(1/8/2019) Joblin, Megan Martin; Landdeck, Katherine SharpThe purpose of this study is to reveal what life was like for mothers and children inside the Berachah Home, a home for unwed mothers in Arlington, Texas in the early twentieth century. By using private Berachah Home ledgers and The Purity Crusader, a Berachah Home publication, this research connects this local home to larger society through evaluation of Berachah’s connection to societal innovations and movements in the early twentieth century. This thesis argues that while the Home created their own morality goals for the women and children in their care, Berachah consistently catered to the stigma of unwed motherhood, rarely met their moral goals, and often contradicted their own message.Item The Czech-German coexistence and the "wild expulsions" from Ústí nad Labem/Aussig, 1918-1945(10/2/2019) Kvapilova, Katerina; Landdeck, Katherine SharpThis study, which spans from the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918 to August 1945,examines the factors that played a role in the postwar violence against Sudeten Germans and their “wild expulsions” from the city of Ústí nad Labem while considering the deterioration of the local Czech-German relations prior to the expulsions as one of the possible factors. This thesis argues that while the Czech-German coexistence rapidly deteriorated in the late 1930s, this fact did not play a significant role in the violence against Germans in Ústí nad Labem during the period of the “wild expulsions.” Other factors such as the attitude of the Czechoslovak government, military leaders, and individuals within military and paramilitary formations proved to play a major role. A factor uniquely specific to Ústí nad Labem was, for example, the close proximity to Prague and easy access by railroads. While Ústí’s Czechs did not participate in violence against Germans, there does not seem to be any evidence that they opposed the expulsions.Item Under two flags: Rapprochement and the American Hospital Ship Maine(12/30/2014) Thurmond, Aubri; Travis, Paul D.; Blosser, Jacob; Hoye, TimothyThis thesis is an examination of the creation and mission of the American Hospital Ship Maine by twenty American women living in England during the Boer War. Attention is given to the funding, outfitting, and staffing of the Maine as well as the work of the Maine on its first voyage to South Africa. Due to the patriarchal time in which they lived, the identities of many of the American women behind the Maine were till this time unknown. With much effort, biographical information had been recovered and is included here. This study builds upon existing rapprochement scholarship to demonstrate the ways in which the Maine corresponds to British-American relations at the end of the nineteenth century, therefore highlighting the international importance of the American Hospital Ship Maine.Item Licking polio: An investigation of the use of social mobilization in the years 1938-2000 in global polio eradication(12/30/2015) Crawford-Becker, Jillion; Landdeck, Katherine Sharp; Fanning, Sara; Wiginton, KristinThe disease of poliomyelitis was one that caused a great deal of panic among parents around the world. Children, regardless of nationality, were at risk of becoming paralyzed for life or dying from complications due to the disease. Beginning in 1938 in America, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis raised awareness and mobilized the public in the war against polio. After the development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines, polio became a common enemy in a global fight, forging alliances between international organizations, corporations, and national governments. With the World Health Organization serving as the public health leader of this campaign, the partners set a target deadline of 2000 to eradicate polio from the world. Social mobilization techniques first utilized in America were adapted and expanded to gain the human, financial, and physical resources necessary for the fight.Item The Old Woman: Evangelical manners and late Georgian respectability(12/31/2016) Waynen, Kaitlyn; Blosser, Jacob; Hodges, Lybeth; Lanndeck, KatherineThis thesis examines the advice given to young women by an anonymous contributor to the popular late Georgian women’s magazine the Lady’s Monthly Museum. The advice columnist, who used the pen name the Old Woman, gave advice to readers who were concerned with what constituted proper female education, how they should spend their leisure time, and how to act during courtship and marriage. The advice this columnist gave her predominantly middle class readership mirrored attitudes held by prominent evangelicals of the period who sought to inculcate their morality on the English middle class. This revolution of manners, led by evangelical leaders, came to shape female behavior for decades. Examination of the Old Woman’s column adds important insight into the late Georgian period and the lives of middle class women.Item Anglo-American diplomacy on the Oregon issue, 1844-1846: A compilation of selected documents on public opinion(1974-08) Cardenas, Maria de la Luz Rodriguez; Landry, Harral; Yarborough, Kemp; Dawson, John; Belfiglio, ValentineItem The Irish uprising of Easter 1916 and the emergence of Éamon de Valera as the leader of the Irish Republican Movement(1974-08) Lamberth, Barbara Ann; Landry, Harral; Yarborough, Kemp; Dawson, John; Belfiglio, ValentineItem The arts in the early Renaissance court of Henry VIII, King of England: A study in royal patronage, 1509-30(1974-08) Hodges, Lybeth; Landry, Harral; Dawson, John; Jamison, Alonzo; Yarborough, KempItem The legal status of women and their reform movements in Victorian England: A study in feminist frustration and achievement(1975-08) Hodder, Doris Ann; Landry, Harral; Yarborough, Kemp; Sparks, Dade; Dawson, JohnItem Lord Lothian's mission to the United States, 1939-1940: A study of diplomatic persuasion(1976-05) Yeargan, Dorothy J.; Landry, Harral; Belfiglio, Valentine; Yarborough, Kemp; Dawson, John