From 1890 to 1920, a small foreign immigrant community, diverse in its cultures and religions, put down roots in Jacksonville, Florida, and thrived. This paper concentrates on southern Italians, Russian and Romanian Jews, Syrian Christians, Greeks, and Chinese who left their countrymen in northern urban centers and settled in this city. It investigates the immigrants' old-world origins, their occupational skills, their settlement patterns, and their motivations for immigrating.The total number of foreign-born white immigrants in Jacksonville was less than 4,000 for the period covered. The manuscript census schedules completed by the Census of Population for 1900 and 1910 provided the names of individuals, occupations, countries of birth, immigration dates, and places of residence. Names obtained from the manuscript schedules were traced through the city directories between 1890 and 1920 to track the first appearance in the city, job changes, marital status, and residence. Oral interviews with the immigrants' children or other relatives supplemented and expanded the data from the census and city directories.The immigrant groups in this study constituted 36 percent of the foreign-born white population in Jacksonville by 1920. These immigrants avoided the laboring occupations of their northern compatriots, and opened small businesses, dominating trade in some instances. They arrived in Jacksonville with a basic knowledge of the rules of the American economy. They had worked in factories, learned trades, and saved their money in northern cities. They possessed the basic qualifications to participate in American capitalism.Jacksonville's immigrants played an active role in the economic development of the city. They sold groceries, shoes, and clothing; they operated barber shops, tailor shops, laundries, and restaurants. They built an environment which supported their families, attracted kinsmen and fellow countrymen, and kept their ethnicity alive. PALMM

This study examines the development of nursing as a vocation, in the early twentieth century, within the context of a growing southern city and an evolving health care system. Nursing advanced from a domestic service to a recognized vocation during this era. An extensive survey of historical and nursing literature revealed few studies which focus on nursing and health care in an urban context. Those studies identified gave only brief glimpses of nurses and focus on northern cities. This investigation aims to add a southern chapter to the history of nursing and health care in urban settings. A community systems approach to analyzing changes in the city provides the context for evaluating nursing development, while health care became more accessible and professional. Historical approaches used to support the thesis include analysis of social history, public health, morbidity and mortality statistics, and quantitative collective biography. These methods yield data which depict what it meant to practice nursing during the study period. Much of the actual information about the nurses and their practice had to come from indirect sources in order to draw conclusions from the research. Primary sources used in this research include newspapers, city directories, census reports, probate records, city health reports, student nurse and hospital records, oral histories and medical records. Secondary sources include southern, women's, urban, city, institutional, medical and public health histories. In addition, nationally oriented nursing histories and theses proved useful in the analysis of primary data. The findings of the study demonstrate marked transitions in the maturation of nursing and health care in the city. These changes happened at a different pace when compared to similar events in northern urban areas. Many variables contributed to the differences noted, including the cultural expectations of women and race relations in community life. Nurses functioned in the beginning of the study as occasional domestic servants who were primarily black women. They practiced in a city with limited public health services, one hospital for whites and a pest house for blacks. By 1930, nurses practiced in a city with improved public health services, four hospitals with nurses' training schools, including one for blacks. Nurses enjoyed a professional association and the protection of a state practice act. These women progressed from shadowy figures seldom seen in public, to a group of workers recognized as an asset to the health of the community. PALMM

The United States government created America's third coastal defense system during the early-to-mid nineteenth century based upon the recommendations of the Board of Engineers of 1816. The engineers of 1816 believed the most economical means of protecting America was the construction of large, permanent forts along key areas of America's coast. Union forces under Brigadier General Quincy Gillmore seized Fort Pulaski in April of 1862. Pulaski was one of the most formidable forts built under the third system. Gillmore required two months to install the weapons used against Pulaski; most of the time was spent installing smoothbore Columbiads, the standard breaching weapon of the day. Yet the weapons that destroyed Pulaski were lighter, rifled guns. Gillmore attributed the fort's destruction to rifled weapons, and found the smoothbore guns practically worthless during the engagement. All forts built by Southern engineers prior to the fall of Pulaski, prior to the proof of the superiority of rifled weapons over permanent works, were earthen forts. Masonry's obsolescence was not a factor in the decision to build earthen works. The South needed forts immediately, for it faced an enemy that had invaded its soil and established a base on its shores. The change in construction material from masonry to earth was not in response to the recognition of a new threat, the rifled weapon, but because the Confederacy lacked the time and resources to build forts like Pulaski. Earthen forts like Fort McAllister, Georgia, were able to withstand repeated attacks by the United States Navy and emerged unscathed. The largest guns in Federal service, 15" Columbiads, were used on several occasions against McAllister. The fort did not fall until assaulted by a greatly superior land force. Although the lessons provided by earthen forts did not change the immediate future of coastal defenses, they did have an impact later in the nineteenth century. Under the Endicott system of the 1880s, engineers constructed coastal forts as one-tier works with dispersed batteries. The materials used were earth and reinforced concrete. By the tum of the century the impressive forts of the third system were abandoned in favor of the Endicott forts.

Recent trends in crusade historiography depict the Frankish participants of the First Crusade as acting out of piety, while their Norman counterparts remain as impious opportunists. This thesis challenges this prevailing point of view, arguing that the Norman crusaders met the same standard of piety as the Franks. To support my theory, I looked at four different facets on the question of Norman piety, dividing them up into chapters of my thesis. In the first chapter, there is a brief discussion of the current portrayal of the Normans in modem crusade historiography. In the next chapter, I established what piety meant and how it was demonstrated by Christians of the 11th and 12th centuries. This includes an examination of relevant monastic charters, which provide evidence that the Normans had strong ties to the Papacy prior to the expedition to the East. The third chapter is a short summary about the developments leading to the First Crusade, and the standard of piety set by Pope Urban II. In the fourth chapter I examine the chronicles of the First Crusade and their characterization of the crusaders, both Norman and Frank, to see if the crusaders met the pontiff's standard. I conclude that the primary accounts depict the Normans as no different from their Frankish co-religionists, with both groups acting out of piety as well as ambition. The actions of a Norman knight, Bohemond, and a Frankish crusader, Raymond of Toulouse, exemplify this fact. The comparison of these two, as well as the rest of the crusade leaders, demonstrate that the Norman crusaders were driven by a complex and sometimes conflicting mix of pious and secular motivations, no different from their Frankish counterparts. The armies of soldiers fighting in the First Crusade in response to Pope Urban II's call to retake Jerusalem were composed of a variety of cultural groups from Western Europe. The argument over what motivated these men to become armed pilgrims, to travel long distances to strange lands, to fight and most likely die, began with the accounts of the eyewitnesses and continues to the present day. Early on the distinction was made between the pious Franks and the materialist Normans. Some Medieval chroniclers portrayed the Norman crusaders as interested only in amassing land and power, rather than fulfilling their religious vow. Even in recent historiography, the traditional interpretation of the Norman role in the First Crusade is not one of piety, but rather of opportunism - to use the conflict as a springboard for expansion into Byzantine and Muslim lands. This depiction is in stark contrast to the ongoing reexamination of the Frankish crusaders, who some crusade historians see as having a deep religious motivation. The Normans remain as the standard bearer of the pre-revisionist interpretation of crusader motives - for gold and glory, but not for God. However, examination of the evidence does not bear this distinction out. Instead of greed, a pattern of pious acts emerges performed by the families of the prominent Norman crusaders or in the case of Bohemond of Taranto, the crusaders themselves. The Normans who took up the cause for crusade were as conventionally pious as the Franks and other Europeans, exposing the falsehood of their historical portrayal as impious opportunists.

The 1795 rebellion in East Florida was a short lived affair, barely extending south of the St. Johns River, and resulting in the deaths of only three Spanish soldiers. Thirty-three of the sixty-seven people identified as rebels by the Spanish escaped across the St. Marys River into Georgia. The remainder were arrested and temporarily imprisoned in the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. Though harsh sentences were handed down by a Spanish court in 1798, none were ever carried out. Almost all of those implicated in the insurrection were Anglo settlers. Some had been in East Florida since the British period of rule (1763-1784), others had entered the province after the Spanish returned in 1784, but the majority of the rebels migrated to East Florida from the United States after 1790 when Spain relaxed immigration laws for the province. This thesis proposes that there were three main causes of the 1795 rebellion. First, it resulted from the liberalization of East Florida's immigration laws in 1790 which attracted many troublesome settlers to the province. Second, it was an eruption of the settlers' pent-up frustration with Spanish rule which impeded their prosperity and infringed upon their security. Finally, the timing of the rebellion was influenced by the activities of French revolutionary agents in Georgia and South Carolina. The most important source of information on the Second Spanish Period in East Florida (1784-1821), is the East Florida Papers deposited in the Library of Congress, microfilm copies of which are located at the PK Yonge Library at the University of Florida. These papers contain the entire collection of government documents for this period. Most are written in Spanish, but many of the bundles used in this thesis also contain letters in English written by the Anglo settlers who could not speak Spanish. The word "Anglo" is used in this thesis to describe East Florida's English-speaking settlers who resided primarily in the St. Johns, Nassau, and St. Marys river valleys. Though a few of these settlers were born in Europe, the vast majority were American-born Protestants. PALMM.

The landmark launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957, and the subsequent perception that the United States trailed the Soviet Union, not only in space but also in missiles, plagued the Eisenhower Administration for the rest of the decade. The Democratic Party strategy for the 1960 presidential election included using the space race, the alleged missile gap, and declining American prestige abroad to illustrate the need for new leadership in the White House. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, effectively raised these issues throughout the general election to support his "New Frontier" program and won by the narrowest popular vote margin in history. Yet, using the same themes during his tour of Florida, Kennedy failed to carry the state. An influx of Republican voters from other states, the absence of crucial Democratic voting blocs, and a considerable defection of registered Democrats contributed to Vice President Richard M. Nixon's Florida victory. Analysis of major Florida newspapers revealed that Kennedy's religion, the liberal Democratic platform, referenda on proposed amendments to the state constitution, and state office races generated more interest than the space race, despite the presence of Cape Canaveral as the primary launch facility for the U.S. space program. Kennedy's religion, civil rights, and states rights emerged as the key issues for Florida voters and compelled many Democrats to vote for Nixon as the only alternative or in protest. PALMM.

Renaissance creativity and obsession with classical traditions spawned a new form of horsemanship called the manege in sixteenth-century Europe. This study deals with England's rejection of the courtly horsemanship despite the dismal state of the nation's equestrian affairs. Tudor and Stuart monarchs utilized royal influence to attempt change - from legislative refmms to the horses - but no specific monarchical effort proved immediately effective. The significance of royal influence is seen in the continued importation of quality stock and in royal support for equestrian-related sports. Both enriched equine bloodlines and promoted the development of sporting tradition in England. While, with royal encouragement, the manege and its 'dancing' horses enjoyed a brief acceptance in England, both were spurned in favor of sports and the developing Thoroughbred horse. English horsemen of the 1600s found their own voice regarding horsemanship in the written works of Blundeville, Markham, Astley, and Clifford. These English authors criticized the manege as 'violent.' Furthermore, such riding was considered futile in warfare and impractical for riding in the open English countryside. The majority of aristocratic riders became obsessed with the new riding styles made popular by racing and other histories have given attention to the emerging group of horsemanship writers in England, this thesis deals with the aristocratic rebuff of the manege and its proponents. English nobles even disregarded their own reputable horseman, William Cavendish, whose teachings reveal a diligent manege master with a competent understanding of the equine mentality. By 1620, the associated 'violence' in manege training waned as a second generation of riding masters - largely French - advocated greater humanity and patience in methodology. However, the English had already charted their own course in horsemanship and had no use for the 'frivolous' riding. English renunciation of the manege is but one expression of the country's isolationism during the period, and its focus internally is congruent with a growing nationalism that favored things 'uniquely British.'

This research explores the role of returning African American veterans in the Civil Rights Movement in Jacksonville from 1945-1960. Black World War II veterans not only faced the typical challenges of returning to civilian life, but took up the fight for equality as well. While this work acknowledges existing arguments about black veterans in the Civil Rights Movement, it emphasizes and analyzes the importance of their military benefits and experience. The mechanizing revolution that occurred in the United States military in this era had a lasting impact on the soldiers fighting as well as communities back home, Jacksonville included. This changing military dynamic necessitated an increase in support positions, meaning African American soldiers received training in various fields like combat, supply, and intelligence. This training translated into useful skills in the postwar period. The experiences of black soldiers while overseas also played a pivotal role, especially their interaction with foreign cultures. Often foreigners referred to black soldiers as "American" leaving off any racial distinction. Additionally, black veterans were able to attend college in unprecedented numbers because of their GI Bill benefits. Ernest Jackson earned undergraduate and legal degrees, and led the attack on segregation in Jacksonville. Elcee Lucas also went to school after exiting the service but used his military skills to orchestrate voter registration drives, and organize political campaigns. With their new skills and education, these men were not only able to organize and lead others but were equipped with the tools necessary to challenge the institutions that subverted their equality, greatly influencing the path of the Civil Rights Movement. Through their efforts, black veterans helped expose inadequacies with the existing structures and laws, thus adding to the justification for the later civil rights tactics that intentionally challenged and broke Jim Crow laws.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role and status of women in Alachua County, Florida, from 1821 through 1860. The secondary literature suggests that women throughout America had virtually no public role to play in antebellum society except in limited circumstances in some mature urban, commercial settings. The study reviewed U.S. Census materials, slave ownership records, and land ownership records as a means to examine the family structures, the mobility and persistence of persons and households, and the economic status of women, particularly including woman headed households. The study also examined laws adopted by the Florida legislative bodies and court decisions of the local trial court and the state Supreme Court, church records of a local congregation, and the correspondence of women who lived in the county for portions of the antebellum period to focus on the relationships between men and women, particularly in household relationships. The principal conclusion of the study was that the most likely route to success for an antebellum frontier woman was through marriage to one who valued the many economic and personal contributions to household life she made. This was so despite the wealth that a very few widows built or maintained and even though Florida jurists differed in their approach on the extent to which married women should be treated as strictly subordinate to their husbands.

In 1968, the doors of St. Benedict the Moor’s school in St. Augustine, Florida, closed after nearly seventy years of service to members of the city’s African American community. But St. Benedict’s school represented a long tradition of black Catholic education in St. Augustine. Under Spanish rule, a boy’s school existed that offered equal education to blacks and whites. Florida’s possession by the United States complicated matters as territorial and state laws ended black education in the city, and the Catholic Church chose to side with the South over the issue of slavery in the United States. With the town’s surrender to Union forces during the Civil War, Protestant missionary societies from the North sent men and women to the city, and black education returned to St. Augustine. While these missionaries taught and evangelized in the black community, the Catholic Church looked to open a school to compete with these Protestants. This project utilizes records related to the work of the American Missionary Association, the Freedman’s Bureau, and the Catholic Sisters of St. Joseph to produce a community study of black education in Reconstruction-era St. Augustine, Florida. These records show how religious differences between Protestants and Catholics shaped black schools in the Ancient City. A study of the AMA’s work in the city serves as a window into the broader Protestants attempts to educate African Americans during this period. Additionally, examining the Catholic response to African American education after the Civil War shows how the Church’s perceptions of black religious needs, cultural differences, and an increasingly hostile government contributed to a decline of black participation in St. Augustine’s Catholic Church.