University of Oklahoma Historical Journal

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https://hdl.handle.net/11244/329113

The University of Oklahoma Historical Journal features the very best work produced by our undergraduate students. The Historical Journal testifies to the intellectual values our department espouses: hard work, rigorous thinking, distinctive style, and academic integrity. Published annually, this peer-reviewed journal is governed by five undergraduate editors who are nominated and elected by the history faculty. Their election to the editorial board recognizes their excellence in a broad variety of history courses at OU and marks their transition from students to intellectual leaders.

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Open Access
The American Media and the Soviet Union at the Onset of U.S. Intervention in World War II
(4/1/16) Joyce, Anthony W.; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
1942 was a crucial year for America and the Soviet Union. For the past twenty years, the United States had been fearful of the U.S.S.R. and the possibility that communism would spread. However, World War II forced Americans to change their perceptions of Russia. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies, which included the Soviet Union. Furthermore, with Hitler threatening to conquer Europe, America had to unite with the U.S.S.R. in order to defeat him. At this point, the U.S. supported a country that it had recently viewed as its enemy. But were Americans completely supportive of the Soviet Union during this time period, or did they remain suspicious of it? This paper will focus on the reaction of the American media to Russia within the first year after the United States entered the war. It will study articles from three major news publications: the New York Times, the Chicago Daily Tribune, and Time magazine. The New York Times and the Chicago Daily Tribune represented two distinct regions of the country (the East Coast and the Midwest, respectively), and Time magazine reached the nation as a whole.
Open Access
Continuity in Care: The History of Deinstitutionalization in Oklahoma's Mental Healthcare System
(4/1/16) Capps, Sarah; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
Sarah Capps has approached the subject of the deinstitutionalization of Oklahoma’s mental health system with great attention to detail and tenacious research. She has also made connections from the act of deinstitutionalization to its effect on the way Oklahoma’s mentally ill are served today. As society’s most vulnerable population left institutions, they faced many unique challenges. However, the shift in the way people began to deal with the mentally ill was both a reaction to new attitudes and helped shaped them as this population left institutions and was integrated into society. Sarah Capps, through an examination of a diverse array of primary sources, has succeeded in demonstrating the complexity of the endeavor with superb writing and research. - Rita Thompson
Open Access
The Deepest Circle of Hell: Sex Crimes Propagated at Unit 731 During the Pacific War (1931-1945)
(4/1/16) Strachan, Kiersten; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
In a previous paper on the subject of Unit 731, I argued that Japan, before and throughout the Pacific War (1931-1945), attempted to systemically bolster its imperial credentials as a colonizer by developing its scientific establishment, in an attempt to display that it had surpassed Western nations. The experiments conducted at Unit 731 contributed to this goal. Japanese medical professionals used Unit 731 as an opportunity to conduct experiments on humans, which social stigma and global scientific ethical standards had previously prevented. The results of the Unit’s experiments were disseminated worldwide in order to prove Japan’s capacity to contribute to global scientific establishments. Additionally, a broad range of sex experiments were also conducted using (mostly) female and child prisoners. When reviewing primary source material that relates to sexual experiments conducted at the facility, it seems that though the scientific or rational motivations underpinned some experiments, other sex crimes cannot be justified as anything other than gross excesses of senseless violence. While non sexual experiments could be justified as attempts to solve disease, display Japanese modernity, or collected research for the development of advanced biological weaponry, the obscenity of some sex acts committed cannot be justified by these motivations. Why were sex experiments unique? Why were women, whose limbs were black with disease, raped by multiple guards at once? Why were prisoners abused and defiled, as their children, who were the result of forced impregnation, watched? In terms of the abuses that occurred at Unit 731, it is easy to homogenize ‘sex experiments’ and ‘sex crimes’ as the same thing. However, when analyzing these grotesque incidents, it becomes clear that the guards of the facility were motivated by different factors during experiments, which I will contrast with sexual violence propagated against the inmate population. The distinction I will argue in this paper is that it was the guards, staff, and independent medical practitioners who perpetuated crimes against humanity (expressed in sexual form). In regard to this violent, they acted as individuals, independent from the military-scientific establishment that operated and conceived of the Unit and the clinical sex experiments.
Open Access
The King and I?: An Analysis of Social Class and Loyalty in the Sagas of the Icelanders
(4/1/16) Farris, Caleb; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
Caleb Farris’s The King and I?: An Analysis of Social Class and Loyalty in the Sagas of the Icelanders, describes the role of social hierarchies in Viking society. It is not only brilliantly written, but underscores the utility of non-traditional sources in analyzing ancient society. -Sarah Miles
Open Access
The Liberal Libertine: Gender and Revolution in the Writings of Francisco de Miranda
(4/1/16) Dixon, Arthur; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
Francisco de Miranda's life embodied the contradiction which was central to the Age of Democratic Revolution: to what extent could the liberal ideologies emerging from the Enlightenment replace the old order? Just as other pre-Revolution social and cultural systems like slavery and monarchy survived democratic revolution, patterns of gender relations endured radical political insurrection and emerged relatively unscathed. This paradox is exemplified in Miranda’s simultaneous subversive political acts and conformity with existing libertine forms of masculinity. – Elizabeth Hurd
Open Access
The Political Marginalization of Arab Christians in the British Mandatory Period
(4/1/16) McCann, Samuel; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
The Arab/Israeli conflict has been addressed as an ethnic conflict to a simple conflict over land. The use of a religious framework receives a lot of attention in the popular imagination, pitting Islam against Judaism. There are numerous problems with this paradigm, but one problem that often goes unnoticed is the erasure of Arab Christian involvement within the conflict. This erasure causes an oversight in regards to the very important contributions Christians made to the development of Arab nationalism. This oversight causes the fundamental misunderstanding that the conflict is religious and not political. A historical examination of Arab Christian involvement can break away from this paradigm. It can also develop a deeper understanding of the conflict. Focusing the analysis on the British Mandatory period, with special regard to Christian involvement in the nationalist movement, one can gain insight into the critical moments of the conflict and the necessary processes for its maturation into what it is today. However, to understand these developments, one must understand the historical movement of Arab Christians within the branch of Arab nationalism that reacted against Zionism. The British mandatory period was the critical period in determining the future scope of the conflict and the manner in which it has continued to unfold. In so doing, one will find that Arab Christians were disproportionately influential in the Palestinian nationalist movement, but their role gradually subsided as a result of increasing Islamic rhetoric, British policy, internal sectarian divisions, and Zionist political maneuvering.
Open Access
Southern Ladies Rebellion: The Failure of Women's Sufferage in Mississippi
(4/1/16) Miles, Sarah; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
Thanks to an intense and justified focus in the scholarly community on the enslavement and oppression of African-Americans, little attention has been paid towards the efforts of women in the South striving for rights of their own. In this paper, Sarah Miles masterfully navigates the troubled and tumultuous history of women’s suffrage movements in Mississippi and offers a welcome glimpse into a struggle frequently overlooked in American history. –Matthew Clark.
Open Access
Student Starts: How the Media Covered 1960's Student Protest Leaders
(4/1/16) Sulkowski, John; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
John Sulkowski’s Student Stars: How the Media Covered 1960’s Student Protest Leaders, demonstrates the continuing importance of analyzing the role our media plays in influencing our perception of history. -Sarah Miles
Open Access
The Tragedy at Robin Hood Hills: How the Media, Witchcraft, and a False Confession Imprisoned the West Memphis Three and Ultimately Led to their Freedom
(4/1/16) Unruh, Madison; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
Beginning in the 1980s, America was plagued with a fear of Satanism and witchcraft. The establishment of Anton Lavey’s Church of Satan, the expansion of the Wiccan religion, and cult leaders like Jim Jones and Charles Manson making headlines in the decades prior, culminated in national anxieties over occult practices. In the midst of the hysteria, three gruesome murders of young boys occurred in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas. Unable to comprehend the shocking homicides, the community turned to witchcraft to explain the unexplainable.
Open Access
Underground Cathedrals: Moscow's Struggle for a Subterranean Masterpiece
(4/1/16) Hill, Michaela; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
The Moscow Metrostroi Project began as a much-hated proposal by Soviet government officials to alleviate congestion in the 1920s. But in a fascinating process described by Hill, this proposal evolved into the construction of a metro line that symbolized the possibility of a socialist utopia for Muscovites. She argues that the USSR’s first metro line was significant as a state-initiated project in which workers collectively overcame the obstacles of creating a socialist society. Workers equated building the metro with building socialism, and the metro’s 1935 completion seemed to herald the beginning of a decidedly urban socialist society. –Monique Rodríguez.
Open Access
Uniquely British: Britain's Intellectual Response to Revolution
(4/1/16) Otto, Jon; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
This paper transports the reader into the mindset of the English in the Age of Revolution. Otto provides an excellent synthesis of revolutionary and conservative thought during this period in England, illuminating an important point in the history of the British Empire in a fresh way. Otto’s laconic prose, unique interpretations, and solid research results in an outstanding study that is a welcome contrast to the war-diplomacy-empire approach to British History. –Richard Blake Romines
Open Access
The University of Oklahoma Historical Journal
(4/1/16) Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
Preface to the Fifth Issue of the OU Historical Journal by the Editors
Open Access
The Unwilling Insider's Encounter with Nazism: Alsatian Incorporés de Force in World War II
(4/1/16) Hurd, Elizabeth; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
This paper weaves an enlightening narrative about a people caught in the middle of a geopolitical nightmare. Drawing on the stories and writings of soldiers on and off the battlefield, Hurd illustrates just how difficult it was for Alsatians forced into the support of a foreign cause. Her poignant writing reflects on the tale of a region historically controlled by outside forces. -Jon Otto
Open Access
Washington: A European Capital City in the Early American Repbulic
(4/1/16) Addington, Colter; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
With the Peace of Paris in 1783, the United States achieved de jure independence from Great Britain and began the monumental task of nation building. One of the most pressing priorities was the establishment of a permanent seat of government. Philadelphia and New York City, as the two largest cities in the new country and major centers of commerce and culture, were obvious contenders. However, these places were all-too-recently hubs of British imperial authority, and their northerly locations were deemed by many Southern citizens as unsuitable for the new American republic. Therefore, for the first time since antiquity, a new capital city would be planned and built from the ground up.
Open Access
When Movie Magic Conjures Historical Amnesia: The Over-Personalization and Simplification of the Origins of Nazi Anti-Semitism in Film
(4/1/16) Thompson, Rita M.; Otto, Jon; Strachan, Kiersten; Thompson, Rita; Hurd, Elizabeth; Cole, Emily; Smith, Robert; Miles, Sarah; Capps, Sarah; Collins, Adriana; Dixon, Arthur; Rodríguez, Monique; Romines, Richard; Otis, Franklin; Clark, Matthew; Folsom, Raphael; Olberding, Garret; Griswold, Robert
This paper minces no words in addressing the problems presented in documentary coverage of Hitler. Popular documentaries misplace the emphasis of Hitler’s role in anti-Semitism and lend bias in the facts they present. This paper demonstrates a clear understanding of the subject matter. Thompson’s thorough research and clear writing lead the reader through the historical context surrounding Hitler and the rise of anti-Semitism. She illustrates other factors that contributed to anti-Semitism in Europe, and how people must take historical context into consideration when viewing historical documentaries. –Emily Cole.