Undergraduate Research, including Senior Theses

Permanent URI for this collection

Browse

Recent Submissions

  • Publication
    John Spearman and John Brown: The Free State Identity and the Legacy of Unrest in Lawrence, KS in 1970
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-24) Reiter, Ethan J.
    This thesis explores the connection between the prominent Free State identity within Lawrence, Kansas and the recognition and memorialization of the unrest in Lawrence in 1970. The Free State identity limited many white Lawrencians’ in their acknowledgement of racial injustices within the community, and in the modern day, the memory of the racial turmoil within Lawrence during 1970 is fading due to the lack of effort by city officials to properly rectify the memory. While much of the current historiography characterizes Lawrence’s unrest as an extension of national movements, domestic racial issues were predominant catalysts for all major instances of unrest within the year 1970. I argue that the racial origins of the unrest are a major component of the modern issue of memorialization, as the city of Lawrence is reluctant to embrace a darker chapter of their history that would contradict their proud Free State identity. This reluctance forces the families of Rick Dowdell and Nick Rice, two young men who were killed by police during the unrest, to act as advocates for memorialization and caretakers of the memory of 1970. To document this fifty year struggle, I analyzed a plethora of oral histories, personal correspondence, and prominent secondary materials, while conducting a number of original interviews. Ultimately, I hope this thesis serves to outline the events and the fight of the Dowdell and Rice families to preserve and protect the memory of those lost during racial turmoil in Lawrence, and provide fuel to their efforts to memorialize the deaths in their fight to present Lawrence’s true history.
  • Publication
    Kansas to the Kremlin: Richard Nixon, Presidential Persuasion, and the Selling of Détente at Home and Abroad
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-18) Amerio, Avery J.
    "From Kansas to the Kremlin" investigates Richard Nixon’s unique use of presidential persuasion powers through informal diplomacy. This paper seeks to reconsider contemporary thought surrounding Richard Nixon as an American president. As divisive political figure, Nixon persists in historical scholarship as an awkward, unsure, and insecure politician. However, Nixon persuaded the Soviet Union to sign two bilateral arms agreements, and got a Democratic congress to support him, which conveyed his strength in the powers of persuasion. His predecessors struggled to do what Nixon did. How did Nixon’s personality and deep knowledge of his political role allow him to come out on top? As this paper will reveal, his personality, prior political experience, and use of alternative forms of diplomacy was central to his success in the domestic and foreign spheres.
  • Publication
    Wolves of the Great Father: Crow and Arikara Involvement in the Great Sioux War of 1876
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-23) Schluter, Benjamin A.
    The Great Sioux War of 1876 is perhaps the most famous conflict between the US Army and the militaries of the Indigenous nations. It is the last great conflict between these groups and its conclusion signaled the end of Indigenous dominance over the northern Plains and the fully realized confinement of these nations to increasingly smaller reservations through various treaties and land cessions. This would allow mass Euro-American settlement in the region. Farms, railroads, telegraph lines, and cattle grazing lands took the place of the vast plain that accommodated various nomadic nations and the buffalo. The impact of American expansion was felt by all Indigenous nations of the northern Plains. The role of the Crow and Arikara during the Great Sioux War is intriguing because they allied with the Americans to fight other Indigenous nations such as the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne. While they too would be subject to land cessions and confinement to reservations, the Crow and Arikara believed that it was better to ally with the United States rather than oppose them. They saw the Lakota, who were their traditional enemies, as a greater threat to their existence.
  • Publication
    History, Memory, and Meaning: A Study of Enslaved Narratives from the Five Southeastern Tribes
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-18) Lara, Olivia G.
    This paper explores the testimony of people formerly enslaved by plantation owners in the Five Southeastern Tribes to understand the relationship between memory, identity, and meaning. Throughout the WPA Writer’s Project Slave Narratives Collection collected in Oklahoma, the overwhelming majority of the stories from formerly enslaved individuals who lived on Native American plantations expressed positive feelings towards their former enslavers. This observation has led many scholars studying slavery within these nations to conclude that Native American plantation owners exhibited greater benevolence towards enslaved peoples compared to their white counterparts in the South. While recent scholarly discourse has challenged this conclusion and the broader comparison it brings, the discussions surrounding Native American benevolence remain pertinent for understanding the constructed meanings derived from the memories of formerly enslaved individuals. This paper focuses on narratives that Native American enslavers were kinder to enslaved peoples than white southern plantation owners and analyzes the factors that influenced the emergence of these testimonies.
  • Publication
    The Tampons Are Not Alright: Deconstructing Epistemologies of Menstruation in “Modern” America
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-26) Lawler, Rachael
    Although tampons were in use for centuries, it was not until the twentieth century that big businesses focused on mass manufacturing, marketing, and design of tampons. Despite these efforts, tampons fluctuated in consumer usage in the United States. This project will explore how misogyny, cultural taboos, and government oversight created a paradigm in which menstrual products were not properly tested and vetted for consumer safety, helping to create the Toxic Shock Syndrome crisis of the 1980s. Moreover, due to the racism and classism pervasive within the corporate and advertising structures of the tampon industry, tampons were primarily marketed to young, white women, partially leading to the result that they made up the typical victim profile, compared to other demographic groups. This research will re-affirm previous work on and provide new insights into the varying marketing strategies of tampon companies, especially after the scandal of TSS, the ways women responded to the unsafety of tampons at various points in time, and public reactions to the tampon-related health scandals.
  • Publication
    Sovereignty and Sobriety: The Intersection of Temperance, Statehood, and Native American Disenfranchisement in Oklahoma
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-26) DeMars, Emily
    On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was admitted to the Union, merging Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory into a singular, unified state. While Oklahoma’s journey to statehood might appear rather straightforward, a complex story lies beneath the surface of its history. This study examines the story of Oklahoma statehood and the effects it had on Indigenous peoples through the lens of the Temperance Movement. Oklahoma, unlike any other state, had Prohibition inscribed in its constitution, a crucial factor in this complicated history. Temperance actors were pivotal factors in influencing statewide Prohibition in Oklahoma, but it also ended up playing a part in the infringement on Indigenous peoples. Thus, the impact of Temperance on Indigenous peoples then became extremely convoluted. Temperance was first utilized by Native Americans to leverage sovereignty and in hopes to secure statehood separate from Oklahoma, but as statehood was achieved and Native nations were dispossessed and had their self-governance eliminated Temperance was then utilized more so as a tool of control of Indigenous bodies. Native peoples, however, resisted these attacks by advocating for themselves at both the Sequoyah and Oklahoma Constitutional conventions.
  • Publication
    The Angel’s Share: The History of the American Female Whiskey Drinker
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-15) Crawshaw, Khloe
    This paper will illuminate the often overlooked but significant role of women in American whiskey history. From distillation practices before prohibition to contemporary marketing influence, women have played pivotal roles in the production, marketing, and cultural significance of whiskey. Despite some historical constraints like the prohibition of alcohol from 1920-1933 and the ban of women in advertising by the Distilled Spirits Institute from 1936-1958, the influence of women in the world of whiskey persists, challenging traditional narratives of a male dominated industry. In tracing women’s stories in whiskey culture from 1920 to 1964, this paper argues for a more inclusive perspective that acknowledges the enduring impact of women and emphasizes that women have been integral to the evolution of this American product. This reevaluation aims to enrich our understanding of whiskey history and promote a more inclusive narrative moving forward.
  • Publication
    More than a Sport: Early Developments of Baseball in Lawrence, Kansas
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-24) Butler, Jude
    The United States and Baseball grew up together. As the nation matured, so did the rules and organized play of baseball. Exploring the history of baseball in Kansas after the Civil War into the early 20th century provides insight on local communities and their leisure habits. Christian communities around Lawrence and the state of Kansas were skeptical of baseball and opposed leisure activities that were commonly associated with sinful behaviors. Lawrence, Kansas presents a compelling case study, revealing the developments of recreational progressivism in the state of Kansas. Recreational progressivism in baseball rippled into other facets of American society throughout the 20th century. The story of early baseball in Kansas is defined by the advocates of baseball challenging conservative restrictions of leisure time, enabling new groups to play baseball around northeast Kansas.
  • Publication
    Congregational Conversations: Exploring White Baptist Narratives on Racism During the Civil Rights Era
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-15) Needham, Madison
    When the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was founded in 1845, it was established on pro-slavery beliefs, the echoes of these ideals carrying well into the 20th century by promoting conservative racial ideals, therefore putting the SBC at odds with the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. This thesis observes the intricate power dynamics within SBC churches during the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on their responses to issues of racism both inside and outside the church. It also investigates how these churches addressed racism in publications, discussions, and behind closed doors, shedding light on the complex interplay between the SBC’s leadership, pastors and their congregants. By analyzing primary sources such as church publications and archival materials, this thesis aims to unravel the nuanced strategies employed by SBC affiliated churches in navigating the turbulent racial landscape of the era.
  • Publication
    A Stepping Stone to Internationalism: The Neutrality Act of 1937
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-22) McNeese, Hope
    Historians have characterized the 1930s in the United States as an isolationist decade when Americans wanted to avoid involvement in conflict abroad. Congress passed four acts between 1935 and 1939 called the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. These acts sought to keep the United States from aligning with other nations as conflict escalated throughout the decade. However, Congress added a provision to the Neutrality Act of 1937 that granted President Franklin D. Roosevelt discretionary power over trade commodities. The addition of this new provision went against the isolationist policies in the previous two neutrality acts and marked the beginning of the United States' shift towards internationalism.
  • Publication
    A Campus Mobilized for Deferments: Using ROTC To Avoid the Korean War Draft at the University of Kansas
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2024-04-25) Oswald, Jason Paul
    During the early 1950s, University of Kansas officials urged their students to join the various branches of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) on campus to avoid the ongoing draft for the Korean War. This was done openly, without questioning the appropriateness of urging their students to avoid the draft. One of the many stated reasons why a KU student would volunteer for military service as an officer was that it was perceived to be much better than being a draftee in the Army. Nearly half of all men on campus would be deferred through enrollment in ROTC by the end of the war. With many university officials having been commissioned officers during the Second World War, those like Chancellor Franklin Murphy saw this avoidance of the draft as the patriotic duty of college-aged men. These beliefs would lead to stiff resistance to any attacks on the ROTC deferment scheme, especially in the case of star football player Henry “Bud” Laughlin whose ROTC deferment was revoked unduly. While the use of ROTC to avoid the draft would dramatically decrease after the Korean War due to unfulfilled promises, the institutional support for getting draft deferments for students is an important prelude to draft avoidance in the Vietnam War.
  • Publication
    The Denneler Farm, 14JF1003: A Snapshot of Life on the Plains 1870-1950
    (Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 2016-05) Denneler, Alyssa N.
    This research began as an effort to catalog a previously undocumented archaeological site in Jefferson County, KS. It evolved into a family history and a historical analysis of a Kansas farm purchased and settled by a German immigrant in the late 1800's. Illustrating what life was like on the plains for one immigrant family helps illuminate this time in our national and international history, and this site also offers a wealth of archaeological data to document today. The site is registered in the Kansas State Historical Society Archeological Inventory as 14JF1003.
  • Publication
    The Black Entrepreneur in Lawrence, Kansas 1900-1915
    (Department of American Studies, University of Kansas, 1975-05-01) Zavelo, Don B.
    Beginning in the late 1880's and continuing into the early 1900's, there was a remarkable development of Negro-owned and operated businesses throughout the United States. The rising philosophy of self-help and racial solidarity, the gradual urbanization of the American Negro, and an increasing degree of racial discrimination within the entrepreneurial sector created an atmosphere conducive to the formation of businesses based upon a Negro market. Large black metropolitan areas boasted a complex group economy which oftentimes featured banks, insurance companies and real estate agencies. During this period Lawrence, Kansas also experienced a growth in its black entrepreneurial community. A small Negro population isolated in a relatively small Midwestern town presented the aspiring businessman with a very challenging milieu in which to operate. The result was a collage of black entrepreneurs; a heterogeneous group with so much and yet so little in common.
  • Publication
    The Day After Tomorrow: Climate Change & The Today of Science, Film, & Activism
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2023-04-11) Winkelman, Elizabeth
    In May of 2004, director Roland Emmerich released his blockbuster film The Day After Tomorrow. Since its release, the film has been noted as being an important piece of Cli-Fi, Climate Fiction. This thesis argues that the film has been given these distinctions of importance to Cli-Fi and the climate change movement is due to the political and social context it was released in as a traumatized post-9/11 society under the Bush Administration’s environmental policies. This thesis further argues that The Day After Tomorrow’s success stems from its ability to harness the emotions from this specific traumatized audience and has since been used by members of the climate change movement to garner public action.
  • Publication
    Assault, Robbery, Mayhem: The Consequences Of Fraternal Campus Loyalty Movements At The University Of Kansas After World War I
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2023-05-01) Wilson, Brittney
  • Publication
    A College Try: The People’s College of Fort Scott Kansas
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2023-11-11) Sours, Walter
  • Publication
    “ALL IS VANITY AND EVANESCENCE”: MANIFESTATIONS OF PURE LAND BUDDHISM WITHIN THE TALE OF THE HEIKE
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2023-04-25) Pottorf, Nicolas Eric
  • Publication
    Repatriation Beyond the Borderlands: The Impact of the Depression of 1921 on Kansas City's Mexican Immigrants During the Great Depression
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2023-04-19) Madrigal, Anna
    During the Great Depression, federal, state, and local authorities throughout the United States utilized large-scale deportation raids and repatriation to eject an estimated 400,000 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans from the country. While previous studies of Mexican repatriation during the Great Depression focus on larger communities near the U.S.-Mexico border, there are very few academic discussions of what repatriation looked like in the Midwest and beyond. The Kansas City metropolitan area contains one of the largest communities of Mexican immigrants in the United States outside of the borderlands. Unlike in Los Angeles, San Antonio, or even Chicago, authorities in Kansas City used large-scale Mexican repatriation in Kansas City prior to the Great Depression, and ultimately learned that repatriation is a temporary solution to a perennial issue. This senior thesis analyzes how Kansas City authorities used repatriation during the Depression of 1921, the ineffectiveness of repatriation in slowing the growth of the Kansas City barrio, and the community-building that took place between 1921 and 1929 that proved crucial to the staying power of Mexicans in Kansas City through the Great Depression.
  • Publication
    “AD ASTRA PER ASTRONAUTA”: BRINGING THE PUBLIC “UP TO SPACE” AND ASTRONAUTS “DOWN TO EARTH”
    (Department of History, University of Kansas, 2023-04-19) Klinock, Austin
  • Publication
    RESCIND ERA: THE FAILED EFFORTS IN KANSAS TO RESCIND RATIFICATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT, 1973-1980
    (Department of History, University of Kansa, 2023-04-17) Haggar, Alexandra L.
    The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would give men and women equal legal rights, was passed in Congress in 1972, much to the pleasure of many women’s rights activists and lawmakers. State legislatures raced to be among the first to ratify the ERA. One year later, 30 of the needed 38 states had ratified the proposed amendment. However, at the same time, grassroots conservative movements were mobilizing very quickly, in large numbers, to defeat the ERA. Anti-ERA sentiment grew notably high in the South and Midwest. Before the one-year anniversary of Congress passing the ERA, Oklahoma became the first state to reject the amendment, giving birth to the anti-ERA movement. Later, Nebraska became the first state to rescind its prior ratification. Sandwiched between these two states was Kansas, a traditionally red state with an unusually progressive history. Resolutions were consistently introduced in the Kansas legislature from 1973-1980. But every anti-ERA legislation brought forth was promptly struck down. This study will conduct a case study into the rescission efforts in Kansas and why they were, ultimately, not victorious. The ERA in Kansas reveals a greater theme about the state’s political makeup at the time. As the ERA’s popularity fell throughout the country, Kansas remained in favor of the amendment showing the state as a moderate holdout to the rising conservatism. At the same time, it also reiterates a common thread throughout the state's history: a disdain for extremism. While the ERA died out in 1982, it was never rescinded in Kansas.