Senior Theses

2022

• Trevon Barton, “New Black Representations in American Popular Culture, 1960-1975”
• Daniel Brewer, “The Great Divide: The South’s Conflation of Abolitionism and the Republican Party, and Lincoln’s Response”
• J. Caleb Colclasure, “The Ethos of the ‘True Sportsman’ and the Origins of the American Conservation Movement”
• Dawson Connell, “Death by a Thousand Papercuts: The Economic Struggles of the Weimar Republic, 1919-1932”
• Justin Lundy, “Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration and Sports and Recreation”
• Ciara Mitchell, “Cecelia Goetz: A Forgotten Legacy in International Law”

2021

• Jonas Babb, “The French Resistance: When Civilians Waged a War”
• Olivia Heim, “Pagans and Fiction Writers: Feminist subcultures of the 1960s and 70s”

2020

• Bailey Clayton, “From Tradition to Modern: A History of the Bailey Mountain Cloggers”
• Francis Villeneuve, “The New York City Draft Riots of 1863”
• Malik Tucker, “Christian Paternalism and Slavery: The Diary of James Harvey Greenlee”
• Taylor Noble, “Class over Race: The 1934 Loray Mill Strike, Gastonia, NC”

2019

• Elizabeth Daniel – “The Power of Percussion: The Impact of Industrialization on Percussion Orchestra”
• Austin Herlocker – “The Farmer Has Got to Save Himself: James McClure and the Farmers Federation, 1920-1960”
• Nick Hoffman – “The Superpower of Politics: Comic Books in the 1980s”
• Jacob Oates – “Clean Water: A Century of Concern”
• Tavion Trimble – “What’s Gangsta Rap Got to Do With it?”

2018

• Troy Hall – “The State of Franklin: America’s Only Failed State”
• Adeline LeMaster – “Southern Women at Odds: The Grimke Sisters and Mary Boykin Chestnut, 1830-1865”
• Austin Marler: “Secession in North Carolina: The Untold Debates that Led to the Civil War”
• Trevor Reising: “Killing Patriarchs and Buddhas: Gender Role Inversion via Masculine Suicide in Tokugawa Japan”
• Shaylyn Sargent – “Let’s Narrow it Down to Everything: Placing History in a Larger Context through Big History”

2017

• Quinlan Blackmon – “The Changing Times: Integration in Hillsborough, North Carolina, 1954-1972”
• Jennifer Cardonia – “Credit to Black Womanhood: African American Women and Hairdressing in NC, 1930-50”
• Brandon Cheek, “Apprehensive Assimilation: Political and Cultural Negotiation between the Cherokee Nation and Protestant Missionaries, 1800 to 1830”
• Adrienne Enoch – “Weathering the Continuous Storm:  African Americans and Jim Crow, Madison Co, NC”
• Gil Gilreath – “Divine Supremacy:  Southern Baptist Convention and White Supremacy, 1845-1861”
• Mason Lipman – “Bringing Up the Blues: The Delta Blues, the Chicago Sound and American Popular Culture”
• Justin Schronce – “A Nation Removed: Squatters Role in Cherokee Removal 1785-1837”
• Jamie Whitesides – “Democracy in Action: John Dewey’s Influence on Black Mountain College, 1933-1936”

2016

• Daniel Nelson – “The Struggle for Conscientious Objection:  The Amish Experience in the Civil War”
• Clay Peregoy – “Liston B. Ramsey: Mountain Populist and Western North Carolina Icon”

2015

• Roman Blevins – “Pruning the Oak:  Roman Motivation for the Repression of the Druids”
• Ken Dixon – “Struggling to Reach the American Dream:  An Italian Immigrant Story in the Mississippi Delta”
• Landon French – “Creating Self-Identity:  Eastern Cherokee as a Nation, 1840-1867”
• Taylor Frizzell – “History of Hunting and Conservation on the Biltmore Estate”
• Matthew Frye – “The Different Faces of Slavery: Slavery in Madison and Iredell Counties”
• Sarah Johnson – “Women’s Stories from the Rural Home Front:  NC’s Piedmont during WWII”
• Jon Leonard – “Make Me Wanna Holler:  Pop Music’s Plea for Cultural Understanding”
• Tess McGill – “Every Child for Hitler:  The Training of Future Leaders and Mothers in Nazi Germany”
• Madison Moss – “Protecting Cultural Treasures:  The Ballad Tradition of Beach Mountain, NC”
• Ragan Ramsey, “The Origins of Segregated Public Housing in Asheville”
• Mercedes Rich – “The Tragic Life of the C.S.S. Neuse”
• Cadence Wilmoth – “The Melungeons, 1930s-1940s: A Struggle against Racism”

2014

• Ben Abbott – “The Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki:  A Reconsideration”
• Brooke Johnson – “Survival and the Atomic Bomb:  Contested Views in 1950s America”
• Andrew Little – “Spiritual Brothers:  Religious Pluralism and Chaplains of World War II”
• Benjamin Phillips – “Classical Iconoclasts:  Comparing Ukiyo-e and Pop Art”
• Allison Pipes – “Dear Abby and Gender Expectations in the 1950s”
• Clarissa Roberts – “Rosenwald Schools:  A Beacon of Hope for Black Students in the South, 1913-1965”
• Heath Silver – “The Rise and Fall of Asheville’s Racing Heritage”

2013

• Jacob Ashley – “A Canine Conundrum: The Treatment of Military Working Dogs in WWII and the Vietnam War”
• Cody Clifton – “Spider-Man:  Average Superhero, or Catalyst for the Ideas of the 1960s Counter-Culture?”
• Andrew Greer – “Sweden, a Light in the Darkness of Jewish Refugees?”
• David Moore – “Raising the Flag on the Moon: A Statement for the World”
• Josh Patterson – “Is All History a Product of its Time?” How Context Affects Historical Interpretation
• Michelle Payne – “Be Officers, Be Gentlemen: How Women’s Involvement in Vietnam Shaped the US Military”
• Laken Pilgrim – “Slavery and Public History:  Interpreting Slavery at the Zebulon B. Vance Site”
• Seth Saylor – “Good Roads for Good People: The Good Roads Movement in East TN, 1890-1930
• Ashley Spears – “Child Labor in the US in the late 19^th Century: Competing Public Perspectives”

2012

• Josh Dean, “The Social and Economic Impact of Spindletop Oil on Beaumont, Texas”
• Dana Holcombe, “Work Yes, Handout No: Madison County and the New Deal”
• Stephanie McGrath, “The United Nations and the Battle for Women’s Equality”
• Chelsea Parker, “Richmond’s Jim Crow and Two Paths to Equality, 1954 -1968”
• Michael Robinson, “War on Drugs, War on Student Rights, 1980 – 2000”
• Rachel Rogers, “Peddlers of the Apocalypse: Chernobyl and its Imprint on the Ukrainian People”
• Zach Searcy, “Beauty and Modernity in 1920s Appalachian Tourism”
• Tyler Shuler, “Race and Gender Discrimination at Augusta National Golf Club”
• Tiffani Taffer, “Caretakers of the Home front: Women of Appalachia during World War II
• Stephanie Weikle, “Moonshine and Corruption in Catawba, NC, 1920 -1922”
• Sarah Wilson, “The American Perception of China in National Geographic Magazine, 1900 -1949”

2011

• Logan Buchanan, “Erasing History: Removing Homesteaders from the Great Smoky Mountains NP”
• Katie James, “Confederate Spies: Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Belle Boyd”
• Benjamin Miller, “Prologue to Conflict:  English Theatre and its Critics in the Elizabethan Era”
• Traci Morgan, “Exhibiting Filipinos:  Imperialism and Racism in the 1904 World’s Fair”
• Derek Prevette, “Grabbing British Coattails:  Caleb Cushing’s 1843 Mission to China”
• Kelsey Steele, “Ava Gardner: Hollywood Goddess, Hometown Beauty”
• Dustin Stone, “America’s Forgotten Patriots: The Japanese American 442^nd Regiment in WWII”
• Jonee Taylor, “Preserving Cultural Legacies:  A History of Cherokee Basketry and Tourism”

2010

• Yonatan Arnold, “The Progressive Movement in Atlanta, Georgia”
• Patrick Cash, “Jim Crow’s Lawyer: Sen. Sam Ervin’s Opposition to the Civil Rights Movement”
• Natalie Haithcox, “The Impact of Title IX on Women’s College Sports”
• Derek Hernandez, “The Shelton-Laurel Massacre in Madison County, North Carolina”
• Mason Huffman, “Alaric and the Fall of the Roman Empire”
• Yi Lu, “Struggle and Massacre: China’s Leadership in the 1989 Beijing Student Movement”
• Trey Mayberry, “Sam Phillips, Elvis, & Rock N’ Roll: A Cultural Revolution”
• Greg Smith, “Shoeless Joe Jackson: Overcoming Banishment”
• Tyler Stephenson, “The History of the Rough Creek Cloggers of Waynesville, North Carolina”

2009

• Todd Allen, “How British Women Shaped the Discourse over Concentration Camps in the Boer War”
• Amanda McMahan, “A Mixed Legacy: Heriot Clarkson and the Creation of Little Switzerland”
• Chris Phillips, “How Asheville’s Gay Culture Influenced Economic and Social Change”
• Wes Skidmore, “The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 and the Christiana Riot of 1851: A Juxtaposition of Race Relations in Free Northern States”

2008

• Steve Bailey, “Prohibition in Yancey County, North Carolina”
• Jessica Blanford, “The Doolittle Raid: The American and Japanese Response”
• Natasha Cannon, “Working Women: Domestic Servants at the Biltmore House”
• Libby Fitzpatrick, “The Impact of German U-Boat Warfare in Carteret County, North Carolina”
• Tyler Greene, “The 1925 Coal Glen Mining Disaster: NC’s Deadliest Workplace Accident”
• Ashley Griffin, “The Downfall of Henry VIII”
• Courtney King, “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”
• Josiah Larson,  “Nazism and Christian Dissidence, 1930-1935”
• Ryan McCoy, “The Impact of the Nixon-Kennedy Debates on the 1960 Presidential Election”
• Rick Miller, “The Gradual Loss of Freedom: Indentured Servitude to Chattel Slavery”
• Megan Percy, “British Immigrants to Wisconsin in the mid-Nineteenth Century”
• Doug Yarborough, “The Mission of the CSS Hunley during the Civil War”

2007

• Camila Bahr, “The 1929 Loray Mill Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina”
• Colbe Klein, “The Cherokee Ballgame: A Resurrection of the Past”
• Andrea McCrary, “The Women’s War Effort on the Home Front in Mt. Airy, North Carolina”
• Cherish McHone, “School Desegregation in Yancey County, North Carolina”
• Lance Renes, “Ancient Sparta: An Athletic Society”
• Pam Sherwood, “The Forgotten POWs of the Korean War”

2006

• Sara Craig, “’Equality’ vs. ‘Satisfaction’: The Loss of the Cherokee’s Political Presence”
• Brandon Freeman, “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Time in Western North Carolina”
• Anne G’Fellers, “The Armenian Question and the American Answer (1915-1923)”
• Randall Laws, “How did Yancey County Citizens view the Confederate Flag during the Civil War?”
• Bekah Ludlow, “Keeping their Children Alive: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo”
• Ben Pierson, “Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Great Unifier of Japan”
• David Rhoney, “Sheriff Jesse James Bailey: The Lion of Madison County”
• Matthew Vogel, “The Templar Knights”
• Matthew  Waisner, “Driven to Piracy: The Piracy of the 17^th and 18^th centuries”