By Clarkston Doman (’23) In early-to-mid 19th century America, slave plantation labor was prevalent in the South, while wage labor centered around cities and factories was becoming more common in the North. Robert William Fogel, in his chapter “American Slavery: A flexible, highly developed form of capitalism,” refutes the common conception that the pre-Civil WarContinue reading “Slavery and Prostitution in Pre-Civil War America”
Author Archives: Julianne Downing
George Washington to Charles Lawrence: An Examination of Washington’s Relationship with Dress
By Emmet Powell (’23) For upper class white men in 18th century America, fashion was a luxury they were able to partake in. To do so, many maintained close relationships with their merchants, designers, and tailors. On July 20, 1967 George Washington wrote a letter to Charles Lawrence, who aided Washington with his material needs,Continue reading “George Washington to Charles Lawrence: An Examination of Washington’s Relationship with Dress”
#ImWithKap: How Social Media Impacted NFL Athlete Activism
By Grace Rozembajgier (’23) The past eight years have seen racial justice come to the forefront of the American social discussion, especially with the Black Lives Matter movement. Since Kaepernick’s resistance in 2016, racial awareness for equality and the Black Lives Matter movement has increased in the sports world. Most notably, this past summer, theContinue reading “#ImWithKap: How Social Media Impacted NFL Athlete Activism”
Birdwatching Goes Both Ways: An Analysis of Birds Aren’t Real
By Matthew Bisner (’22) In the summer of 2019, a billboard loomed over Memphis, Tennessee with a simple message: “Birds Aren’t Real.” A representative of the eponymous organization, appearing on local news, maintained that leaders in the U.S. government had slaughtered all birds and replaced them with surveillance drones beginning in the 1950s. Across theContinue reading “Birdwatching Goes Both Ways: An Analysis of Birds Aren’t Real”
Cultural Receptions of Disillusionment in 1960s Suburban America
By Ava DeLonais-Dick (’22) Romanticized in the paintings of Normal Rockwell and iconic Coca-Cola ads, the 1950s strike many today as a time when America was simpler and quaint. American nostalgia remembers the post-World War II “ideal” of the white, suburban, nuclear family. Yet, even as the culture of the suburbia came into maturity inContinue reading “Cultural Receptions of Disillusionment in 1960s Suburban America”
Covid-19: The Latest Threat to American Democracy
By Max Forbes (’23) For Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating and caused many to fear for the safety of themselves and their families. It must also cause American policymakers and statesmen to worry about the safety of the country in an increasingly chaotic post-pandemic world. COVID has shed light on the real threatsContinue reading “Covid-19: The Latest Threat to American Democracy”
The Fusion of Material and Symbolic Capital in the American Century
By Bridget Kelley (’22) When sharing his vision for America in the 20th century in “The American Century,” publishing magnate Henry Luce argued, “Blindly, unintentionally, accidentally, and really in spite of ourselves, we are already a world power in all the trivial ways – in very human ways” (1). Luce believed that the international dominanceContinue reading “The Fusion of Material and Symbolic Capital in the American Century”
Mind Control: MKUltra and the Red Scare
By Fiona McMahon (’22) How was the CIA able to execute an American mind-altering project involving hallucinogenic drugs, administered to U.S. citizens, that affected human psychological and social behavior under a cloak of secrecy for decades? The American people discovered information regarding the CIA’s mind-control program titled MKUltra two decades after its execution. Followed byContinue reading “Mind Control: MKUltra and the Red Scare”
Paul is Dead: The Clash of Beatles Music, Drugs, and Conspiracy Theories in the Chaotic 1960s
By Adriana Maria Perez (’22) After their beginnings in the late 1950s, the English band the Beatles came of age during the 1960s, a decade when psychedelic frenzy, Cold War paranoia, and anti-establishment sentiment had ripened American consciousness enough for unbelievable conspiracy theories to take hold (1). These came to include a rumor that PaulContinue reading “Paul is Dead: The Clash of Beatles Music, Drugs, and Conspiracy Theories in the Chaotic 1960s”
“A Media Certified Celebrity Leader”: A Comparison of Drake’s God’s Plan and Cesar Chávez in the Chicano Movement
By Maura Kostelni (’22) “What matters most in politics” has historically “[gone] unrecorded”, and we see this through footage in Drake’s God’s Plan music video and analysis of the footage of the Chicano movement found in Randy Ontiveros’ No Golden Age: Television News and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement (2010) (2). Drake’s God’s Plan complementsContinue reading ““A Media Certified Celebrity Leader”: A Comparison of Drake’s God’s Plan and Cesar Chávez in the Chicano Movement”
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