<p> If there is a leitmotif to American criticism of the past fifty years it is that America, exceptionally, was not discovered but constructed. Those in a new world void of self-evident tradition or the conventional markers of history, the story goes, invented an organic truth to their past experience, current interests, and future intentions. They constructed cultural memory. Fiction from the early national period, critics argue, variously reflects, exposes, challenges, and participates in this hegemonic process. </p><p> This project is dedicated to another group of American writers who insisted that the land did speak: Mormon and Gentile immigrants who walked west the breadth of a new nation and in their journals described haunted rock cities and uncanny Indian massacres. In these descriptions, poetic patterns prove more powerful than manifest appearances. The complex erosion and accretion of these rock cities and these massacre stories prompts reassessment of nineteenth-century Euro-American settlers&rsquo; relationship with the land and the land&rsquo;s inhabitants and alternate interpretations of the seminal texts of American Romanticism. </p><p> In Chapter 1, I consider Idaho&rsquo;s City of Rock&rsquo;s mythical Almo Massacre in the context of Mormon prophecy, theology, and history. In this reading, I am centrally concerned with the effects of the story&rsquo;s poetics: how does the Almo-Massacre story invent and perform the nation? The Mountain Meadows Massacre, and its translation from its authentic site to the site of its mythical reenactment in the City of Rocks, is my central concern in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 reminds us that trauma narratives are never about authentic specifics of place, time, or experience but about synesthetic sense: how things feel. This sense is artifactual, and thus heritable and transportable. This revelation informs my readings of the journals of America&rsquo;s nineteenth-century overland immigrants who walked west and described not the virgin land of American myth but contested space. In Chapter 4, I turn to three of America&rsquo;s canonical nineteenth-century nation stories: Washington Irving&rsquo;s &ldquo;Rip Van Winkle,&rdquo; James Fenimore Cooper&rsquo;s <i>The Last of the Mohicans </i>, and Mark Twain&rsquo;s <i>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn </i>. In these stories, the world-as-felt matters as fully as the world-as-seen. </p>

<p> In December 1865 the South Carolina State Legislature ratified a series of laws designed to control the social and economic futures of the freedpeople. Informally known as the Black Code, South Carolina&rsquo;s white leadership claimed these laws protected blacks from their own naivet&eacute; in their newfound freedom. Rather, the Black Code relegated African Americans to inferiority and perpetuated the long-standing belief in white supremacy that permeated the South. </p><p> The South Carolina Black Code limited the freedmen&rsquo;s civil rights, regulated their employment opportunities, and attacked the details of their most intimate personal relationships. Despite the challenges they faced, African American&rsquo;s did not quietly accept their new quasi-slave status. In South Carolina, the freedmen voiced their concerns regarding the new laws and became active in state politics. African Americans embraced their opportunity to create positive political change, which along with other factors ultimately led to the demise of the Black Code. With support both locally and nationally, black South Carolinians soon gained rights previously denied to them. In less than a year&rsquo;s time, the South Carolina Black Code ceased to exist as a result of state and federal legislation. </p><p> The significance of the South Carolina Black Code was not as much in the letter of the laws themselves, but rather in the message the creation of the code sent to both the freedpeople and their supporters. To South Carolina&rsquo;s white leadership, though free, African Americans were not their equals. Moreover, the Black Code established precedent for future laws designed to discriminate against African Americans. The Black Code created a foundation for antebellum-like hostilities against former slaves in the post-bellum South. Segregation and violence ensued and fostered a legacy that lasted for almost a century.</p>

<p> The speeches given by Pedro Segundo and Getulio Vargas during wartime not only reveals their orientation of leadership but in turn provides something else. These discourses gives one a unique window into not only how these leaders chose to perceive the challenges of wartime but how to address them to the national populace. The rhetoric they used had to transform for purposes of mobilization while adapting to shifting political environments. Among one of the features of this adaptation was the choice of which aspects of the national consciousness to stress at pivotal moments. By examining the public speeches of Pedro Segundo and Getulio Vargas one can see the political orientation of both leaders, understand the political climate of both periods, and witness how much Brazil had changed in the eighty-one years between the beginning of the Paraguayan War and the end of WWII.</p>

<p> This dissertation creates a bridge between American cultural and horticultural discussions related to the topic of suburban community gardens, based on a new model called &ldquo;A Lot to Grow.&rdquo; (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.) </p>

<p>In Selma, Alabama in 1965, local African Americans partnered with civil rights organizations to stage a movement for voting rights. The beating of peaceful black marchers by white state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that March catapulted the city and black demands for the ballot into the national spotlight. When the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed five months later, it cemented Selma as a symbol of voting rights. Since then, Selma has become a triumphal moment in the grand narrative of American democracy and citizenship. However, the years after the voting rights movement failed to bring economic opportunities and justice for black citizens in Selma. At the end of the twentieth century, numbing unemployment, gutted houses, and government transfer payments attested to barriers left unbroken by the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. How, then, did Selma become the site of a nationally-geared campaign for voting rights, and why was the right to vote not enough to bring economic justice for African Americans?</p><p>This dissertation is a local study that spans the course of century, one that looks at Selma and Dallas County as a place with a long history shaped by white supremacy and agricultural transformation, as well as local relationships and national developments. It begins in 1901, the year that the newly-passed Alabama constitution took the ballot away from nearly every African American in the state, and ends in 2000, when Selma's residents elected their first black mayor. Using newspapers and magazines, personal papers, organizational records, municipal records, federal publications, and oral histories, it examines how municipal, state, and national politics, as well as enormous economic shifts, intersected with and altered the lives of black and white residents in Dallas County, Alabama. </p><p>The multifaceted struggle of African Americans for freedom in Dallas County unfolded within the context of a century-long agricultural revolution in the Black Belt. African Americans' overlapping demands for economic opportunity, self-sufficiency, quality education, and meaningful political representation reflected and responded to local economic shifts from cotton to cattle to industry. The semi-autonomous community black Dallas County residents forged through farmers' organizations, schools, and societies under segregation later helped them mount a frontal challenge to the ramparts of white supremacy. The civil rights movement, however, grew to maturity at exactly the moment when cattle had usurped cotton's reign over the fields, altering the Black Belt's economic and social fabric. </p><p>Political rights for African Americans in Dallas County did not solve the postwar economic challenges of vanishing farms and the rise of low-wage industry. Meanwhile, local white officials vigorously fought to maintain political control in the wake of the civil rights movement. Their calculated intransigence delayed the meaningful participation of black residents in the economic and political life of Selma. The rise of the Sunbelt South and globalization further siphoned resources away from the struggling Black Belt. As the federal government retracted and nearby military bases closed in the late 1970s and 1980s, rural areas like Dallas County were left without resources in a new economy that favored high-skilled workers in urban centers. Examining black freedom struggles and economic transformation side-by-side illuminates how voting rights alone did not alter the regional network that concentrated both resources and poverty in an uneven process of development. </p><p>The vote brought political power, but it did not bring the economic justice, security, or quality education that made up the other half of African Americans' demands for freedom. By singularly focusing on the securing of voting rights, Selma became a pivotal moment in the story of American democracy, but black Dallas County residents' parallel demands for equal economic opportunities remained long after African Americans had won the vote. The triumphal narrative ignores the economic transformation that fundamentally altered the Black Belt. From cotton to cattle, industry to unemployment checks, black citizens perpetually found themselves on the losing end of economic change. At the end of the century, nearly four decades of federal divestment and globalization had sapped Dallas County of jobs, and the government's presence was felt mainly in the form of disability checks and food assistance. The political rights black Dallas County citizens had shed blood for in 1965 could not alone undo this legacy of economic inequality.</p> / Dissertation

<p>This thesis seeks to recover historical memory during El Salvador&rsquo;s devastating anticommunist campaigns from 1932 to 1963. With El Salvador&rsquo;s long history of repression against social movements, fear and even shame have silenced stories about the movement and its participants. In line with the current projects dedicated to social memory, this projects reconstructs the untold story of Felix Paname&ntilde;o, a local shoemaker and member of the Communist Party in the 1930s through his family&rsquo;s memories. Shoemakers were key to the growing political consciousness of the time, as documented by Roque Dalton through the testimonial of shoemaker and survivor of the 1932 revolt, <i>Miguel M&aacute;rmol</i>. Much of Paname&ntilde;o&rsquo;s life and struggle transpired within key political moments from the persecutions of political activists that followed the 1932 revolt, known as &ldquo;<i> La Matanza</i>&rdquo;, through the wave of repressive military dictatorships that conspired against political activist and democracy. These dictators imposed a tyranny that ultimately drove large numbers of Salvadorans to migrate to the U.S. beginning in the 1960s. Many of these immigrants, in turn, silenced their memories and depoliticized in exchange for a new beginning. Today, some of these memories are being rebuilt, giving insight to better understanding El Salvador&rsquo;s past, as well as the present peoples&rsquo; struggle for democracy at home and those participating from abroad. </p>

<p> Esta tesis doctoral gira en torno a las medidas disciplinarias que se establecieron antes, durante y despu&eacute;s del embate de la epidemia de c&oacute;lera en la ciudad amurallada de San Juan, Puerto Rico, entre los a&ntilde;os 1854 y 1856, con miras a resaltar las nociones del poder, biopol&iacute;tica, sanidad, higiene, marginaci&oacute;n y desarrollo urbano. El an&aacute;lisis exhaustivo de las Actas del Cabildo de la ciudad de San Juan fue fundamental para determinar cu&aacute;n preparadas estaban las autoridades civiles, militares y sanitarias durante el periodo de estudio. A trav&eacute;s de su revisi&oacute;n, se observa c&oacute;mo los cabilderos, atend&iacute;an el problema de la presencia de los boh&iacute;os en la Capital, considerados como focos de contagio y propagaci&oacute;n de enfermedades. Desde antes que llegara la epidemia de c&oacute;lera a San Juan, las autoridades buscaban la manera de eliminar los boh&iacute;os existentes dentro de la ciudad amurallada. El uso de una biopol&iacute;tica por las autoridades, enti&eacute;ndase como &ldquo;la pol&iacute;tica de la salud del pueblo&rdquo;, justificaron y se&ntilde;alaron que estas viviendas representaban ser un peligro para la poblaci&oacute;n sanjuanera. Algunos historiadores afirman que fallecieron aproximadamente 500 personas de diferentes &ldquo;castas&rdquo; en la ciudad de San Juan por el c&oacute;lera. Seg&uacute;n los datos obtenidos del Libro de Defunciones de la Catedral de San Juan los resultados son distintos. Toda persona fallecida por la epidemia de c&oacute;lera fue enterrada en fosas comunes llamadas cementerios colerientos. La hip&oacute;tesis planteada durante esta investigaci&oacute;n establece que la epidemia de c&oacute;lera fue el agente catal&iacute;tico para crear p&aacute;nico en la ciudad de San Juan y as&iacute; ejercer la presi&oacute;n necesaria para eliminar los boh&iacute;os y a los habitantes considerados como focos de enfermedades contagiosas.</p>

No description available.

<p> This thesis examines the life and career of Kate Foley, home teacher of the blind with the California State Library from 1914&ndash;1940. The purpose of this investigation is to determine how Foley, who was disabled, built a successful career with the state library despite facing significant discrimination and prejudice. Using a wide variety of primary source material, including letters, library publications, conference proceedings, newspaper articles, and census data, this biography evaluates Foley&rsquo;s pioneering role as well as the challenges she faced. Home teaching provided a new vocational opportunity for blind women, whose professional choices were extremely limited. Despite her unique career, the extensive contributions she made, and the fact that she was lauded upon her death as a pioneer and asset to the State of California, Foley&rsquo;s life has been largely ignored in the historical literature. This biography remedies the omission, drawing upon the history of library services, the history of disability, women&rsquo;s history, the history of Progressive Era California, and the history of state and federal welfare systems to provide context for her life and achievements. Chapters include discussions of the cause of Foley&rsquo;s blindness, her education at the California School for the Blind, her volunteer teaching work, her career with the California State Library, the early organized blind movement, and the development of social services for blind individuals.</p>

<p> Between 1969 and 1972, the Philippines experienced significant political unrest after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos&rsquo; successful reelection campaign. Around the same time, American President Richard Nixon formulated a foreign policy approach that expected its allies to be responsible for their own self-defense. This would be known as the Nixon Doctrine. This approach resulted in Marcos&rsquo; declaration of martial law in September 1972, which American officials silently supported. American officials during this time also noted Marcos&rsquo; serving of American business and military interests. Existing literature differed on the extent Marcos served what he thought were American interests. Stanley Karnow&rsquo;s <i>In Our Image</i> noted that Marcos did not adequately serve American interests, noting that he sent an insignificant amount of soldiers to Vietnam. Karnow also did not mention business interests. Raymond Bonner&rsquo;s <i>Waltzing with a Dictator </i> mentioned that Marcos was effective for serving American business and military interests. James Hamilton-Paterson&rsquo;s <i> America&rsquo;s Boy</i> agrees with Bonner&rsquo;s assessment, also noting that Marcos served American business and military interests. Materials from the <i>Digital National Security Archive</i> (DNSA) and <i> Foreign Relations of the United States</i> (FRUS) series affirmed Bonner and Hamilton-Paterson&rsquo;s position, while noting that Karnow&rsquo;s work was outdated because of the limited information he had when <i>In Our Image</i> was published. There are three issues that concerned the U.S.-Philippine relationship under President Marcos during this time. The first issue was the societal and political unrest that threatened to undermine Marcos. The second issue concerned U.S. officials&rsquo; application of the Nixon Doctrine to the Philippines. The third regarded President Marcos&rsquo; serving of military and business interests in the Philippines. Marcos supported maintaining America&rsquo;s Filipino bases, which were important hubs of American military operations during the Vietnam War. In addition to military interests, President Marcos also aided American businesses in the Philippines, by removing restrictions that threatened American business activity. Each of these concerns led to President Marcos&rsquo; declaration of martial law. American officials&rsquo; tacit support for Marcos reflected their commitment to the Nixon Doctrine, which ensured political stability that preserved American business and military interests.</p>