Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 19, 2010). Department of Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Dwight F. Burlingame, Philip V. Scarpino, Frances A. Huehls. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-154).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Abilene Christian University, 2005 . / Includes abstract. "May 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-107).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Abilene Christian University, 2005 . / Includes abstract. "May 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-107).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-84).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 245-252).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Union Station is a unique historic building in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The station, which first opened in 1853, has connected the history of the evolution of travel and the city of Indianapolis and, in the late twentieth century, became deeply embedded in local conversations about national issues at the intersection of race, historic preservation, and urban renewal. The station was a place of Black exclusion from public spaces throughout its existence, first as a train station, and later when it was repurposed as a Festival Marketplace. In preparation for the opening of the Festival Marketplace in the 1980s—complete with shops, restaurants, and a hotel—the developers invited people to write to them to preserve personal memories of experiences at the station from the era of train travel. Indiana residents, both white and Black, as well as Indianapolis city officials, and redevelopers of the station showed nostalgia for earlier eras when the station was active. This nostalgia, I argue, played an active and productive role in the process of saving Union Station. Importantly, those who contributed a letter to the “Remember Union Station” project were overwhelmingly white. Out of eighty-six letters, the race of seventy-three of them can be confirmed. Of those eighty-six, only two have been identified as Black. The two Black letter writers used the opportunity to contribute to the “Remember Union Station” campaign as a means to remember and claim the right to belong in Union Station for themselves, their families, and Black communities. As this project shows, the Indianapolis Union Station has always been more than just a building. It is a space that captures a part of the complex history of the city of Indianapolis and can hopefully provide more links to the past, present, and future for Hoosiers and visitors alike.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / I present this thesis in two parts. The first is composed of a 35:41-minute documentary film entitled In the Crosshairs: how systemic racism compelled interstate development through Black neighborhoods. Accompanying it is this written essay that outlines my position and provides citations linking evidence to argument. Each component serves a different master. While the essay is intended for an academic reader, the film is intended for a general audience. Each component advances the argument. As a result of systemic racism, minority neighborhoods in Indianapolis have been devalued over time and, therefore, their residents have been left disproportionally vulnerable to displacement from federal interstate highway construction. They were vulnerable because their property was assessed as less valuable than surrounding land. Also, they lacked the political clout to resist “urban development”. Furthermore, their vulnerability was socially constructed. It never occurred to me that my place in society was arranged to my advantage. I didn’t feel advantaged in any way. Everybody I knew was like me or better than me, it seemed. As I matured, I learned that history is subjective and my world is only a small slice of history. I had never considered my whiteness an advantage. In truth, my situation has been shaped by a myriad of forces that were socially constructed. I discovered that the definition of “white” is fluid but, throughout history, has had an enormous impact on how people are treated. The following is a deep dive into what I discovered when I examined only one aspect of how race impacted the advantages I enjoyed simply because my parents were deemed sufficiently “white.”

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The Butler-Tarkington Neighborhood Association (BTNA) is a community group organized in 1956 by a few concerned couples living in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis. These couples, both Black and white, witnessed a demographic change in their community as their white neighbors fled for the suburbs as the black population expanded. The BTNA, inspired to create an organization that would promote residential integration rather than continued segregation, worked to educate neighbors on the realities of integration, promote neighborhood conversation and comradery, and worked to influence the local and state governments on the impact of segregation that harmed their community. One of the first neighborhood organizations of its kind in the country, the BTNA still exists today, but little is known about their early history. This paper looks at the BTNA’s efforts to promote residential segregation in their community through activism, conversation, and legislative change. Additionally, this paper analyzes the BTNA success in its efforts to integrate the community during their first decade of existence.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This project looks at the Ketcham family of Indianapolis and analyzes how each member had a different sense of duty that led them to take on different activities during the Civil War. It includes both a typical thesis portion and a public history supplement that takes the form of an exhibit brief. The supplement provides an alternate means of presenting the family to the public. The Ketchams were a white, upper-class family, so although many of their ideas and activities aligned with those of others across the northern United States, in this thesis I argue that they also had a unique experience. For example, the matriarch, Jane Merrill Ketcham, chose to serve as a nurse, as did many other women, but her decision took precedence over her husband’s preference. This assertion was noteworthy because, during this time period, women were still typically expected to defer to their fathers or husbands. This conclusion, and others throughout the project, are based on an analysis of both primary and secondary sources. The main primary sources used were the letters included in the Ketcham collection at the Indiana Historical Society, which provided insight to the thoughts, opinions, and activities of most family members – some members had fewer surviving letters than others. Scholarship regarding the Civil War from national, regional, and local perspectives allowed for a fuller picture of what the prevailing views and activities were and understand how the Ketchams were either emblematic of the common experience or different from it.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Single women living in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America faced ever-changing, but constant, analyses of their lives. It seemed privacy was revoked when a woman chose to remain single in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leaving them to be hyperaware and conscious of all other choices that they made in their lives. Not only was their business not theirs alone, but single women were often also defined by their lack of spouse, regardless of their accomplishments or fulfilled lives. Despite the full life that she led and ways in which her singleness allowed her to contribute to her family, friendships, and community, Julia Graydon Sharpe, a white, elite woman from Indianapolis, Indiana, was one of the many women whose legacy has been defined by her marital status. Sharpe was many things in her life: an artist and clubwoman being two of the most visible. However, it was her role as a sister, aunt, daughter, and friend that were the most fulfilling and important to her in her life as a single woman. An examination of what Sharpe saw as her defining roles within her immediate family and close friendships, as well as what coming from elite family afforded her, helps reveal the life she was able to lead and how she chose to present herself. The exploration of her many intimate roles also put into context how indispensable Sharpe’s commitment and contributions, albeit not monetary, were to her family and friends. Understanding these roles challenges the way we view the “spinsters” of the late-nineteenth to early-twentieth century.