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Title: Competition for Freedom: Black Labor during Reconstruction in Florida.
Creator: Day, Christopher S., Richardson, Joe M., Jones, Maxine D., Garretson, Peter, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In American History Reconstruction was a period of great change. The abolition of slavery forced the South to create a free labor system. How did this new focus affect African-Americans? Were they to become equal participants in a free labor society or once again a subordinate labor class? Historians have argued about the ambiguities of racial oppression. Many concluded that the main fear was social equality; whites refused to accept blacks as anything other than second class. This was not...
Show moreIn American History Reconstruction was a period of great change. The abolition of slavery forced the South to create a free labor system. How did this new focus affect African-Americans? Were they to become equal participants in a free labor society or once again a subordinate labor class? Historians have argued about the ambiguities of racial oppression. Many concluded that the main fear was social equality; whites refused to accept blacks as anything other than second class. This was not entirely incorrect, but what else was at stake? If blacks were denied opportunities to advance in society what was left for them? By being denied certain avenues African-Americans were forced into a position of subservient labor for white employers. During the years of Presidential Reconstruction, 1865 – 1867, black suffrage was vigorously opposed by a majority of Southern whites. Even with the passage of the fifteenth amendment whites used intimidation to curb black voting. Lack of capital and fear of retribution also made it difficult to buy land and become economically independent. These issues along with social segregation created a second class black community that had few alternatives, but to work for whites as they had done in the past. This indeed is not the complete answer to the race relations question, but it does show that denial of rights, whether by law or violence, and lack of economic independence can create an environment that will promote a subordinate labor class.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0063
Format: Thesis

Title: Let He Who Objects Produce Sound Evidence: Lord Henry Howard and the Sixteenth Century Gynecocracy Debate.
Creator: Caney, Anna Christine, Strait, Paul, Grant, Jonathan, Singh, Bawa Satinder, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Glorious, creative, contentious and optimistic are all words that have been used to describe England in the second half of the Sixteenth-century. The Tudor age was one of great literature, military victory, religious tension, and, it was the age of queens. However, beneath the atmosphere of optimism that surrounded Mary I's, and then Elizabeth I's, ascension to the English throne lay a controversy that dug to the core of a man's beliefs about society, challenged the foundations of traditional...
Show moreGlorious, creative, contentious and optimistic are all words that have been used to describe England in the second half of the Sixteenth-century. The Tudor age was one of great literature, military victory, religious tension, and, it was the age of queens. However, beneath the atmosphere of optimism that surrounded Mary I's, and then Elizabeth I's, ascension to the English throne lay a controversy that dug to the core of a man's beliefs about society, challenged the foundations of traditional political thought, and forced men to decide what loyalty truly was. With Edward VI's death in 1553, for the first time since the twelfth-century, there were no male heirs to the English throne. Not only was the immediate heir to the throne of England female, but all of the possible legal contenders for the thrones of England and Scotland were female as well. Mary's succession fostered a debate among men as to whether a woman was not only legally allowed to rule England, but if she was spiritually and physically capable of doing so. Pamphlets and books discussing female rule were published throughout Mary's reign, and with Elizabeth's succession in 1558, the debate continued. This thesis seeks to discuss the Sixteenth century gynecocracy debate and Lord Henry Howard's unpublished defense of female rule, "The Dutifull Defence of the Lawfull Regiment of Weomen," which was presented to Queen Elizabeth in 1590. Howard's beliefs and interpretation of Scripture, Philosophy and Law differ in many respects from contemporary authors who were writing both against, and in favor of women in general and female monarchy. Howard's theories presented in "Dutifull Defence" will be compared to other contemporary works written on the subject, especially John Knox's First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. After discussing Howard's life and motives for writing "Dutifull Defense," an analysis of his manuscript will be made by looking at the physical manuscripts themselves, comparing Howard's use of theology, philosophy and law to other contemporary writers, and revealing what Howard believed about women in an age when they were still seen as physically inferior, and mentally incapable, of administering any form of government. In order to achieve a thorough view of Howard, I have consulted his personal letters, letters from Howard's contemporaries, documents concerning Howard in the State Papers, and secondary sources discussing Howard, his life, and his written work. Additionally, works on early modern political thought, ancient and medieval philosophy and law, women and gender in the early modern period, and early modern English history have been consulted to provide contextual and content analysis. Combined, they will provide a view of a man who was remarkable in his time, and a work that was groundbreaking in his world.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0097
Format: Thesis

Title: Life inside the Earth: The Koreshan Unity and Its Urban Pioneers, 1880-1908.
Creator: Adams, Katherine J., Koslow, Jennifer, Frank, Andrew, Oshatz, Molly, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis presents a social and cultural history of the Koreshan Unity from its official beginnings in the 1880s to its decline in 1908. Founded by eclectic medical doctor Cyrus R. Teed, the Koreshan Unity emerged as yet another utopian experiment during the late-nineteenth century. While many utopian communities have been established in the United States since the colonial period, the Koreshans were a community unique in ideology and social practices. Founded on ancient Christian beliefs,...
Show moreThis thesis presents a social and cultural history of the Koreshan Unity from its official beginnings in the 1880s to its decline in 1908. Founded by eclectic medical doctor Cyrus R. Teed, the Koreshan Unity emerged as yet another utopian experiment during the late-nineteenth century. While many utopian communities have been established in the United States since the colonial period, the Koreshans were a community unique in ideology and social practices. Founded on ancient Christian beliefs, science, and communal standards, the Koreshan Unity has become known throughout the American utopian historical narrative as the utopian community that believed humanity lived inside the earth. While Koreshan beliefs are important in recording the community's history, a more personal history has often been left out of the scholarship on this topic. This thesis seeks to investigate the human side of the Koreshan Unity by tracing the life of Cyrus Teed and providing a glimpse into the everyday lives of the Koreshan members in their settlement in Estero, Florida. Utilizing the Koreshan Unity papers located at the State Archives of Florida, this material culture represents how the Koreshan members tried to realize Teed's and their utopian dream. While the Koreshan Unity began its decline after Teed's death in 1908, its members still portrayed their utopian experiment as a success because they found a haven in the religious and communal opportunities the community supported. Currently, this view of the Koreshan Unity is being preserved at the Koreshan State Historic Site (KSHS), located on the once Koreshan settlement grounds. While scholars who have contributed to the American utopian historical narrative have defined "success" based on numbers and general cultural trends, this thesis proves that only the participants in the movement can truly define what success really means.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0116
Format: Thesis

Title: The Romanian Media in Transition.
Creator: Georgiadis, Basil D., Grant, Jonathon, O'Sullivan, Patrick, Stoltzfus, Nathan, Creswell, Michael, Childs, Matt, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Romanian media has progressed in only a decade and a half since the fall of Communism. Reporters discuss themes about political reform, the elections, corruption, and even political protest. They critically analyze stories asking the basic questions while frequently providing follow-up. The press has liberalized, reflecting pluralistic domestic and international information sources as opposed to the State-controlled media before 1990. The media, along with free elections, transparency of...
Show moreThe Romanian media has progressed in only a decade and a half since the fall of Communism. Reporters discuss themes about political reform, the elections, corruption, and even political protest. They critically analyze stories asking the basic questions while frequently providing follow-up. The press has liberalized, reflecting pluralistic domestic and international information sources as opposed to the State-controlled media before 1990. The media, along with free elections, transparency of law and government, and a civil society, are important benchmarks for a society that strives to compare favorably with the West, and for that reason deserves examination. Serious problems exist however. A weak economy makes the media susceptible to government manipulation. Legal challenges by the government and businessmen against journalists as defendants, impose hefty fines over libel and slander challenges. Control of state broadcast media by ex-Communist ruling Social Democrats prevents the mass media from contributing to the public dialogue. Social attitudes developed in the twentieth century, negatively shape the reporting of national minority groups which are substantial in Romania and the Balkans. Finally, an authoritarian tradition based on imperial, fascist, and communist rule, has manifested itself in violence towards journalists. The dissertation examines the media within the Communist tradition from 1945-1989 and followed with a survey of the post-Communist media. A brief history of the national minorities question provides perspective on present day attitudes in the media towards these groups. A survey of NGO's and other institutions examined progress towards a civil society. In the international context, a comparison of the situation in Romania with countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America revealed similar problems. The media has diversified greatly considering the short time frame of this study in post-Communist Romania. Election choices, international structures and non-governmental agencies will continue to influence and change the political and media culture while a weak economy and authoritarian mentality in the government and legal system offer challenges to a developing free press and young democracy in Romania.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0139
Format: Thesis

Title: "Conservation of the Child Is Our First Duty": Clubwomen, Organized Labor, and the Politics of Child Labor Legislation in Florida.
Creator: Burns, Sarah, Green, Elna, Jones, Maxine, Koslow, Jennifer, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Florida's child welfare movement, a broad coalition of clubwomen, legislators, labor activists, and civic reformers, worked tirelessly to ensure that the right to a protected childhood was guaranteed to all of Florida's future citizens. These Progressive reformers, embracing new ideas about charity, the causes of poverty, and family life, turned to legislation to protect children when society could not, and their efforts culminated in the passage of Florida's comprehensive Child Labor Law in...
Show moreFlorida's child welfare movement, a broad coalition of clubwomen, legislators, labor activists, and civic reformers, worked tirelessly to ensure that the right to a protected childhood was guaranteed to all of Florida's future citizens. These Progressive reformers, embracing new ideas about charity, the causes of poverty, and family life, turned to legislation to protect children when society could not, and their efforts culminated in the passage of Florida's comprehensive Child Labor Law in 1913. Florida's child labor campaign was part of both a regional and a national movement to eradicate the practice of manipulating children in industry and the street trades. Despite its inclusion in this broader movement, Florida's anti-child labor coalition was unique. Unlike their Southern neighbors, Floridians shied away from the rhetoric of "race suicide." Speaking on behalf of child labor legislation, they emphasized the social and moral disadvantages of child labor rather than its repercussions for race relations. This grew out of Florida's distinct pattern of economic development: Florida was among the last Southern states to industrialize, and that industrial sector did not include the textile mills notorious for child labor abuses across the South. Florida's child laborers primarily consisted of African Americans and Southern and Eastern European immigrants working in canneries along the Gulf Coast and Cuban and Italian immigrants laboring in the cigar industry of South Florida. Both of these industries employed a much smaller number of child workers than manufacturers in Florida's neighboring states. Florida's child labor legislation thus served two distinct purposes: it was both a preventative measure designed to protect Florida's children from the kinds of exploitation taking place in neighboring states and a means of pressuring those states to pass similar legislation. This thesis, an examination of the politics of Florida's child labor movement, highlights the ways in which the national child labor platform could be adapted to succeed in different states, while it reaffirms the diversity of both Progressive reform and Progressive reformers in the early twentieth-century South.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0193
Format: Thesis

Title: Petty Despots and Executive Officials: Civil Military Relations in the Early American Navy.
Creator: Sheppard, Thomas, Hadden, Sally, Creswell, Michael, Jones, James, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: As a new nation, the United States lacked the long naval traditions of the other powers of the time, particularly Great Britain. When Congress created a naval force in 1794, the country had to rely on its first officers to form the traditions of the service and lay the foundations of the American Navy. These first officers bequeathed to their country the naval force that would eventually challenge the mighty Royal Navy in the War of 1812. However, officers alone were not responsible for the...
Show moreAs a new nation, the United States lacked the long naval traditions of the other powers of the time, particularly Great Britain. When Congress created a naval force in 1794, the country had to rely on its first officers to form the traditions of the service and lay the foundations of the American Navy. These first officers bequeathed to their country the naval force that would eventually challenge the mighty Royal Navy in the War of 1812. However, officers alone were not responsible for the maturation of the Navy. Civilian officials, notably the Secretary of the Navy, also played a major role in the development of an American maritime force. These two components did not always interact harmoniously. Captains, used to the total autonomy that command at sea in an era of starkly limited communication created, often had difficulty subordinating themselves to their civilian superiors. During the first three decades of the Navy's existence, successive Secretaries of the Navy would gradually increase their authority over their officers, establishing the traditions of civilian control over the military that had long been a part of land warfare. This thesis explores the process whereby the question of ultimate authority over the Navy was settled, beginning with the creation of the navy and culminating in the creation of the Board of Naval Commissioners following the War of 1812.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0312
Format: Thesis

Title: Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way.
Creator: Smith, Douglas Vaughn, Jones, James Pickett, Tatum, William J., Grant, Jonathan, Horward, Donald D., Sickinger, James, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation considers the transformation of the United States Navy from a defensive-minded coastal defense navy during the first century of this nation's history into an offensive-mindset, risk taking navy in the very early stages of World War II. More precisely, since none of the most significant leaders of the U.S. Navy in World War II were commissioned prior to the Spanish-American War and none participated in any significant offensive operations in the First World War, this...
Show moreThis dissertation considers the transformation of the United States Navy from a defensive-minded coastal defense navy during the first century of this nation's history into an offensive-mindset, risk taking navy in the very early stages of World War II. More precisely, since none of the most significant leaders of the U.S. Navy in World War II were commissioned prior to the Spanish-American War and none participated in any significant offensive operations in the First World War, this dissertation examines the premise that education, rather than experience in battle, accounts for that transformation. In evaluating this thesis this dissertation examines the five carrier battles of the Second World War to determine the extent to which the inter-war education of the major operational commanders translated into their decision processes, and the extent to which their interaction during their educational experiences transformed them from risk-adverse to risk-accepting in their operational concepts. Thus the title for my dissertation: Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way. Almost all of the top-level leaders of the U.S. Navy in World War II had two things in common. They invariably graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy from 1904 through 1912, and from the U.S. Naval War College from 1923 through 1937. Thus none had any experience in the Spanish-American War, and, due primarily to lack of many opportunities for offensive action in the First World War, few had any real experience of consequence in that war either. The question that obviously springs to mind, then, is how did these top naval leaders, brought up in the culture of a Navy that had been developed as a coastal defense Service during the first hundred years of its existence, develop a risk-taking, offensive attitude without any real opportunity to refine the skills necessary for offensive operations save in the classroom? That has become the central theme around which this dissertation has been structured. In the formative stages of their education at the Naval Academy something profoundly influenced the Midshipmen in inculcating a long-term commitment to naval service. Though several formative events surround their socialization in the military, one in particular seems to stand out. That would be the realization of the position of the United States as a player on the world stage emanating from President Theodore Roosevelt's ordering of the "Great White Fleet" around the world in a cruise that marked the emergence of the United States in global politics. That event solidified in the Annapolis Midshipmen the realization of the role the U.S. Navy would of necessity play as America emerged from a survival instinct for isolation from European and world involvements to active participation in world affairs. Moreover, fortified by the naval theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan, the Officer candidates at Annapolis realized the geo-strategic implications of that participation. Of necessity, the U.S. Navy would spearhead U.S. global involvement, and by virtue of their eminent commissioning and potential for leadership positions in that Navy, their own destinies would be tied to that of United States global engagement. Several authors have speculated as to what accounts for the success of the U.S. Navy in World War II -- and particularly in the early stages of that war. Luck, naval war gaming at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, breaking of Japanese naval codes, and Divine Intervention have all been postulated as credible rationale for that success. Though all of these were important -- none can adequately account for the aggressive, risk-accepting decisions that the top U.S. Naval operational leaders were able to embrace. The institutionalized naval educational process stands out as enabling in their relationship to decisive decision and action and fundamental understanding among the leaders interacting in combat of what they could expect from those fighting with them. Foremost among these is the so-called "Green Hornet," -- so named because of the color of its binding, which provided an extremely concise and rote method for approaching and analyzing a problem and formulating a sound course of action appropriate to the situation at hand. Hence the actual title of the "Green Hornet," -- Sound Military Decision. The main thesis explored in this dissertation is that education rather than experience best accounts for U.S. Navy success in operations in World War II, and that Sound Military Decision can be appropriately established as the main element of that education which produced the success enjoyed. This thesis is evaluated by analyzing the naval decision process in the five carrier battles of the Second World War: The Battle of the Coral Sea; The Battle of Midway; The Battle of the Eastern Solomons; The Battle of Santa Cruz; and The Battle of the Philippine Sea. The institutions of higher education of the various Services today have deviated significantly and unacceptably from the successful approach they maintained during the inter-War period. Today's education for Officers is very descriptive with respect to theory, operational art, doctrine, technology, techniques and tactics, as opposed to a much more proscriptive and interactive (among students) approach employed between the World Wars. It is hoped that the research completed for this study might be a catalyst for consideration of a return to an approach to education that will more fully capture the essentials of confidence-building between and among students and promote unconventional thinking (in the current parlance, thinking "outside the box") that can refine approaches to warfare before rather than in the midst of battle. From a historical standpoint, this study is unlike any done previously in terms of both scope and methodology. Experienced editors of naval publications indicate that no one has previously published a book which covers all five carrier battles of the Second World War. All five carrier battles have been mentioned in books, but only briefly attendant to campaigns taking place on land. In terms of methodology, dissection of the naval decision process in battle in relation to specific educational objectives previously instilled in the naval leadership, this study is believed to be applicationally unique. Thus this study has been conducted in appreciation of the possibility of making a unique scholarly contribution to the field of Military History, and also Military Education.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0344
Format: Thesis

Title: The Poetics of Black: Manet's Masked Ball at the Opera and Baudelaire's Poetry and Art Criticism.
Creator: Pride, Jennifer S., Weingarden, Lauren S., Emmerson, Richard K., Jolles, Adam, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Ãdouard Manet's "Masked Ball at the Opera" of 1873 shares formal and thematic relationships with Charles Baudelaire's poetry and art criticism. Although previous scholars have suggested visual sources for Manet's paintings, I argue that Baudelaire's poetry was the textual paradigm for Manet's Masked Ball. My argument considers the roles of women, masks and the danse macabre in these works as analogous in both form and content. The women in the Masked Ball parallel those in Baudelaire's...
Show moreÃdouard Manet's "Masked Ball at the Opera" of 1873 shares formal and thematic relationships with Charles Baudelaire's poetry and art criticism. Although previous scholars have suggested visual sources for Manet's paintings, I argue that Baudelaire's poetry was the textual paradigm for Manet's Masked Ball. My argument considers the roles of women, masks and the danse macabre in these works as analogous in both form and content. The women in the Masked Ball parallel those in Baudelaire's poetry, such as "To a Passerby" and "The Mask," and his art criticism in The Painter of Modern Life. The women in both the image and text are constructed with oppositional concepts, words and phrases that indicate their role in nineteenth-century Paris and the many masks they wear in daily life. Next I examine the ways in which Haussmannization, the destructive reordering of Paris during the middle part of the century, presented new problems and opportunities for the artist-as-flâneur. Baudelaire's poem "The Crowds," corresponds to Manet's painting in that both use the mask as a means by which the poet/flâneur/masked ball participants assume a double-identity as they experience the spectacle of modernity as part of the crowd but distanced from it. Lastly, I argue that in the Masked Ball Manet modernized traditional danse macabre schema by conflating it with funereal attributes. Like the painting, Baudelaire's poem, "Danse Macabre," is a modernized version of the schema due to its contemporary poetic form comprising oppositional pairs, such as life/death, and thus establishing both as signifiers for the funeral of Parisian culture, specifically word and image, under Haussmannization. Ultimately, I demonstrate that the binary structures of the Manet's painting and Baudelaire's poetry develop from the same social milieu and are thus reciprocal objects that signify the prevailing cultural condition of nineteenth-century Paris.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0456
Format: Thesis

Title: Prelude to Disaster: Defending Confederate New Orleans.
Creator: Zwilling, Andrew, Jones, Jim, Grant, Jonathan, Hadden, Sally, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the defense of Confederate New Orleans during American Civil War, specifically during the year 1861 and the first four months of 1862. The importance of New Orleans to the South is first analyzed in order to give context for its defense. Then both the Confederate military perspective and the city's perspective are taken into account, resulting in the conclusion that the defense can be seen as an inevitable microcosm of the problems that generally plagued the Confederacy....
Show moreThis thesis examines the defense of Confederate New Orleans during American Civil War, specifically during the year 1861 and the first four months of 1862. The importance of New Orleans to the South is first analyzed in order to give context for its defense. Then both the Confederate military perspective and the city's perspective are taken into account, resulting in the conclusion that the defense can be seen as an inevitable microcosm of the problems that generally plagued the Confederacy. Lack of material resources and manpower, confusion and division between the local population and Confederate authority, disorganized and compartmentalized leadership and overwhelming Federal industrial advantage are all issues that can be seen both in the defense of New Orleans and the Confederacy as a whole.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0471
Format: Thesis

Title: From Mosquito Clouds to War Clouds: The Rise of Naval Air Station Banana River.
Creator: Euziere, Melissa Williford, Jones, James P., Conner, V.J, Green, Elna C., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Naval Air Station Banana River was created as a result of increased military appropriations to defend the Atlantic Coast of the United States of America. The Hepburn Board was charged with finding appropriate sites for new naval installations that could better protect American citizens from attacks along the coastline. After an exhaustive study, a site in Brevard County was selected to become a naval patrol sea plane base. County and city leaders in Brevard rallied around the construction of...
Show moreNaval Air Station Banana River was created as a result of increased military appropriations to defend the Atlantic Coast of the United States of America. The Hepburn Board was charged with finding appropriate sites for new naval installations that could better protect American citizens from attacks along the coastline. After an exhaustive study, a site in Brevard County was selected to become a naval patrol sea plane base. County and city leaders in Brevard rallied around the construction of the Naval Air Station Banana River that they had lobbied the Hepburn Board to bring to their county. They threw their support behind the station throughout its construction and celebrated its commissioning in October 1940. Pearl Harbor brought changes to NAS Banana River as German U-boats stalked the Florida coast and the station's mission was expanded to include patrol duty, search and rescue, bombardier training, sea-plane pilot training, and communications research. Buildings sprang up in response to the increase in personnel needed to fill all of the programs. Brevard County welcomed the sailors into their towns, homes, and lives. Although the base itself was isolated, there were a number of activities on and off base to keep the sailors busy. The county was felt the economic impact of the base with an increased number of employment opportunities, a rise in retail and food service profits, and a demand for additional infrastructure to support the station. Naval Air Station Banana River was deactivated in 1947 to the dismay of the people in Brevard County. Their disappointment did not last long when a few years later the base was reactivated to serve as the headquarters of the newly formed Joint Long Range Proving Ground, a testing site for the American rocket and missile program. The existence of the Naval Air Station Banana River and the infrastructure created to support it helped to bring missile program, and a few years later the space program, to Brevard County.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0489
Format: Thesis

Title: The Force of Nature: The Impact of Weather on Armies during the American War of Independence, 1775-1781.
Creator: Engel, Jonathan T., Hadden, Sally, Harper, Kristine, Jones, James, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the impact that weather had on armies during the American War of Independence. It argues that weather affected the operations of both American and British armies in three areas: strategy, influencing the planning of campaigns; tactics, affecting the course of battles; and administration, adding to the daily work of maintaining armies in the field and keeping them functional. Year after year, in all four seasons, generals and soldiers had to cope with phenomena such as...
Show moreThis thesis examines the impact that weather had on armies during the American War of Independence. It argues that weather affected the operations of both American and British armies in three areas: strategy, influencing the planning of campaigns; tactics, affecting the course of battles; and administration, adding to the daily work of maintaining armies in the field and keeping them functional. Year after year, in all four seasons, generals and soldiers had to cope with phenomena such as rain, snow, heat, and fog. Weather was capricious, sometimes helping one army and harming the other, and sometimes hindering both armies. Generals often tried to use the weather to gain an advantage and to mitigate the damage weather might do to their armies. The first chapter addresses weather's activity in early years of the war, up to the end of 1777. The second chapter focuses on the war in the north from 1778 to the end of major fighting in 1781, and the final chapter covers the impact of weather in that same period in the southern theater, concluding with the Franco-American victory at Yorktown. No previous study has concentrated on weather's role in the war as a whole. While weather was not the sole force that guided the armies' actions or decided the outcomes of battles or the war, this thesis demonstrates how the weather helped shape the Revolutionary War alongside other better-recognized factors such as political, economic, or logistical issues, and warrants recognition as such.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0562
Format: Thesis

Title: Baptist Missions in the British Empire: Jamaica and Serampore in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century.
Creator: Elliott, Kelly Rebecca, Upchurch, Charles J., Singh, Bawa S., McMahon, Darrin M., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Baptist missions in the British Empire must be understood in the context of the Dissenting tradition in England, including Baptist history, theology, epistemology, radical politics, and class considerations. The Baptist missions at Serampore, in British Bengal, from 1794 to 1837, and in Jamaica from C. 1824 to 1850 provide ideal case studies through which to examine missionary identity formation, as well as the impact of missions on the Empire. British Baptist missionaries, already...
Show moreBaptist missions in the British Empire must be understood in the context of the Dissenting tradition in England, including Baptist history, theology, epistemology, radical politics, and class considerations. The Baptist missions at Serampore, in British Bengal, from 1794 to 1837, and in Jamaica from C. 1824 to 1850 provide ideal case studies through which to examine missionary identity formation, as well as the impact of missions on the Empire. British Baptist missionaries, already marginalized in England as Dissenters and artisan-class men, faced powerful challenges to their individual identities and loyalties in the mission field. In both India and Jamaica, white missionaries tended to identify more with non-white converts than with their fellow colonials. This shift led the Baptists studied here to ground their identities and loyalties in their mission and in their churches, rather than in the British Empire. Baptist missionaries thus viewed themselves primarily as Christians and Dissenters, not as English and white, and placed allegiance to their churches before English nationalism. The white missionaries who began the missions at Serampore and in Jamaica ultimately entrusted the future of their work to non-white converts. In both cases, the goal of evangelization was an independent church led by indigenous Christians.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0574
Format: Thesis

Title: Failing to Prepare or Preparing to Fail?: the Iraqi and American Armies Between 1991 and 2003.
Creator: Drury, John Jacob, Garretson, Peter, Creswell, Michael, Souva, Mark, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Iraqi and American armies made changes in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, but they made those changes within the constraints imposed upon them by their political overseers and their own political cultures. Unlike other works regarding the conflicts between Iraq and the United States, which are often historical narratives of the wars themselves, this paper is a comparative analysis of the changes made and the effects they would eventually have on the two states' respective performances in...
Show moreThe Iraqi and American armies made changes in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, but they made those changes within the constraints imposed upon them by their political overseers and their own political cultures. Unlike other works regarding the conflicts between Iraq and the United States, which are often historical narratives of the wars themselves, this paper is a comparative analysis of the changes made and the effects they would eventually have on the two states' respective performances in 2003. The Iraqi Army was badly hindered by Saddam Hussein's belief that they represented a threat to him. This suspicion caused the Iraqi dictator to form multiple rival services that competed with the Iraqi Army for men, equipment, and funding. Saddam also promoted on the basis of perceived loyalty, dismissing competent officers as threats to his power. Finally, the U.N.-imposed sanctions prevented Iraq from replacing destroyed or dilapidated weapons. The United States Army, in contrast, engaged in an expensive effort to correct perceived flaws in its force structure. At the same time, due to budget cuts, the United States Army had to find ways to perform the same duties with fewer resources. It did so using two paths. First, it attempted to modify its equipment and force structure in order to provide soldiers with firepower that would previously have been available only to larger units. Second, it made increased use of private contractors in an effort to free uniformed soldiers for combat duties. In the end, neither Iraq nor the United States was fully prepared for the war in 2003. Iraq's forces were designed with internal security in mind; repelling an external enemy as powerful as the United States proved to be beyond their capabilities. The United States Army was fully capable and prepared for the initial campaign against the Iraqi Army, but it found itself unable to control the subsequent outburst of civil strife.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0657
Format: Thesis

Title: A Mississippi Burning: Examining the Lynching of Lloyd Clay and the Encumbering of Black Progress in Mississippi during the Progressive Era.
Creator: Dorsey, Albert, Jones, Maxine D., Montgomery, Maxine L., Jones, James P., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: When twenty-two year old African American Lloyd Clay was strung up from an old elm tree, burned alive, and his body riddled with bullets by a white lynch mob of approximately one-thousand people on the corner of a major intersection in Vicksburg, Mississippi, nothing happened. Vicksburg in the year 1919 was typical of many other cities throughout the United States deep South. When Clay was unjustly crucified, no whites from the mob were put on trial; and there was no backlash or retaliation...
Show moreWhen twenty-two year old African American Lloyd Clay was strung up from an old elm tree, burned alive, and his body riddled with bullets by a white lynch mob of approximately one-thousand people on the corner of a major intersection in Vicksburg, Mississippi, nothing happened. Vicksburg in the year 1919 was typical of many other cities throughout the United States deep South. When Clay was unjustly crucified, no whites from the mob were put on trial; and there was no backlash or retaliation from the black Vicksburg citizenry. As a matter of fact, Clay's mother was even told by whites not to go to the morgue to identify her dead son's body; it would be best, they suggested, if she stayed out of it. This case study will specifically situate Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the lynching of Lloyd Clay within the context of the last decade of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century, called by many historians, the Progressive Era. It will examine why black lynchings increased after slavery was constitutionally abolished and the Reconstruction Era in the American South came to an end. It will also juxtapose Mississippi lynchings, blamed for the maintenance of economical, political, and social white privilege, against the Progressive Era to show how those lynchings encumbered black economic, political, and social progress.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0686
Format: Thesis

Title: The Importance of Cloth: Aegean Textile Representation in Neopalatial Wall Painting.
Creator: Donahue, Cristin J., Pullen, Daniel J., Pfaff, Christopher, Lee, Susan, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The large-scale frescoes from Neopalatial Crete and contemporary Thera reveal a salient emphasis on the portrayal of textiles. The theme of textiles is realized in the intricate portrayals of patterned clothing, the central depictions of tributary cloth, the iconographic theme involving the unworn flounced skirt, and portrayals of elaborate wall hangings. This investigation focuses on the corpus of wall paintings that specifically highlight the representation of cloth. The primary materials...
Show moreThe large-scale frescoes from Neopalatial Crete and contemporary Thera reveal a salient emphasis on the portrayal of textiles. The theme of textiles is realized in the intricate portrayals of patterned clothing, the central depictions of tributary cloth, the iconographic theme involving the unworn flounced skirt, and portrayals of elaborate wall hangings. This investigation focuses on the corpus of wall paintings that specifically highlight the representation of cloth. The primary materials evaluated are the large-scale figural frescoes that appear at the height of Minoan occupation at the sites of Knossos, Agia Triada, and Pseira on Crete, and at the contemporary sites of Akrotiri and Phylakopi in the Cycladic Islands. The material from Crete and that from the Cyclades is considered together, and the comparable textile iconography is identified and defined. The general objective of this study is to examine the significant role that textiles played during the Neopalatial period in the Aegean Bronze Age. The importance of cloth for this period, clearly documented by its artistic portrayal, has largely been overshadowed by investigations that are strictly concerned with Aegean costume or inquiries into textile industry. Investigations into the ritual and artistic use of cloth, irrespective of its role as clothing in the Aegean are rare. Moreover, sweeping investigations that consider the Minoan and Mycenaean paintings in a single homogeneous account often cloud the distinctiveness of the Minoan period. It is argued that the analogous representations from Crete and the Cycladic Islands reveal that textile production in the Neopalatial period was a major art of ritual, and artistic concern. Evidence that common social practices and religious rituals surrounding cloth existed in Crete and the Cyclades is furnished by comparable textile patterns, congruent styles of costume, and analogous ritual use represented in the large-scale fresco paintings. The conclusion is reached that while local affinities exist, there is specific commonality in the iconography of cloth between Crete and the Cyclades.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0717
Format: Thesis

Title: Case Studies in Aquarium History: Trends Discovered in Studying the History of Three Regional Aquariums..
Creator: Doar, Kevin H., Davis, Frederick R., Koslow, Jennifer, Wulff, Janie L., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Three regional aquariums, Waikiki Aquarium, Clearwater Aquarium, and the Mote Marine Laboratory, provide the case-studies for this analysis into the history of aquariums. The history of these institutes provided historical trends into their educational, entertainment, research, and rehabilitation efforts. This in turn helped prove their influence upon the surrounding society.
Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0724
Format: Thesis

Title: Realistic Religion and Radical Prophets: The Stfu, the Social Gospel, and the American Left in the 1930S.
Creator: Youngblood, Joshua C., Conner, Valerie Jean, Jones, James P., Grant, Jonathan, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union was an interracial organization of tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and wage laborers that emerged from northeastern Arkansas in the mid-1930s. The STFU became the most important social action on the part of landless agricultural workers during the Great Depression and one of the most significant critics of the New Deal and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. This study examines the STFU as a dramatic expression of the Social Gospel in the South during...
Show moreThe Southern Tenant Farmers' Union was an interracial organization of tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and wage laborers that emerged from northeastern Arkansas in the mid-1930s. The STFU became the most important social action on the part of landless agricultural workers during the Great Depression and one of the most significant critics of the New Deal and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. This study examines the STFU as a dramatic expression of the Social Gospel in the South during the 1930s and as a representation of the cooperative work of radical and moderate American leftists during the interwar period. From its inception, the STFU faced the violent opposition of planters and local authorities, yet the union managed to survive until the end of the decade as a result of talented leadership, the effectiveness of its organizational strategy, and the patronage of influential leftist leaders around the nation. The plight of the sharecroppers attracted the concern and attention of the eastern liberal establishment, Socialist leaders such as Norman Thomas, and the Communist Party. However, southern progressive leaders such as Harry Leland Mitchell, a former sharecropper turned political radical from west Tennessee, always led the union. The STFU also drew members of a new generation of southern seminary-trained social activists. These "Radical Prophets," through work with southern labor and national organizations such as the NAACP and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, injected the Social Gospel theology taught by social activists and university professors such as Alva Taylor at Vanderbilt University with a Marxist inspired desire to revolutionize southern economic and social institutions in keeping with the philosophy of modern theologians such as Reinhold Niebuhr. Southern labor leaders, radical ministers, regional black leaders, and white and black country preachers, combined in the STFU, and the potent mixture allowed the union to quickly organize thousands of the nation's most impoverished and disenfranchised in a valiant though ill-fated effort to reform southern society. This thesis also presents the STFU as a microcosm of the dissolution of the American left consensus as the Great Depression came to an end. By the early 1940s, the union had all but disappeared after having reached a peak of 35,000 members. Although the pressures associated with affiliation with an international union and the changing demographics of the Delta South were the direct causes of the union's failure, ideological rifts between the radical and moderate leaders of the union, as closely observed below in the split between the "Radical Prophets" Howard Kester and Claude Williams, hastened the STFU's demise. By analyzing the letters and first-hand accounts of STFU leaders and organizers in the context of radical Christianity and leftist political and social thought, this study provides a new perspective concerning the STFU which addresses the place of the union in 1930s intellectual history and as a manifestation of the often overlooked radical progressive tradition that existed in the South during the period.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0764
Format: Thesis

Title: The Illustrated Apocalypse Cycle in the Liber Floridus of Lambert of Saint-Omer.
Creator: Woodward, Elizabeth, Gerson, Paula, Emmerson, Richard, Jones, Lynn, Leitch, Stephanie, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the series of Apocalypse illustrations appearing in a thirteenth-century copy of the Liber Floridus, MS lat. 8865 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The Liber Floridus is an illustrated encyclopedia completed in 1120 by Lambert, a canon of the church of Nôtre Dame in Saint-Omer in northern France. The autograph manuscript of the Liber Floridus has survived to the present day (Ghent, University Library MS 92), along with nine copies. Lambert's encyclopedia is a...
Show moreThis thesis examines the series of Apocalypse illustrations appearing in a thirteenth-century copy of the Liber Floridus, MS lat. 8865 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The Liber Floridus is an illustrated encyclopedia completed in 1120 by Lambert, a canon of the church of Nôtre Dame in Saint-Omer in northern France. The autograph manuscript of the Liber Floridus has survived to the present day (Ghent, University Library MS 92), along with nine copies. Lambert's encyclopedia is a compilation of excerpts from a range of Classical and medieval writers, and a number of the texts in the Liber Floridus are or were accompanied by figural illustrations. The Ghent autograph once contained a series of full-page miniatures depicting scenes from the Apocalypse of Saint John. Though fragments are present in several of the copies, this Apocalypse cycle is now missing from the autograph manuscript. MS lat. 8865 is the only copy to have retained a complete series of Apocalypse illustrations. This thesis argues that its iconography is an accurate reflection of the lost cycle in the autograph manuscript. Because of the survival of the autograph manuscript, the Liber Floridus has generated a substantial amount of scholarly interest. As a result, the series of Apocalypse images, which is no longer present in the autograph, has gone largely unnoticed. By examining the relationship between the Apocalypse cycle and the other textual and figural elements of MS lat. 8865, I demonstrate that the cosmological and eschatological elements of the Liber Floridus are visually and thematically related, and were so in the autograph. In his choice of texts and illustrations, Lambert tries to structure the universe and situate himself in history and time – in relation to past events and to events of the apocalyptic future. In Lambert's original, the use of similar pictorial arrangements in the Apocalypse cycle and in the rest of the Liber Floridus encyclopedia, particularly the didactic cosmological diagrams, strengthens the thematic connection between these schema and the Apocalypse illustrations. The specific selection of texts and the arrangement of the components in MS lat. 8865 reveal a significant concern with the end times and with systematizing knowledge.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0767
Format: Thesis

Title: Witness to Glory: Lieutenant-Général Henri-Gatien Bertrand, 1791-1815.
Creator: Delvaux, Steven Laurence, Horward, Donald D., Hargreaves, Alec, Oldson, William, Creswell, Michael, Grant, Jonathan A., Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Henri-Gatien Bertrand is perhaps the least known of the generals who occupied a prestigious position near Napoleon during the years of the First French Empire. Born in 1773 to a family of the lesser nobility, Bertrand's life encompassed all of the great and momentous events that shook France and Europe during the ensuing fifty years. He played a direct role in many of these events. Commissioned into the French army as an engineer officer in 1793, Bertrand served as an engineer during the...
Show moreHenri-Gatien Bertrand is perhaps the least known of the generals who occupied a prestigious position near Napoleon during the years of the First French Empire. Born in 1773 to a family of the lesser nobility, Bertrand's life encompassed all of the great and momentous events that shook France and Europe during the ensuing fifty years. He played a direct role in many of these events. Commissioned into the French army as an engineer officer in 1793, Bertrand served as an engineer during the siege of Metz in 1794, in the Egyptian Campaign from 1798-1801, at the camp de Boulogne from 1802-04, and during the 1809 Campaign. He also served as an aide-de-camp to Napoleon during the 1805, 1806, 1807, and 1808 Campaigns. In 1811, the Emperor appointed him to serve as the Governor General of the Illyrian Provinces where he remained until being recalled to the army in 1813. He served in the ensuing 1813 Campaign as the commander of the 4th Corps, leading his corps in the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, Gross Beeren, Dennewitz, Wartemburg, Leipzig, and Hanau. At the end of that campaign, Napoleon elevated Bertrand to the position of Grand Marshal of the Palace. Bertrand retained that position during the 1814 and 1815 Campaigns and throughout the Emperor's exiles to Elba and St. Helena. He remained with Napoleon on St. Helena until the Emperor's death in 1821. Bertrand's service to France and Napoleon during these many years is singular for its length and the devoted manner in which he performed it. He possessed an unshakeable conviction in Napoleon's greatness and he conducted himself in both victory and adversity in a distinguished and dignified manner that speaks highly of his character and integrity. He garnered the admiration, respect, and esteem of many for his unimpeachable service to France and Napoleon during these momentous years.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0772
Format: Thesis

Title: Setting the Stage: Dance and Gender in Old-Line New Orleans Carnival Balls, 1870-1920.
Creator: Atkins, Jennifer, Sinke, Suzanne, Perpener, John O., Hadden, Sally, Conner, V.J., Young, Tricia, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Mardi Gras Carnival balls are traditional New Orleans events when krewe organizations present their seasonal mock monarchs. Traditionally, these ballroom spectacles included tableaux vivants performances, the grand march and promenade of the season's royal court, special dances with masked krewemen, and general ballroom dancing. These events reinforced generational ties through the display of social power in a place where women were crystallized into perfect images of Southern beauty. Since...
Show moreMardi Gras Carnival balls are traditional New Orleans events when krewe organizations present their seasonal mock monarchs. Traditionally, these ballroom spectacles included tableaux vivants performances, the grand march and promenade of the season's royal court, special dances with masked krewemen, and general ballroom dancing. These events reinforced generational ties through the display of social power in a place where women were crystallized into perfect images of Southern beauty. Since the mid nineteenth century, old-line krewes (the oldest, most elite Carnival organizations) have cultivated patriarchal traditions in their ball presentations and have acted as historical vehicles of commentary on personal and social identity. The manner in which krewe members used their bodies to proclaim their royalty, to promenade, or to dance, all signified individual social roles and represented the evolving mores of their connected group. Likewise, masked courtiers and fashionable guests used their bodies in ballroom dancing to uphold or refute acceptable standards of male and female behavior. From 1870 to 1920, old-line krewes dominated the private terrain of New Orleans Mardi Gras. Through their steadfast commitment to performing white elitism, traditional krewes set the stage for the gender battles of the twentieth century, when female, black, and gay bodies, within newly formed krewes, used dance in their own carnival balls to define modern and diverse sexual, personal, and communal identities.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0806
Format: Thesis

Title: "Acribillados Y Torturados": Newspapers and the Militarized State in Counterrevolutionary Guatemala.
Creator: Pichoff, Damon, Herrera, Robinson, Childs, Matt, Friedman, Max Paul, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis is a discursive analysis of the daily Guatemalan newspaper, El Imparcial. It is a cultural study of attitudes toward the illegitimate militarized state, the role of ethnicity and class, and modernization as a shared goal between traditional elites and the burgeoning class of military officers turned economic elites. Based on an examination of hundreds of pages of Guatemalan newspapers, spanning nearly a decade, and housed in special collections in the Latin American Libraries of...
Show moreThis thesis is a discursive analysis of the daily Guatemalan newspaper, El Imparcial. It is a cultural study of attitudes toward the illegitimate militarized state, the role of ethnicity and class, and modernization as a shared goal between traditional elites and the burgeoning class of military officers turned economic elites. Based on an examination of hundreds of pages of Guatemalan newspapers, spanning nearly a decade, and housed in special collections in the Latin American Libraries of the University of Florida and Tulane University, the thesis treats topics such as how elites chose to make sense of a rapidly changing and uncertain world. The thesis focuses on three central elements: violence reporting, consumer and political advertising, and reporting of national development. I argue that El Imparcial, as a supposed elite vehicle within the militarized state, presents many contradictory messages for its readers. El Imparcial wavered in its political support for the state as demonstrated by the trends in violence reporting; the paper's consumer and political ads that sent similar contradictory messages of the state. Conversely, the adverts did send a consistent message of rigid social hierarchies promoted by a limited consumption style. El Imparcial's coverage of developmental projects reveals the paper's closest marriage to the militarized state. Development strategies served both civilian elites and the militarized state in mutually self-interested ways. Taken together, these elements reveal a complex cultural artifact with many opportunities for complicit and dissenting voices. It also shows how newspapers contributed to making the perception of violence into an unremarkable quotidian reality and how they encouraged the virulent dehumanization of Native peoples. The thesis shows the necessity of cultural history to explore the complexities of a contested history during a key transitional period in Guatemala's history, from a state dominated by elites and protected by the military, into a full fledged militarized state where military officers became coequals with traditional elites.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0910
Format: Thesis

Title: Protest at the Pyramid: The 1968 Mexico City Olympics and the Politicization of the Olympic Games.
Creator: Witherspoon, Kevin B., Jones, James P., O'Sullivan, Patrick, Richardson, Joe M., Conner, Valerie J., Herrera, Robinson, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines the importance of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. It explores briefly the history of the Olympic movement in Mexico, and the origins of the Mexican bid to host the Olympics. In winning the bid, the Mexican Olympic Committee not only staged a thorough and well-prepared presentation, but also shrewdly negotiated the waters between the Cold War superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Even before the Opening Ceremonies, these Olympics were fraught with...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the importance of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. It explores briefly the history of the Olympic movement in Mexico, and the origins of the Mexican bid to host the Olympics. In winning the bid, the Mexican Olympic Committee not only staged a thorough and well-prepared presentation, but also shrewdly negotiated the waters between the Cold War superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Even before the Opening Ceremonies, these Olympics were fraught with controversy, including the altitude issue, the debate over amateurism, and the question of whether to admit South Africa, which proved so divisive it inspired an international boycott movement. Each of these controversies detracted from the purely athletic interest in the Games, lending them a political feel from the beginning. These controversies were soon superceded by the "Revolt of the Black Athlete" in the United States, as black athletes threatened to boycott the Games, and a burgeoning student movement in Mexico. The latter ended in a brutal massacre initiated by Mexican police and authorities. The movement among black athletes peaked as Tommie Smith and John Carlos delivered the black power salute while on the medal stand, again drawing attention away from the athletic contests. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of the broader significance of the Olympics, from its economic impact to the meanings of the social movements attached to it. By the end of the fortnight, several hundred Mexican students lay dead, racial discord in the United States was again a topic of international discussion, and all aspirations for a separation of sport and politics lay in ruins.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0920
Format: Thesis

Title: A Rough, Wet Ride: The Civilian Genesis of the American Motor Torpedo Boat.
Creator: Wiser, Edward H., Jones, James P., Chanton, Jeffrey, Creswell, Michael C., Grant, Jonathan, Garretson, Peter, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Dwight Eisenhower once warned of an insidious collusion between industry and government that threatened to become master of United States domestic and foreign policy. His warning came too late, of course, for the threat had already become reality before he spoke. But there were and are positive elements to the merger of interests, and one of them was the infusion of civilian small craft expertise into the arena of national defense. This dissertation is an overview of the evolution of small...
Show moreDwight Eisenhower once warned of an insidious collusion between industry and government that threatened to become master of United States domestic and foreign policy. His warning came too late, of course, for the threat had already become reality before he spoke. But there were and are positive elements to the merger of interests, and one of them was the infusion of civilian small craft expertise into the arena of national defense. This dissertation is an overview of the evolution of small combatant craft in the United States Navy and demonstrates that the most successful of these boats have consistently come from the civilian sector. The history of this intercourse is traced from its origins in the American Revolution through its ultimate incarnation of the motor torpedo boat of World War Two. Experience in Vietnam and ongoing counter-terror and drug interception operations worldwide, demonstrates conclusively that rugged, efficient boats for security, patrol, and combat are still an essential factor in law enforcement, homeland defense, and power projection, and the services have come to rely increasingly upon the domestic small craft industry to supply them.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0922
Format: Thesis

Title: The Road to Prohibition: Religion and Political Culture in Middle Florida, 1821-1920.
Creator: Willis, Lee L., Green, Elna C., Corrigan, John, Jumonville, Neil, Sinke, Suzanne, Koschnik, Albrecht, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines southern political culture and reform through the evolving temperance and prohibition movement in Middle Florida. Though scholars have long held that liquor reform was largely a northern and mid-Atlantic phenomenon before the Civil War, a close look at this plantation belt region reveals that the campaign against alcohol had a dramatic impact on public life as early as the 1840s. White racial fears inspired antebellum prohibition for slaves and free blacks. More...
Show moreThis dissertation examines southern political culture and reform through the evolving temperance and prohibition movement in Middle Florida. Though scholars have long held that liquor reform was largely a northern and mid-Atlantic phenomenon before the Civil War, a close look at this plantation belt region reveals that the campaign against alcohol had a dramatic impact on public life as early as the 1840s. White racial fears inspired antebellum prohibition for slaves and free blacks. More stringent licensing shut down grog shops that had been the haunts of common and poor whites, which accelerated gentrification and stratified public drinking along class lines. Therefore the campaign against alcohol had intended and unintended consequences. Incidents of drunken violence decreased over time, but so did democratic access to political discourse that had characterized territorial public drinking. By the early twentieth century, most of the state had passed local option prohibition laws and gone dry county by county. In 1916, Florida became the only state to elect a Prohibition Party candidate for governor, Sidney J. Catts. One year later, voters mandated statewide prohibition in advance of the Eighteenth Amendment. Race and gender mores also shaped and were shaped by the temperance movement. Restricting blacks' access to alcohol was a theme that ran through the temperance and prohibition campaigns in Florida, but more affluent African-Americans also supported prohibition, indicating that the issue was not solely driven by white desires for social control. Women in the plantation belt played a marginal role in comparison to other locales and were denied greater political influence as a result. Limited female involvement in reform helps explain why woman suffrage lacked support in the state. Though Florida complied with the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, the state legislature did not ratify the measure until 1969.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0953
Format: Thesis

Title: Prophet of the Glades: Ernest Coe and the Fight for Everglades National Park.
Creator: Wilhelm, Chris, Davis, Fritz, Stallins, Anthony, Doel, Ron, Koslow, Jennifer, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines the creation of Everglades National Park and specifically focuses on the actions of Ernest Coe, the primary historical actor in this narrative. It places this fight in its larger historical context and examines the relationship between the fight for the park and the emergence of modern environmentalism. This park was the first established for ecological reasons and was the first that explicitly protected an area as a wilderness. Both ecology and a concern for...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the creation of Everglades National Park and specifically focuses on the actions of Ernest Coe, the primary historical actor in this narrative. It places this fight in its larger historical context and examines the relationship between the fight for the park and the emergence of modern environmentalism. This park was the first established for ecological reasons and was the first that explicitly protected an area as a wilderness. Both ecology and a concern for wilderness were major elements of modern environmentalism. This study also focuses on how park advocates perceived nature in general and the Everglades specifically and on how these perceptions of nature affected the social and political aspects of the park's creation.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1011
Format: Thesis

Title: Cultural Modernization in Southern Cotton Mills.
Creator: Wilhelm, Christopher J., Green, Elna, Jumonville, Neil, Sinke, Suzanne, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This Thesis analyzes the culture clash that occurred after rural white Southerners moved into Southern cotton mill villages. In these new industrial settings, which were often in close proximity to small urban centers, the culture of these workers transformed from a rural, subsistence, producer culture to an industrial, modern, consumer culture. This process was slow and progressed in many stages, the first of which began when welfare programs aimed at creating a "better" class of worker were...
Show moreThis Thesis analyzes the culture clash that occurred after rural white Southerners moved into Southern cotton mill villages. In these new industrial settings, which were often in close proximity to small urban centers, the culture of these workers transformed from a rural, subsistence, producer culture to an industrial, modern, consumer culture. This process was slow and progressed in many stages, the first of which began when welfare programs aimed at creating a "better" class of worker were popular in the mill villages during the 1910s. These welfare programs exposed the workers to modern ways of cooking, cleaning, dressing, and spending leisure time. Later, during the 1920's these workers became increasingly exposed to the mainstream, popular culture of the age as they began to consume automobiles, movies, radios, and new fashions of clothing and music. Finally, this paper analyzes the effects of the Great Depression on the burgeoning consumerism of the southern cotton mill workers.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1012
Format: Thesis

Title: "Pure Religion of the Gospel…Together with Civil Liberty": A Study of the Religion Clauses of the Northwest Ordinance and Church-State in Revolutionary America.
Creator: Wiewora, Nathaniel Hamilton, Hadden, Sally, Koschnik, Albrecht, Childs, Matt, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Ordinance of 1787 provided the method for territories of the Old Northwest to become states. It set out a three-stage process that territories would pass through in order to acquire full rights of statehood. Furthermore, it contained six Articles of Compact between Congress on behalf of the extant states and the states to be created out of the territory. These articles provided guarantees of fundamental rights and liberties for the future states, including religious practice and belief....
Show moreThe Ordinance of 1787 provided the method for territories of the Old Northwest to become states. It set out a three-stage process that territories would pass through in order to acquire full rights of statehood. Furthermore, it contained six Articles of Compact between Congress on behalf of the extant states and the states to be created out of the territory. These articles provided guarantees of fundamental rights and liberties for the future states, including religious practice and belief. The first article provided that "no person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments in the said territory." Article Three stated that, "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." This study uncovers how ideas on government, law, and religion led to the drafting of the religion clauses of the Northwest Ordinance. Scholars have spent little time examining the philosophical underpinnings of the statements on religion contained in the Northwest Ordinance. This study demonstrates that these statements were not mere afterthoughts, but were thick and complex statements on how the state and the church should be related. The legislative history of the Northwest Ordinance indicates that the language for the religion clauses appeared just before the document's passage, but it also seems that the drafters drew upon a deep well of theological and philosophical beliefs and applied them to a specific political and economic context. The theological ideas included Puritan and evangelical ideas like millennarianism, free will, true virtue, and covenant. Philosophical views included both Enlightenment philosophy and civic republicanism. Part of the exploration of this question occurs within the context of the debate of church and state relations in Revolutionary Virginia and Massachusetts. This is necessary for a number of reasons. First, it narrows the scope of the study without sacrificing important historical developments. A study of this sort that does not limit itself geographically can quickly become unmanageable. To include the developments in the negotiation over church and state in all thirteen colonies would be to ask for an unwieldy study that would not necessarily reach significantly different conclusions from a more limited one. The struggle over church and state in the Virginia and Massachusetts contexts represented the most important and illustrative developments. The state governments of Virginia and Massachusetts and their representatives played influential roles in the drafting of the Northwest Ordinance. Thus, considering these developments will provide a helpful understanding of the ideological antecedents of the religion clauses of the Northwest Ordinance. Virginia and Massachusetts served as microcosmic representations for the church-state debate in the Revolutionary period. It is both within this indirect and broader microcosmic connection, as well as more direct connections to the Northwest Ordinance itself that the importance of the Massachusetts and Virginia debates are derived. Virginia reached a liberal principle of religious liberty before most of the other states and thus became an example for the other states of how the fusion of Protestant dissension and Christian voluntarism could lead to antiestablishment thought and a liberal expression of religious toleration. Opponents of establishment in many of the other states cited Virginia's thinkers in their own constitutional moves toward disestablishment. Virginia shared a direct connection with the Northwest Ordinance in two ways. First, the Virginia Legislature had to cede all of her land claims to the Northwest Territory before the Continental Congress could create a territorial policy for the Northwest. Virginia gentry also drafted portions of or served on several of the key committees in the legislative history of the Northwest Ordinance. Virginian Thomas Jefferson composed the Ordinance of 1784, the first national expression of territorial policy for the Northwest. His Ordinance provided a basis for the development of the Northwest Ordinance. Virginian James Monroe proposed changes to Jefferson's Ordinance, helping to draft key sections of the Northwest Ordinance. Monroe's ideas included how many states should be created out of the Northwest Territory and under what conditions these states should enter the Union. Monroe embraced a New England style of territorial development, urging that the Northwest Territory should be settled by townships and in an organized fashion. One of the significant reasons Monroe embraced this style of territorialism was because of the Ohio Company and the large number of New England Revolutionary War veterans who made up the Company's membership rolls and wanted to settle the Northwest Territory under principles consonant with their own particular New England beliefs. The importance of the teaching of natural religion was cited by both opponents and supporters of establishment in revolutionary Massachusetts. Supporters of limited establishment, in the guise of Article Three of the proposed 1780 constitution, argued that the governmental support of religion had social utilitarian importance. Supporters of Article Three argued that the teaching of the doctrine of a future state of rewards or punishment inculcated virtue into the Massachusetts citizenry. Opponents of Article Three, like the anonymous New Light writer Philanthropos, opposed the teaching of fundamental Calvinist principles, like the doctrine of future states, because they saw the teaching of these principles by the government as antithetical to notions of the inviolability of individual conscience. Opponents of Article Three supported the right of individual conscience to such an extent that on at least one occasion, opponents practiced civil disobedience in the closing of the courts in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The leader of the civil disobedient group, the Berkshire Consitutionalists, was Thomas Allen. As noted above, Allen practiced a rigid Calvinist orthodoxy. He was a member of the New Divinity movement that believed in the importance of retaining strict theological principles, while still allowing for a socially active form of Christianity. This social activism stemmed from interpretations of the nature of true virtue that originated in the mind of Jonathan Edwards. Consistent Calvinists embraced these Edwardsean notions and extended them to causes like abolition or disestablishment. The Reverend Thomas Allen embraced New Divinity ideas and helped to influence the church-state debate in Massachusetts. The church-state debate in Massachusetts also had a direct link to the drafting of the religion clauses of the Northwest Ordinance in two other ways. Manasseh Cutler, land agent for the Ohio Company, hailed from Massachusetts. He, more than probably anyone else, influenced the text of the Ordinance and the timing of its passage. As described above, Cutler's biography linked several of the key arguments made for the territorial policy articulated in the Northwest Ordinance. Finally, it seems that the authors of the Northwest Ordinance's Articles of Compact culled the Massachusetts Constitution 1780 for the specific language of the Ordinance's religion clauses. Thus, a greater understanding of the Revolutionary Massachusetts church-state narrative, along with the story of church-state relations as they developed in Virginia, yields some of the intentions of the framers of the Northwest Ordinance's religion clauses. The final portion of this study is shorter and much more speculative. The study contemplates the Ordinance's influence upon the drafting of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights vis-à-vis the religion clauses of each document. Many members of the Continental Congress were also members of the Constitutional Convention. Members of the Confederation Congress corresponded heavily with members of the Constitutional Convention and vice versa. Thus, it is hard to imagine that each body did not know what the other was doing. Furthermore, the First Congress readopted the Northwest Ordinance just days before debating what would become the First Amendment. So, it can be assumed that the Northwest Ordinance is constitutional and that it also served as an example and influence in the drafting of the Bill of Rights. This area of study is much more speculative in nature and ultimately the discussion in this thesis is more suggestive of future directions of study. It raises questions about the constitutional effect of the Northwest Ordinance with respect to the issue of church and state and broader issues of religion and politics in the Revolutionary Period.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1032
Format: Thesis

Title: At Home Among the Red Hills: The African American Tenant Farm Community on Tall Timbers Plantation.
Creator: Bauer, Robin Theresa, Jones, Maxine D., Richardson, Joe M., Marrinan, Rochelle, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Southern quail hunting plantations emerged in the late 1800s as wealthy northerners began to buy the old cotton plantations to enjoy the temperate southern Georgia and northern Florida winters and also to indulge in the genteel sport of quail hunting. Many of these quail plantations are known for their attractive main houses and beautiful landscapes, but running the plantations depended upon a large community of African Americans who worked as domestic help, wage laborers, and tenant farmers....
Show moreSouthern quail hunting plantations emerged in the late 1800s as wealthy northerners began to buy the old cotton plantations to enjoy the temperate southern Georgia and northern Florida winters and also to indulge in the genteel sport of quail hunting. Many of these quail plantations are known for their attractive main houses and beautiful landscapes, but running the plantations depended upon a large community of African Americans who worked as domestic help, wage laborers, and tenant farmers. The tenant farmers who resided on the plantations were an important part of the community, not only for their assistance in the operation of the large plantations, but also because of the self-sufficient communities of tenant farms they created on the vast tracts of land. Unfortunately a lack of written records left behind by the African American residents have caused the history and lifestyle of these inhabitants to remain relatively unexplored. However, by examining business ledgers kept by the owner of Tall Timbers, oral histories taken of former inhabitants, and interpreting material culture recovered during an archaeological excavation that took place on an abandoned tenant farm the story of the families who once lived on the plantation can be uncovered. This thesis endeavors to tell the history of the tenant farm families who once farmed Tall Timbers Plantation in the red hills of Florida during the early 1900s, thus exposing an integral part of African American History in the South.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1134
Format: Thesis

Title: The Role of U.S. Women Diplomats Between 1945 and 2004.
Creator: Beckett, Rachel Jane, Sinke, Suzanne, Upchurch, Charles, Creswell, Michael, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Though historical scholarship on gender and international relations has grown over the last few decades, there has been little work done on women in the Foreign Service. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the role of women diplomats within the Foreign Service since 1945 and to examine how gender differences related to the low numbers of women within the field during a time when women's representation in other male-dominated fields increased substantially. The study is divided...
Show moreThough historical scholarship on gender and international relations has grown over the last few decades, there has been little work done on women in the Foreign Service. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the role of women diplomats within the Foreign Service since 1945 and to examine how gender differences related to the low numbers of women within the field during a time when women's representation in other male-dominated fields increased substantially. The study is divided into three chapters that focus on determining how certain factors affected women's marginalization within the field. The first chapter examines the basic statistics of the women diplomats. Chapter two explores the policies of other countries towards accepting female diplomats, and the last chapter investigates how women conducted foreign policy and carried out the goals of the administration. The conclusion provides an analysis of the findings of all three areas and how they relate to women's access to fields both within and outside politics.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1178
Format: Thesis

Title: Family of Science: Education, Gender, and Science in the Colden Family of New York 1720-1770.
Creator: Beck-Kaplan, Colleen, Gray, Edward, Koslow, Jennifer, Davis, Frederick, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Investigation into how the Jane and Cadwallader Colden navigated the physical, social, and cultural environment of colonial New York both as regular people representative of their class, and as scientists offers insight into the changing nature of colonial society and views of science in the mid 1700s. The work of the Coldens is especially important to this topic because it shows the influence of Enlightenment thought in creating "proper" fields of science and intellectual activity in the...
Show moreInvestigation into how the Jane and Cadwallader Colden navigated the physical, social, and cultural environment of colonial New York both as regular people representative of their class, and as scientists offers insight into the changing nature of colonial society and views of science in the mid 1700s. The work of the Coldens is especially important to this topic because it shows the influence of Enlightenment thought in creating "proper" fields of science and intellectual activity in the English colonies on in the mid to late 18th century when this "feminization" of certain sciences is often seen as primarily an English phenomenon of the 19th century. Instead, their work shows that this was a trans-Atlantic change with earlier origins. As elite women participated in the sciences with greater frequency, multiple narratives emerged in both England and the American colonies, to justify this change and place it in an understandable context. For men, society accepted participation in sciences as a manifestation of Enlightenment values focused on reason. Women"s participation in the sciences, on the other hand, was often justified through an appeal to natural philosophy or through emphasis on continuity with established beliefs about manners and hetero-gender social interaction that generally mandated familial support for their endeavors. By examining the writings of the Colden family and commentary on changes to intellectual culture that emerged in popular pamphlets and behavior manuals we can see that the groundwork for the "feminization" of certain intellectual subjects such as botany was already in place in the 18th century and examine some of the cultural forces that led to this trend which would continue into the 19th century.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1181
Format: Thesis

Title: Bourbon, Pork Chops, and Red Peppers: Political Immorality in Florida, 1945-1968.
Creator: Weitz, Seth A., Jones, James P., O’Sullivan, Patrick, Jones, Maxine, Wynot, Edward D., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: While Florida was a member of the "solid South", it differed from the rest of the region in that the state experienced a population boom, transforming the peninsula from a backwater, poor, insignificant state into one of the largest states by 1965. Many of the new Floridians brought with them political beliefs alien to the Deep South. These principles threatened to undermine the deeply entrenched system dominated by the Pork Chop Gang, a group of conservative, states' rights, segregationist...
Show moreWhile Florida was a member of the "solid South", it differed from the rest of the region in that the state experienced a population boom, transforming the peninsula from a backwater, poor, insignificant state into one of the largest states by 1965. Many of the new Floridians brought with them political beliefs alien to the Deep South. These principles threatened to undermine the deeply entrenched system dominated by the Pork Chop Gang, a group of conservative, states' rights, segregationist Democrats from rural Northern and Central Florida. They held a stranglehold over the Legislature due to archaic apportioning which had been mandated by the Constitution of 1885. The Pork Choppers took their cue from Senator Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism in Florida, commencing at the end of the Senator's national reign of terror, proved a methodical and orderly assault on all opponents of the region, whether they be Communists, African-Americans, homosexuals or liberals. The perceived threats against morality, white supremacy and the concocted communist hazard were used as an excuse and disguise to purge Florida of its enemies and more importantly maintain the power of the Pork Chop Gang in the face of its growing political enemies.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1195
Format: Thesis

Title: The Rise of Radicalism in Antebellum Florida Politics: 1845-1856.
Creator: Weitz, Seth A., Jones, James P., Green, Elna C., Wynot, Edward, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The political culture of the 1850's was largely dictated by emotional rather than rational thought. Nowhere was this closer to reality than in the Deep South. Florida, while largely insignificant on the national level, underwent a transformation during the 1850's from a conservative society to a fire eating haven dominated by the South Carolina School of Politics. This thesis examines the metamorphosis that took place within the state from Florida's admission to the Union as the twenty...
Show moreThe political culture of the 1850's was largely dictated by emotional rather than rational thought. Nowhere was this closer to reality than in the Deep South. Florida, while largely insignificant on the national level, underwent a transformation during the 1850's from a conservative society to a fire eating haven dominated by the South Carolina School of Politics. This thesis examines the metamorphosis that took place within the state from Florida's admission to the Union as the twenty-seventh state in 1845 through the collapse of the two party political system in 1856. Antebellum Florida politics was dominated by the region of Middle Florida, known as the black belt because its economy was driven by the institution of slavery. This region, except for Jefferson County, was staunchly Whig in the early years of statehood. The radical element of society, mainly the fire eating Democrats led by David Levy Yulee, John C. McGehee, James E. Broome, and Madison Starke Perry, wanted to ally the state with extremist South Carolina but could not do so as long as the planter aristocracy felt a strong allegiance to the conservative Whigs. The security felt by the planter class within the Whig party began to erode during the Crisis of 1850 and, once this powerful group defected to the Democratic Party the state was ready to follow South Carolina in breaking the bonds of Union.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1197
Format: Thesis

Title: David's Quest to Outmaneuever Goliath — Clandestine Christians in the USSR, 1953-1985.
Creator: Behling, Julie, Grant, Jonathan, Launer, Michael, Isaac, Larry, Program in Russian and East European Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Soviet Union was an aggressively atheistic state that sought to contain and eradicate religion from its society, but in the process of persecuting religious believers, some underground religious movements were born that engaged in vigorous activity in spite of the state's policies. This study examines factors contributing to the successes and failures of three such religious organizations â the Reform Baptists, unregistered Pentecostalists, and True & Free Adventists â from Stalin's...
Show moreThe Soviet Union was an aggressively atheistic state that sought to contain and eradicate religion from its society, but in the process of persecuting religious believers, some underground religious movements were born that engaged in vigorous activity in spite of the state's policies. This study examines factors contributing to the successes and failures of three such religious organizations â the Reform Baptists, unregistered Pentecostalists, and True & Free Adventists â from Stalin's death in 1953 to 1985 when Gorbachev came into power. Chapter One considers socio-political trends during that period of time as well as state anti-religious tactics, and their effect on the churches' successes and failures. Chapters Two through Four discuss denomination-specific factors at play in the churches' successes to 1985 divided into the following four broad categories: the movement's history on Russian/Soviet territory; components of the church including theology, hierarchy, and level of organization; the churches' religious activities and tactics to continue to engage in them, including the holding of worship services and proselytizing; and finally attitude toward and engagement in protest. This study is a groundbreaking attempt not only in identifying those factors most associated with the religious movements' successes and failures, but also in compiling information on them. In addition to various books and articles that address some aspect of the churches, the current study utilizes primary sources such as memoirs from and interviews with church leaders and adherents that both provide an insider's perspective into the operation of the three religious movements and offer essential insights that lead to an understanding of the ideal composition of a religious organization operating in a hostile environment.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1209
Format: Thesis

Title: Angels or Monsters?: Violent Crimes and Violent Children in Mexico City, 1927-1932.
Creator: Weber, Jonathan, Herrera, Robinson, Anderson, Rodney, Upchurch, Charles, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Based upon archival sources located in Mexico, this thesis represents a focused attempt at analyzing the factors affecting the punishment of juvenile offenders in late 1920s and early 1930s Mexico City. I argue that different crimes, homicide, prostitution, and rape, merited punishments that were prescribed to uniquely fit a suspect based on elite views of what represented the model family, education, and sexual behavior. The elite views were represented by state officials in the Tribunal...
Show moreBased upon archival sources located in Mexico, this thesis represents a focused attempt at analyzing the factors affecting the punishment of juvenile offenders in late 1920s and early 1930s Mexico City. I argue that different crimes, homicide, prostitution, and rape, merited punishments that were prescribed to uniquely fit a suspect based on elite views of what represented the model family, education, and sexual behavior. The elite views were represented by state officials in the Tribunal para Menores, a court established in January 1927, to specifically deal with minors, legally defined as anyone under the age of 18. Prior to the establishment of the Tribunal para Menores, minors were adjudicated in adult courts and placed in adult correctional facilities. However, the Tribunal represented the first attempt in Mexico City to separate child from adult. Correctional schools were established that solely housed minors and in most cases, prison sentences alongside adults were no longer acceptable. Instead, minors were placed in correctional schools where the ultimate goal was rehabilitation so minors could re-enter society as productive members of the nation.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1226
Format: Thesis

Title: Writing Race: The Florida Federal Writers' Project and Racial Identity, 1935-1943.
Creator: Tomlinson, Angela E., Green, Elna, Jones, Maxine, Koslow, Jennifer, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In the late 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration employed thousands of out-of-work writers and other white-collar professionals. Although publication of a comprehensive guidebook for each state was the main task of the FWP, project writers also traveled their respective states collecting life histories, interviewing former slaves, and compiling local histories and ethnographic studies. As a result, the work of the FWP entailed much more than preparation of...
Show moreIn the late 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration employed thousands of out-of-work writers and other white-collar professionals. Although publication of a comprehensive guidebook for each state was the main task of the FWP, project writers also traveled their respective states collecting life histories, interviewing former slaves, and compiling local histories and ethnographic studies. As a result, the work of the FWP entailed much more than preparation of travel books, for taken as a whole, its writings represented an attempt to craft a new portrait of America and its people. Like many other New Deal programs, the FWP was a product of the liberal, progressive intellectual community that had emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. By the 1930s, this community, influenced by concepts of cultural pluralism, cosmopolitanism, and cultural relativism, was engaged in an ongoing discourse on redefining American identity and culture to include a broader spectrum of the American people. These concepts also influenced many of the national officers of the FWP, who wanted the project to present a more inclusive depiction of America that celebrated the country's diversity. As this thesis demonstrates, however, this goal broke down at the state level, particularly in the South, which was deeply committed to Jim Crow segregation in the 1930s. An examination of both published and unpublished writings of the Florida Federal Writers' Project, including Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State and The Florida Negro, reveals that where race was concerned, traditional biases and prejudices trumped the national office's more liberal ideology. As a result, despite the efforts of liberal members of the Florida staff, such as Zora Neale Hurston and Stetson Kennedy, and the editorial oversight of the national office, the Florida FWP ultimately failed to provide three-dimensional, unbiased portraits of the state's African-American and mixed-race populations.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1280
Format: Thesis

Title: The Quest of the Individual: Interpreting the Narrative Structure in the Miracle Windows at Canterbury Cathedral.
Creator: Todd, Mary Lewise Barry, Gerson, Paula, Neuman, Robert, Emmerson, Richard, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the stained glass windows in the ambulatory of Trinity Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral, known as the Miracle Windows, and presents the argument that they function as a type of visual miracle collection, one that parallels the textual accounts of the miracles posthumously performed by St. Thomas Becket. Case studies of these visualized miracle stories will show that the narrative structure deemphasizes the figure of the saint, relying instead on the individual who is the...
Show moreThis thesis examines the stained glass windows in the ambulatory of Trinity Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral, known as the Miracle Windows, and presents the argument that they function as a type of visual miracle collection, one that parallels the textual accounts of the miracles posthumously performed by St. Thomas Becket. Case studies of these visualized miracle stories will show that the narrative structure deemphasizes the figure of the saint, relying instead on the individual who is the recipient of cure. This new narratological approach differentiates the visual miracle collection from the textual Miracula, effectively eliminating the notion that the stained glass served as an illustration to the text and, instead, suggesting that it served as an additional "text." The narrative structure also distinguishes the Becket series from the other stained glass adorning Canterbury, both biblical and hagiographical. Finally, because the narratives in the Miracle Windows privilege the individual, I suggest that these windows should be considered in the context of the cultural development termed the "Discovery of the Self," and will relate the imagery to twelfth- and thirteenth-century texts associated with this genre.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1290
Format: Thesis

Title: Tsiu Marpo the Career of a Tibetan Protector Deity.
Creator: Bell, Christopher Paul, Cuevas, Bryan, Erndl, Kathleen, Corrigan, John, Department of Religion, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: I propose to examine the mythological and ritual significance of an important yet little-known Tibetan protector deity named Tsiu Marpo (Tsi'u dmar po). Tsiu Marpo is the protector deity of Samyé (Bsam yas) monastery (est. 779 C.E.), the oldest Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Almost nothing is known of this figure in available scholarship. De Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1998, Gibson 1991, and Kalsang 1996 are the only secondary sources available on Tsiu Marpo, and the latter source provides a very poor...
Show moreI propose to examine the mythological and ritual significance of an important yet little-known Tibetan protector deity named Tsiu Marpo (Tsi'u dmar po). Tsiu Marpo is the protector deity of Samyé (Bsam yas) monastery (est. 779 C.E.), the oldest Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Almost nothing is known of this figure in available scholarship. De Nebesky-Wojkowitz 1998, Gibson 1991, and Kalsang 1996 are the only secondary sources available on Tsiu Marpo, and the latter source provides a very poor and rudimentary history. The first two sources are informative; however, de Nebesky-Wojkowitz is outdated and Gibson only briefly examines Tsiu Marpo for the purpose of his larger argument. Due to this paucity of information, in order to understand better this deity and his importance in Tibet, I will explore Tsiu Marpo through four venues representative of his influential role: his origin story and its connection with Tibetan cultural history, his iconography and its representation of Tibetan expressions of violence, his involvement in apotropaic ritual, and his importance within the Tibetan oracle tradition. This last venue of exploration will pull from all previous venues in order to elaborate on the oracle tradition as a dynamic outlet, through which the ritual program of the deity is enacted for a social service, and which utilizes iconographically significant ritual implements to submerge the service within a realm of sacrality. Through this detailed examination of one Tibetan protector deity, I hope to provide a template for further studies on protector deities as a whole, an arena of Tibetan studies that is still dim and disorganized. Therefore, my thesis will begin with an introduction to Tibetan protector deities, the texts through which they are encountered, and the various sources that have contributed to the figure of Tsiu Marpo and of protector deities in general. From there my focus will contract into a detailed exploration of the protector deity Tsiu Marpo and expand outward into his iconographic, cosmologic, ritual, and oracular importance. My conclusion will tie these observations together to illustrate the multifaceted connections between the ritual and the social in Tibetan Buddhism and the importance of protector deities as a cohesive force between multiple cultural milieus, particularly lay and monastic communities.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1306
Format: Thesis

Title: The Art of Deception: Dueling Intelligence Organizations in World War II.
Creator: Bendeck, Whitney Talley, Creswell, Michael, Grant, Jonathan, Wynot, Edward D., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Committee Chair - Michael Creswell Committee Member - Edward D. Wynot Committee Member - Jonathan Grant
Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1318
Format: Thesis

Title: "Dogmas Accepted as Divine": The Impact of Progressive Reforms in Florida's Public Schools.
Creator: Berk, Paul William, Jumonville, Neil, Crew, Robert E., Anderson, Rodney D., Jones, James P., Jones, Maxine D., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The difficulties inherent in transferring control of educational responsibilities to the state and the antipathy it created within Florida have not been fully explored in previous scholarship, and a study of the drive toward centralization, replete with race and class issues, provides insight into both the nature of progressivism and education in Florida. This study serves to address that missing scholarship. This project examines the course of Progressive Era reforms in statewide education...
Show moreThe difficulties inherent in transferring control of educational responsibilities to the state and the antipathy it created within Florida have not been fully explored in previous scholarship, and a study of the drive toward centralization, replete with race and class issues, provides insight into both the nature of progressivism and education in Florida. This study serves to address that missing scholarship. This project examines the course of Progressive Era reforms in statewide education in Florida's primary and secondary schools (that is, first through twelfth grades). Specifically, it focuses on both the theories behind reforms as well as the application of those theories. Included in this is an examination of the impact of race and class on proposed and implemented reforms. Special attention is paid to vocational education.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1369
Format: Thesis

Title: Charles S. Johnson, Fisk University, and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1945-1970.
Creator: Berry, Keith W., Richardson, Joe M., Montgomery, Maxine, Jones, James P., Jones, Maxine D., Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation attempts to examine the role of Charles S. Johnson in his capacity as an activist and his eventual establishment of Fisk University as his base of operation. Fisk University located in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1866 after the American Civil War primarily to educate former slaves, and became a training ground for some of the nation's most valued civil rights leaders. The programs of the Race Relations Department and the celebrated gatherings of the Race Relations...
Show moreThis dissertation attempts to examine the role of Charles S. Johnson in his capacity as an activist and his eventual establishment of Fisk University as his base of operation. Fisk University located in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1866 after the American Civil War primarily to educate former slaves, and became a training ground for some of the nation's most valued civil rights leaders. The programs of the Race Relations Department and the celebrated gatherings of the Race Relations Institutes are highlighted in order to emphasize structured efforts by Fisk to improve racial conditions. The involvement in the local and national struggles of the 1950s and 1960s of select students, faculty, and local Nashville leaders is also detailed in this study. Although Fisk played an important role in providing leadership during the civil rights movement, this is not a history of Fisk or the civil rights movement. It is hoped that this dissertation will shed light upon Charles S. Johnson's continuous efforts to achieve racial harmony with the help of the Fisk community.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1384
Format: Thesis

Title: James Fenimore Cooper's Frontier: The Pioneers as History.
Creator: Berson, Thomas, Davis, Frederick, Fenstermaker, John, Stuckey-French, Ned, Program in American and Florida Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines aspects of American culture and society in Post-Revolutionary upstate New York through the lens of James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Pioneers. While scholars have looked to The Pioneers as an object of literary criticism or for overarching American themes such as manners or authority, I examine The Pioneers' value as a historical document. Specifically, I examine the clash between a new culture still in its infancy and an existing one in its last days. The frontier...
Show moreThis thesis examines aspects of American culture and society in Post-Revolutionary upstate New York through the lens of James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Pioneers. While scholars have looked to The Pioneers as an object of literary criticism or for overarching American themes such as manners or authority, I examine The Pioneers' value as a historical document. Specifically, I examine the clash between a new culture still in its infancy and an existing one in its last days. The frontier settlers in Cooper's work, as in reality, imposed their religion, science, and land-ownership principles on the remnants of native Americans and pre-revolutionary "squatters" even as their own understandings of those institutions were changing. In this paper I examine how, although settlers attempted to impose their religion on native Americans, religion did not play as major a role in guiding frontier morality, but that Jeffersonian notions of republican motherhood and innate morality did. At the same time, these notions of morality came into conflict with the new laws that were being enforced while settlers were imposing Christianity onto the indigenous residents of America. These topics are the subject of Chapters One and Two. Fledging notions of applied science were brought to bear in an attempt to create a sustainable long-term development, but that scientific institutions in America, such as medicine, were notably deficient. These issues are the subject of Chapter Three. Following that, I also discuss how land-ownership issues were complicated by pre-existing claims on the land, by Indians, Loyalist settlers and squatters. Finally, I explore how Cooper presciently staked out proto-environmentalist themes long before modern notions of conservation were developed, and how his portrayal of these themes is valuable to understanding ideas of the Turnerian "frontier." The paper examines all these ideas by comparing Cooper's writing to that of historical scholars and Cooper's contemporary cultural observers, as well as by utilizing other primary source materials.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1385
Format: Thesis

Title: Storybook Tallahassee: Places of My Ancestry.
Creator: Bettinger, Julie Strauss, Stuckey-French, Ned, Roberts, Diane, Fenstermaker, John, Department of English, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This collection of Creative Nonfiction is like a folding table in the living room corner covered in puzzle pieces. That's been my life: the keeper of the pieces â little facts about our family that have collected over the years in storage bins, drawers and computer files. "Oh, Julie, here's another one: Did you know Granddaddy Alex's nickname was Poulykee? That means 'stone crab' in Greek." Every once in awhile, I wander over to the table and attach another piece. Each discovery adds to the...
Show moreThis collection of Creative Nonfiction is like a folding table in the living room corner covered in puzzle pieces. That's been my life: the keeper of the pieces â little facts about our family that have collected over the years in storage bins, drawers and computer files. "Oh, Julie, here's another one: Did you know Granddaddy Alex's nickname was Poulykee? That means 'stone crab' in Greek." Every once in awhile, I wander over to the table and attach another piece. Each discovery adds to the tapestry and the picture is starting to take shape. Like an artist's landscape, small details hint at the place and time and offer clues about the people in the scenery. Like religious iconographic art â each gesture, fact or facial expression brings meaning to the whole. This thesis became an excuse to spend more time at that folding table â and to look for missing pieces that would help bring the picture into better focus. In the research and writing, I was guided by two questions from one of my Thesis committee members: "Why are you doing this? Why do you care?" I had to do some soul searching for the answer. Then discovered a quote that I think best explains my drive: "Life is often lived forward, but understood backwards."- Os Hillman Understanding â yes. I want to better understand the people and places of my ancestry and at the same time plug some of the holes in history. And perhaps separate fact from folklore. Most important, though, this collection was an excuse to explore the relatively new genre of Creative Nonfiction. I happened upon this intriguing newcomer in 1995, a dozen years into a full-time writing career. My discovery breathed new life into what had become a formula-driven journalistic career. Finally, nonfiction writers were given permission to play with their craft, just like our fiction counterparts. I've been working on our relationship ever since â seeking workshops that offered a glimpse of this magnificent attraction, sharing what I learned with interns I employed and bringing stories about the object of my affection to a writing seminar for senior citizens. In seeking a deeper connection to the genre, I still feel like a face in a crowd of fans behind the rope at a celebrity event. I get a glimpse of the heady world of Creative Nonfiction, but feel forever an outsider. Journey filled with intrigue Like an actor hides behind her characters, CNF has hidden behind many aliases over the years â narrative or literary nonfiction, personal essay, memoir, literary and "new" journalism. I haven't noted references to it recently, but there was dramatic nonfiction for a time as well. Making the character study even more challenging, the genre's subcategories include essays, articles, memoirs, documentary drama and narrative history, among others. Creative Nonfiction's identity crisis has left many of us no choice but to come up with our own definition. -"(Creative Nonfiction) combines the personal with reading, research, study and factoid. You can use quotes or other devices, always in an attempt to create meaning for the reader." (Susan Neville, author, English professor) - "It's nonfiction with extra imagination." (Stuart McIver, author) -"(Creative Nonfiction) is fact-based writing that uses techniques of literary writing. It uses techniques of journalism and mixes with fiction writing techniques." (John Calderazzo) -"Nonfiction is information â what you communicate to your readers. The creative part is how you communicate it." (Lee Gutkind, author of "The Art of Creative Nonfiction: Writing and Selling the Literature of Reality") Gutkind, who has been called the "godfather" of this new breed of writing, says further, "Creative nonfiction is a matter of writing nonfiction using literary techniques such as scene, dialogue, description, and allowing the personal point of view and voice, rather than maintaining the sham of objectivity. It's taking the time to integrate dramatic, suspenseful, compelling story structures within the articles you write." In order to reach my goal of exploring Creative Nonfiction techniques, I had to break my big puzzle into several sections. I chose three topics from my ancestral ties â Greek roots in downtown, French ones at San Luis and a place old Tallahasseeans call simply, "The Coast." While all are mentioned in the history of the Capital City of Florida, none have been explored in depth. So while my original focus was to stay true to the genre, at one point, I felt driven to assure a thorough account of the topic. And that required breaking my three essays into five parts. As I researched, certain questions plagued me. For example: "How did St. Teresa Beach and St. James Island get named?" And, "What was happening in Alabama â or Bainbridge, Georgia for that matter â in the early 1900s that attracted teenage Greek immigrants?" For the San Luis vineyard era, "Why would Emile Dubois leave the vineyard he worked so hard to build â and one that paid him handsomely?" and midway through research, "Could a black man get a fair trial in Tallahassee in the late 1800s?" Much of my time was spent conforming the pieces to what I look for in good Creative Nonfiction: personal voice, a definite story, scene (vignettes, episodes, slices of reality) and universal appeal. Each story seeks to reach out and embrace the reader â to move them along through action and involve the writer as both actor and observer. As a journalist, I couldn't resist the urge to include the teaching element or some sort of information transfer, weaving facts into the story, but trying to avoid a stilted analysis. My hope is that the genre didn't get lost in answering these questions and relating historical facts. Let the reader decide.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1395
Format: Thesis

Title: Unit Cohesion Among the Three Soviet Women's Air Regiments during World War II.
Creator: Bhuvasorakul, Jessica Leigh, Grant, Jonathan A., Adamovich, Ljubisa S., Launer, Michael K., Program in Russian and East European Studies, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The Soviet Union was unique in its use of women for combat roles, becoming the first state to use female pilots to fly combat missions. "Unit Cohesion Among the Three Soviet Women's Air Regiments During World War II" analyzes the factors that shaped the cohesion of the three women's regiments formed from Aviation Group No. 122. Unit cohesion is the glue that holds together a military unit through times of adversity, fear of death, and unimaginable suffering and sacrifice. Many factors affect...
Show moreThe Soviet Union was unique in its use of women for combat roles, becoming the first state to use female pilots to fly combat missions. "Unit Cohesion Among the Three Soviet Women's Air Regiments During World War II" analyzes the factors that shaped the cohesion of the three women's regiments formed from Aviation Group No. 122. Unit cohesion is the glue that holds together a military unit through times of adversity, fear of death, and unimaginable suffering and sacrifice. Many factors affect the cohesion of a unit. The factors discussed in this study are: the effectiveness of command, the plane each regiment flew, the gender composition of the unit, and the reaction of men to the women fighting. This thesis utilized the published memoirs written by veterans of the women's regiments along with interviews conducted years later by Anne Noggle and Reina Pennington. The study of these women presents a tremendous opportunity to straddle military history, women's studies, and Russian history to establish precedence in contemporary debates surrounding the use of female combatants.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1409
Format: Thesis

Title: Popular Perceptions of the American Merchant Marine during World War II.
Creator: Waber, Andrew J., Koslow, Jennifer, Oldson, William, Creswell, Michael, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The United States Merchant Marine played a pivotal role in the successful conclusion of the World War II and suffered the highest casualty rate of any branch of the Armed Forces. Often labeled as draft dodgers, profiteers, Communists, slackers, and anti-authority, the Merchant Marine's connections with the maritime unions attracted much criticism. The unions rather than the Merchant Marine were the intended targets of most negative press. Yet there was also a great deal of positive images of...
Show moreThe United States Merchant Marine played a pivotal role in the successful conclusion of the World War II and suffered the highest casualty rate of any branch of the Armed Forces. Often labeled as draft dodgers, profiteers, Communists, slackers, and anti-authority, the Merchant Marine's connections with the maritime unions attracted much criticism. The unions rather than the Merchant Marine were the intended targets of most negative press. Yet there was also a great deal of positive images of seamen. Primary sources such as government documents, newspapers, popular magazines, movies, and literature contain a wide variety of perceptions on the Merchant Marine. The purpose of this study is to explore both the accuracy and the origins of these perceptions.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1434
Format: Thesis

Title: Rearguard of the Confederacy: The Second Florida Infantry Regiment.
Creator: Turner, Shane M., Grant, Jonathan, Green, Elna, Creswell, Michael, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Among the popular Confederate accounts of the America Civil War, the men who served in the Army of Northern Virginia occupy positions of special celebrity and admiration. In print, on stage, in song, and on screen, the experiences of leaders and ordinary men who served in that army have attained almost mythological status. So many books have been published telling the histories of the men and units of that army that one might be led to falsely conclude that all the stories that are worth...
Show moreAmong the popular Confederate accounts of the America Civil War, the men who served in the Army of Northern Virginia occupy positions of special celebrity and admiration. In print, on stage, in song, and on screen, the experiences of leaders and ordinary men who served in that army have attained almost mythological status. So many books have been published telling the histories of the men and units of that army that one might be led to falsely conclude that all the stories that are worth telling have already been told. Such is not the case. Both lay and professional historians have, in the more than 140 years since the end of the conflict, produced new interpretations and published yet-untold stories every year. Yet, much remains to tell. One such story is that of the Second Florida Infantry Regiment. From the spring of 1861, when the regiment was formed, until the spring of 1865, when it surrendered, the men of the regiment had endured four full years of military life. They underwent discipline and chaos, slumber and sleep deprivation, abundance and hunger, and living and dying together. The Second Florida took part in nearly every campaign and fought in nearly every major battle in which the Army of Northern Virginia was engaged. The blood of many a member touched the soils of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and was liberally sprinkled across the hills and fields of Virginia; such was the price of the glory they attained. Beyond the battlefield, the campaigning, and the marching, other than the active warfare, there are aspects of the Civil War, portions of a day, a night, and even whole months, that are not normally entered into the records of what happened to the men who fought in that great conflict. The members of the Second Florida, like all members of the Confederate Army, had many experiences apart from the active waging of war. There were months of encampment in winter quarters, and whole or parts of days, nights, and sometimes weekends at the beginning, end, and even during a campaign when they were inactive. These experiences are actually what filled the majority of the infantry soldier's life. The Civil War was not only about fighting and killing. It was also about hunger, boredom, cold, varying degrees of wetness, religion, and even love. This study tells the story of what the Second Florida Infantry Regiment did during the campaigns and battles in which the regiment took part, investigates the every-day experiences of the men of the unit, and explores the reasons the men had for staying with the regiment until the end of the conflict. There are several specific issues involving the lives of common soldiers during the Civil War about which historians have written little. Included in these topics are: how medical and sanitary conditions affected Civil War era armies; how the diet of soldiers affected a their health and unit morale; what the men did while not on the battlefield, and how they interacted with each other; and the role of religion in the lives of the men. In telling the military history of the regiment, this work includes several items that are absent from any other published history of the unit.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1459
Format: Thesis

Title: Ethnicity and Race in the Urban South: German Immigrants and African-Americans in Charleston South Carolina during Reconstruction.
Creator: Strickland, Jeffery G., Betten, Neil, Lunstrum, John, Green, Elna, Richardson, Joe, Anderson, Rodney, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Germans and African-Americans exhibited a significant degree of economic, social, and political interaction in Reconstruction Charleston. Race and ethnic relations between Germans and African-Americans tended to be more positive than those between blacks and white southerners and challenged southern social norms. During Reconstruction, a small but economically and politically significant community of German immigrants thrived in Charleston, South Carolina. The overwhelming majority of Germans...
Show moreGermans and African-Americans exhibited a significant degree of economic, social, and political interaction in Reconstruction Charleston. Race and ethnic relations between Germans and African-Americans tended to be more positive than those between blacks and white southerners and challenged southern social norms. During Reconstruction, a small but economically and politically significant community of German immigrants thrived in Charleston, South Carolina. The overwhelming majority of Germans in Charleston had immigrated between 1850 and the Civil War. They worked primarily as merchants, shopkeepers, and skilled artisans, but a minority of them worked as laborers, domestic servants, and other service-related occupations. Germans often lived in the same neighborhoods, buildings, and even households as African-Americans. Interracial relations between Germans and African-Americans challenged social conventions of the time and drew criticism from southerners. In several instances Germans and African-Americans entered into sexual relations and even married. Following the Civil War, some southerners and German elites in Charleston considered attracting German immigrants to stimulate the economy or replace black laborers. However, German immigrants lacked to desire to settle there, and southerners had hostile views toward German immigrants and never committed to a program that would successfully attract Germans to the South. Many Germans owned and operated successful businesses and sometimes they faced the scrutiny of southerners. Germans shopkeepers catered to African-American consumer demand and sometimes sold items to blacks on credit. German middle-class businessmen organized social clubs based on their cultural heritage. The German Rifle Club leadership organized its annual Schutzenfest, and the members invited southerners and African-Americans to attend. In the annual Schutzenfest parade, German elites expressed their willingness to become southern whites and contribute to white political ascendancy. African-Americans demonstrated their own political and martial power at Fourth of July and Emancipation Day parades in which the entire community participated in the procession. German and African-American political cooperation and conflict posed a tremendous problem for southerners. Southern whites called for German Democratic political support, but African-Americans appealed to Germans as well, evidence that Germans held moderate views. Throughout Reconstruction, Germans divided themselves between both political parties, but politically active Germans gradually moved toward the Democratic Party.
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Date Issued: 2003
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1541
Format: Thesis

Title: To Make Graver This Sin: Conceptions of Purity and Pollution Among the Timucua of Spanish Florida.
Creator: Spike, Tamara Shircliff 1971-, Herrera, Robinson A., Uzendoski, Michael, Anderson, Rodney, Childs, Matt, Gray, Edward, Marrinan, Rochelle, Department of History, Florida State...
Show moreSpike, Tamara Shircliff 1971-, Herrera, Robinson A., Uzendoski, Michael, Anderson, Rodney, Childs, Matt, Gray, Edward, Marrinan, Rochelle, Department of History, Florida State University
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Abstract/Description: Based on sources located in archives and special collections located in Mexico, and the US, and employing the social, cultural, and ethnohistorical methodologies, this dissertation represents the first profound examination the Florida Timucuans' cosmology. I argue that although the Timucuan worldview fits well within indigenous Southeastern belief systems structured around purity and pollution, the Timucuan view of the cosmos did not function within an oppositional binary system of "positive"...
Show moreBased on sources located in archives and special collections located in Mexico, and the US, and employing the social, cultural, and ethnohistorical methodologies, this dissertation represents the first profound examination the Florida Timucuans' cosmology. I argue that although the Timucuan worldview fits well within indigenous Southeastern belief systems structured around purity and pollution, the Timucuan view of the cosmos did not function within an oppositional binary system of "positive" purity and "negative" pollution. Instead, Timucuans conceived of purity and pollution as a complementary system. Pure and polluted were both linked to the sacred, and must be conceived as as halves of a whole, sacred/pure and sacred/polluted. Moreover, these symbolic units corresponded to aspects of the cosmos: the sacred/pure with the Upper World, the sacred/polluted with the Under World. This study reconstructs the Timucuan worldview through examinations of rituals and belief systems, including rituals of food, healing and curing, death and blood sacrifice rituals, magical practices, and the reading of omens. It also discusses Timucua gender systems of male, female, and Two Spirits. The dissertation explores how Franciscan friars perceived Timucuan beliefs, and the evolving relationship between the two groups on the missions.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1608
Format: Thesis

Title: Visions of Excess: Orlan's Operational Theater.
Creator: Tessin, Stephanie, Jolles, Adam, Nasgaard, Roald, Flores, Tatiana, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: When French avant-garde artist Orlan elected to surgically alter her face during a series of performances in the 1990s, she provoked extreme reactions both within art criticism and the popular press. Rather than focus on the artist's mental health or intentions, I hope to connect her corpus of performances since the 1960s to taboos imposed upon the body. By blurring the boundaries between sexualized and sacred bodies and evoking the horror of death through self-mutilation, Orlan defiantly...
Show moreWhen French avant-garde artist Orlan elected to surgically alter her face during a series of performances in the 1990s, she provoked extreme reactions both within art criticism and the popular press. Rather than focus on the artist's mental health or intentions, I hope to connect her corpus of performances since the 1960s to taboos imposed upon the body. By blurring the boundaries between sexualized and sacred bodies and evoking the horror of death through self-mutilation, Orlan defiantly breaks these taboos. My thesis relates Orlan's deconstruction of religious, art-historical, and social constructs to Georges Bataille's writings on taboo and transgression. My connection between his vast body of literature and Orlan's performances centers on his formulations of eroticism and sacrifice, and his description of transgression as the blurring of binary forces. I argue that Bataille's writings that describe transgression as a gateway to inner experience resonate with Orlan's outrageous performances.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1613
Format: Thesis

Title: Theodore Roosevelt as an Icon in Presidential Rhetoric.
Creator: Solak, Frank W, Davis, Frederick, Ruse, Michael, Jones, James, Department of History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis is a study of the usage of the name Theodore Roosevelt in Presidential rhetoric concerning environmental policy. From Roosevelt's immediate successors to the Chief Executives of today, all Presidents have found it convenient to allude to Roosevelt in order to promote a particular program or policy. Many Presidents have claimed that they or their party are the true heirs to Roosevelt and his philosophy. On occasion, competing candidates have both claimed to be representing Theodore...
Show moreThis thesis is a study of the usage of the name Theodore Roosevelt in Presidential rhetoric concerning environmental policy. From Roosevelt's immediate successors to the Chief Executives of today, all Presidents have found it convenient to allude to Roosevelt in order to promote a particular program or policy. Many Presidents have claimed that they or their party are the true heirs to Roosevelt and his philosophy. On occasion, competing candidates have both claimed to be representing Theodore Roosevelt's legacy while expounding significantly different policies. This thesis does not attempt to say who was right, but rather establishes that the legacy of Roosevelt was so complex that multiple interpretations are both possible and necessary. Each President is addressed with their use of the Roosevelt name and some possible explanations for why they choose to use him in that particular rhetorical way. The Presidents are broken down into groups in the chapters. At the end of each chapter, broader scope explanations are put forth indicating how scholars and society at large say Roosevelt (and, by extension, viewed the contemporary polices Roosevelt's name was being attached to). Conclusions at the end of each chapter are tied together at the end to demonstrate that the use of the Roosevelt name was far from random or solely a matter of short term expediency. Instead, the use followed the ever changing conception in America of conservation, environmentalism, and the many-faceted ideas of ecology. The overall theme of the thesis is that the rhetorical image of Roosevelt evolved over the past century along with the American idea of the environment, with Roosevelt always representing the consummate conservationist, simultaneously at one with environmental sensitivity and governmental efficiency.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1646
Format: Thesis

Title: Alberto Aringhieri and the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist: Patronage, Politics, and the Cult of Relics in Renaissance Siena.
Creator: Smith, Timothy B., Freiberg, Jack, Pietralunga, Mark, De Grummond, Nancy, Neuman, Robert, Department of Art History, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The reliquary chapel of Saint John the Baptist in Siena Cathedral, built between 1482 and 1504, provides valuable insight into an important cultural and historical moment in late fifteenth century Italy. This dissertation explicates the meaning of the chapel and its multi-media decoration on three levels: the viewpoint of the patron, Alberto Aringhieri; the significance for the city of Siena; and in response to the knightly Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. For Aringhieri, the chapel...
Show moreThe reliquary chapel of Saint John the Baptist in Siena Cathedral, built between 1482 and 1504, provides valuable insight into an important cultural and historical moment in late fifteenth century Italy. This dissertation explicates the meaning of the chapel and its multi-media decoration on three levels: the viewpoint of the patron, Alberto Aringhieri; the significance for the city of Siena; and in response to the knightly Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. For Aringhieri, the chapel continued a tradition of commemoration on the part of his family. The portraits painted by Pinturicchio depict Aringhieri and his son Luzio underscore the dynastic content of the monument while stressing the membership of these figures among the noble ranks of the Knights of Rhodes. The chapel's civic significance is revealed by reference to the ancient Roman and early Christian heritage of Siena. The all' antica façade is related to the codification of the Siena's Roman past by local humanists, and the presence of Saint Ansanus, baptizer of the Sienese, in the interior makes clear the city's venerable place in the history of Christianity. Another level of civic meaning in terms of Siena's politically-turbulent relationship with Florence is suggested by the importance of Donatello's bronze statue of the Baptist, which could have been read both as a confirmation of Sienese supremacy over their traditional rivals and as supportive of the Florentine government. Alberto and Luzio Aringhieri's membership in the Order of Saint John (Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes) is directly relevant to the decoration and function of the chapel. The Knights' devotion to John the Baptist and their interest in relics of this saint are vital for understanding the chapel's meaning for its patron and other local members of the Order. The traditional role of the Hospitallers as protectors of sacred relics and is continued by the painted Aringhieri Knights that flank the chapel entrance on the interior. The enduring importance of the chapel was underscored in the mid-seventeenth century by Pope Alexander VII who used the monument, which he refurbished, as a model for his new Cappella del Voto located in a pendant position across the transept. The pope's interests in the chapel reflect the same familial, civic, and knightly issues important for the original patron, Alberto Aringhieri.
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Date Issued: 2002
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-1673
Format: Thesis

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