Black men and women were the victims of verbal abuse, neglect, intimidation, rape, physical assault, lynching, and other manifestations of violence in both the late antebellum and postemancipation South. This dissertation reconstructs how the newly freed black population experienced racialized violence during the transition from slavery to freedom and in the decades immediately following emancipation. By analyzing primary source collections that chronicle the transitional period between slavery and freedom, it is possible to frame resistance to racialized violence as part of a continuum. The struggle to combat racialized violence, I argue, was conditioned by the experiences of black men and women during slavery. This dissertation, then, highlights the continuities that existed in a period of apparent discontinuity. To reconstruct the experiences of black men and women, this dissertation also reconceptualizes how we think about violence and resistance. There is a tendency among scholars who study racialized violence to equate violence with the use of physical force. This dissertation, however, defines violence as the use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation. By adopting a definition of violence that is broader than those used in most existing studies of racialized violence, it becomes possible to understand the long-term, psychological, and developmental impact of racialized violence on black men and women. Resistance, similarly, must be understood in broader terms to include acts that are not explicitly recognized as resistance by those involved, but that informed observers might perceivably recognize as thwarting an attempt at subjugation. The reality is that overt resistance was dangerous for African Americans, and so many turned towards clandestine methods of resistance to voice their opposition. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation examines how black men and women experienced racialized violence during the transition from slavery to freedom and in the decades immediately following emancipation. The struggle to combat racialized violence, I argue, was conditioned by the experiences of black men and women during slavery. By adopting and transforming resistance techniques developed to oppose slavery, the newly freed black population found ways to contest subjugation. To reconstruct the experiences of black men and women, this dissertation also reconceptualizes how we think about violence and resistance. It moves beyond the equation of violence with physical force, and instead recognizes that acts of violence can result from an imbalance of power. Resistance, similarly, should be understood in broader terms to include acts that are not explicitly recognized as resistance by those involved, but that informed observers might reasonably perceive as thwarting attempts at subjugation.

This Digital/Public History visualization thesis project explores how three factors-Atlantic migration patterns, demographics, and socioeconomic systems-influenced the development of folk music in the southern United States from the 18th century through the 20th century. A large body of written scholarship exists addressing plantation economies, the slave trade, and folk music. Digital technology, however, creates new opportunities for analyzing the geo-temporal aspects contained within the numerous archival resources such as census and migration records, field recordings, economic data, diaries, and other personal records. The written portion of the thesis addresses the historiography, research findings, and the process of creating the visualization product. The digital component employs open-source archives and MapScholar, a visualization tool developed at the University of Virginia, to reveal the spatial dimensions of three distinct regions-The greater Chesapeake (Virginia/North Carolina/), the coastal lowlands and sea islands of the Gullah Corridor (Charleston/Savannah), and Louisiana (New Orleans). The end result is an educational and potential research tool that affords viewers a more dynamic perspective on the relationship between agricultural slave labor, migration patterns, and folk music than is possible with text alone.

Digital history has grown into a critical aspect of history scholarship and practice. The literature surrounding digital history is colored by its discussions of the possibilities and problems of digital history, both as an archiving tool and a method of increasing interaction with public history. This literature is also defined by its lack of answers to these questions, and lack of examinations of these possibilities in cases studies. By examining how three different New Orleans historical institutions have embraced digital history for preservation and public history in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this thesis will illustrate how questions of preservation, access, and the impact of digital history on research are being answered by these institutions. The New Orleans historical institutions evaluated in this paper have used digital history to bolster their preservation in the face of natural disaster, and to foster increased interactivity and importance with the New Orleans community.

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In this paper, I explore digital history and community engagement. I do so by exploring intersections between public history and new media theory, distilling a set of nine best practices, and applying these to several digital history initiatives: Historical Society of Pennsylvania's PhilaPlace, Baltimore County's Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth, and two projects initiated and hosted by Temple University. / History

Facial recognition systems pose numerous ethical challenges around privacy, racial and gender bias, and accuracy, yet little guidance is available for designers and developers. We explore solutions to these challenges in a four-phase design process to create Civil War Twin (CWT), an educational web-based application where users can discover their lookalikes from the American Civil War era (1861-65) while learning more about facial recognition and history. Through this design process, we synthesize industry guidelines, consult with scholars of history, gender, and race, evaluate CWT in feedback sessions with diverse prospective users, and conduct a usability study with crowd workers. We iteratively formulate design goals to incorporate transparency, inclusivity, speculative design, and empathy into our application. We found that users' perceived learning about the strengths and limitations of facial recognition and Civil War history improved after using CWT, and that our design successfully met users' ethical standards. We also discuss how our ethical design process can be applied to future facial recognition applications. / Master of Science / Facial recognition systems, such as those used in cities, smartphone application and airports, pose numerous ethical challenges around privacy, racial and gender bias, and accuracy. Little guidance is available for designers and developers to create ethical facial recognition systems. We explore solutions to these ethical challenges of creating facial recognition systems in a four-phase design process to create Civil War Twin (CWT), an educational web-based application where users can discover their lookalikes from the American Civil War era (1861-65) while learning more about facial recognition and history. CWT allows users to upload a selfie, select search preferences (e.g., military service, gender, ethnicity), and use facial recognition to discover their "Civil War twins" (i.e., photographs of people from the American Civil War era who look like them). Through this design process, we synthesize industry guidelines, consult with scholars of history, gender, and race, evaluate CWT in feedback sessions with diverse prospective users, and conduct a usability study. We iteratively formulate design goals to incorporate transparency, inclusivity, critical thinking, and empathy into our application. We found that users' perceived learning about the strengths and limitations of facial recognition and Civil War history improved after using CWT, and that our design successfully met users' ethical standards. We also discuss how our ethical design process can be applied to future facial recognition applications.

Cette thèse interroge le design depuis les pratiques de programmation en montrant qu'elles ne se réduisent pas à une industrie des programmes, qui empêche les inventions de naître tout à fait. Pour cela, elle confronte au sein d'une lecture non linéaire cinq moments de l'histoire du numérique (depuis Vannevar Bush en 1945, dont une traduction inédite est proposée en appendice, jusqu'aux usages contemporains du site web GitHub) à quatre formulations conceptuelles issues d'un corpus philosophique. Le choix d'auteurs qui n'ont pas directement voué leurs réflexions au design (comme Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt ou Walter Benjamin) permet de déconstruire un certain nombre de discours entourant la réception des technologies dites nouvelles. Critiquant nombre d'usages faits des notions de conception et de projet et s'appuyant finalement sur Gilbert Simondon, cette thèse s'intéresse à ce qui n'est pas prévisible dans les programmes. Elle soutient cinq axes ou directions pour une recherche dans le champ concerné: décentrer, authentifier, appareiller, traduire et désarticuler. La plausibilité de ces façons de faire du numérique, encore à l'état d'ébauche dans les productions contemporaines, peut intéresser les designers au-delà des spécialistes. Elle est avérée en fin d'ouvrage dans la description d'une fiction curatoriale. / This dissertation questions design through programming practices, showing how they cannot be summed up in program industries which prevent inventions from happening. To this end, it confronts, by a non-linear reading, five periods in the Digital History (since Vannevar Bush in 1945, including a new unpublished translation available as an appendix, to the contemporary use of the website GitHub) with four concepts extracted from a philosophical corpus. The choice of author who have not directly dedicated their writings to Design (such as Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin) can deconstruct a number of discourses regarding the arrival of so-called new technologies. After redefining concept and project in design practices and project, and then supported by Gilbert Simondon, this dissertation focuses on what is not predictable in programs. It defends five lines or directions for researches in the relevant field: decentralize, certify, kit or translate and dislocate. The plausibility of these ways to make digital, still in draft form in contemporary productions, may interest designers beyond specialists. A demonstration is made at the end of the dissertation with the description of curatorial fiction.

Esta dissertação é resultado de um estudo sócio-histórico e tem como objeto o Fracasso Escolar. Como aporte teórico-metodológico parte de Reinhart Koselleck, aproximando-se da história dos conceitos, e de Pierre Bourdieu, principalmente a partir da noção de "excluídos do interior" reflexões sobre o Estado. O objetivo principal foi compreender os significados do Fracasso Escolar, como conceito, a partir da impressa periódica de ampla circulação, nas décadas de 1980, 1990 e 2000. Optou-se por realizar a investigação assumindo a versão digitalizada do jornal Folha de S. Paulo como fonte. A investigação considerou as peculiaridades metodológicas da fonte histórica digital e indicou a operação com documentos digitais como opção fecunda na historiografia contemporânea. O recorte temporal estabeleceu-se a partir da escolha da fonte e de um levantamento prévio onde foi indicado o período de maior recorrência nos discursos sobre o Fracasso Escolar. Considerando a polissemia do conceito, a partir da História dos Conceitos, o corpus empírico da pesquisa foi composto partindo da busca pelos descritores: Fracasso Escolar, Sucesso Escolar, Reprovação Escolar e Repetência Escolar, sendo localizados 207 artigos no período destacado. Na análise dos artigos importou localizar as narrativas em termos de composição do jornal, identificar os autores e os indivíduos envolvidos nessa discussão e, ainda, compreender as causas do Fracasso Escolar anunciadas nas narrativas. O estudo contribui para pensar nas condições de possibilidade desse conceito, o Fracasso Escolar na história brasileira. Além disso, aponta para um certo crescimento da projeção do conceito no jornal Folha de S. Paulo, seja através do crescente número de artigos localizados nas últimas décadas, como também, na ampliação do espaço físico atribuído a este no jornal. Sobre os indivíduos presentes nos discursos analisados, observou-se a centralidade das vozes de especialistas e do Estado. A investigação indicou ainda, sincronia nas causas junto a polissemia do conceito, situando três focos de temas: extra-escolar, sujeitos e intraescolar. / This dissertation is the result of a socio-historical study and its object is School Failure. As a theoretical-methodological contribution from Reinhart Koselleck, approaching the conceptual history, and Pierre Bourdieu, mainly from the understanding of "excluded from the interior" and as reflections on the State. The main objective was conceived as the meaning of School Failure, as a concept, from a newspaper of wide circulation, in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It was decided to carry out a survey assuming a digitized version of the Folha de S. Paulo as source. The research considers the methodological peculiarities of the digital history source and indication of an operation with digital documents as a fruitful option in the contemporary historiography. The period was established based on the choice of the source and on the previous survey where the period of greatest recurrence was noticed in the speeches about School Failure. The study takes into consideration the polysemy of the concept, from the History of Concepts, the empirical corpus of the research with the compound by the researchers: School Failure, School Success, School Reprobation and School Repetition, with 207 articles being located in the highlighted period. In the analysis of the articles it was important to locate the narratives in terms of composition of the newspaper, to identify the authors and the individuals involved in this discussion, as well as causes of School Failure announced in the narratives. The study contributes to understand about the conditions of choice of the concept, School Failure in Brazilian history. In addition, it points to a certain growth of the projection of the concept in Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, through the growing number of articles located in the last decades, as well as in the expansion of the physical space assigned to it in the newspaper. Regarding those present in the analyzed discourses, let us observe a centrality of the voices of experts and the State. An investigation indicated, synchronized in the causes next to a polysemy of the concept, locating three focus areas: extra-school, subjects and in-school.

The introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web has been one the most significant developments of the last decade. Many historians have approached the Web with reluctance, hesitant to use it to conduct their traditional scholarly tasks of researching, publishing, and teaching history. Communication theorists such as Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan foretold many aspects of the Web’s impact in their analyses of past communication media. Applied to the Web, their ideas provide a deeper understanding of what a new medium of communication might mean for scholars in humanities disciplines. Indeed, in the last decade the term “Humanities Computing” has been coined to describe efforts to apply computer methods to humanities data. This thesis explores some of the processes and potential of Humanities Computing as it pertains to the presentation of primary documents on the Web. It takes the form of a case study using the correspondence of eighteenth-century Prince Edward Island land proprietor John MacDonald (1742-1810), a central figure in the conflict between the Island government and the land proprietors. MacDonald took an active interest in his land on the Island and became the voice of landowners making their case to the British crown. Digitized letters drawn from his correspondence will be featured on the Web as part of the Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives, making use of the Web as an alternative to print in presenting, analyzing, and interpreting history. The digitization of the MacDonald letters is an exercise in Humanities Computing through the application of current Web and digital technology to primary source material, which, in turn, demonstrates the benefits of doing research on the Web.

Esta dissertação é resultado de um estudo sócio-histórico e tem como objeto o Fracasso Escolar. Como aporte teórico-metodológico parte de Reinhart Koselleck, aproximando-se da história dos conceitos, e de Pierre Bourdieu, principalmente a partir da noção de "excluídos do interior" reflexões sobre o Estado. O objetivo principal foi compreender os significados do Fracasso Escolar, como conceito, a partir da impressa periódica de ampla circulação, nas décadas de 1980, 1990 e 2000. Optou-se por realizar a investigação assumindo a versão digitalizada do jornal Folha de S. Paulo como fonte. A investigação considerou as peculiaridades metodológicas da fonte histórica digital e indicou a operação com documentos digitais como opção fecunda na historiografia contemporânea. O recorte temporal estabeleceu-se a partir da escolha da fonte e de um levantamento prévio onde foi indicado o período de maior recorrência nos discursos sobre o Fracasso Escolar. Considerando a polissemia do conceito, a partir da História dos Conceitos, o corpus empírico da pesquisa foi composto partindo da busca pelos descritores: Fracasso Escolar, Sucesso Escolar, Reprovação Escolar e Repetência Escolar, sendo localizados 207 artigos no período destacado. Na análise dos artigos importou localizar as narrativas em termos de composição do jornal, identificar os autores e os indivíduos envolvidos nessa discussão e, ainda, compreender as causas do Fracasso Escolar anunciadas nas narrativas. O estudo contribui para pensar nas condições de possibilidade desse conceito, o Fracasso Escolar na história brasileira. Além disso, aponta para um certo crescimento da projeção do conceito no jornal Folha de S. Paulo, seja através do crescente número de artigos localizados nas últimas décadas, como também, na ampliação do espaço físico atribuído a este no jornal. Sobre os indivíduos presentes nos discursos analisados, observou-se a centralidade das vozes de especialistas e do Estado. A investigação indicou ainda, sincronia nas causas junto a polissemia do conceito, situando três focos de temas: extra-escolar, sujeitos e intraescolar. / This dissertation is the result of a socio-historical study and its object is School Failure. As a theoretical-methodological contribution from Reinhart Koselleck, approaching the conceptual history, and Pierre Bourdieu, mainly from the understanding of "excluded from the interior" and as reflections on the State. The main objective was conceived as the meaning of School Failure, as a concept, from a newspaper of wide circulation, in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It was decided to carry out a survey assuming a digitized version of the Folha de S. Paulo as source. The research considers the methodological peculiarities of the digital history source and indication of an operation with digital documents as a fruitful option in the contemporary historiography. The period was established based on the choice of the source and on the previous survey where the period of greatest recurrence was noticed in the speeches about School Failure. The study takes into consideration the polysemy of the concept, from the History of Concepts, the empirical corpus of the research with the compound by the researchers: School Failure, School Success, School Reprobation and School Repetition, with 207 articles being located in the highlighted period. In the analysis of the articles it was important to locate the narratives in terms of composition of the newspaper, to identify the authors and the individuals involved in this discussion, as well as causes of School Failure announced in the narratives. The study contributes to understand about the conditions of choice of the concept, School Failure in Brazilian history. In addition, it points to a certain growth of the projection of the concept in Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, through the growing number of articles located in the last decades, as well as in the expansion of the physical space assigned to it in the newspaper. Regarding those present in the analyzed discourses, let us observe a centrality of the voices of experts and the State. An investigation indicated, synchronized in the causes next to a polysemy of the concept, locating three focus areas: extra-school, subjects and in-school.