Norman, Sandra

Oral history’s purposes have metamorphosed from a record of lifeways and
stories of the elite to a means of healing for minority communities oppressed by trauma.
This dissertation focuses on the power of oral history to catalyze the restorative justice
process of moral repair for victims—in this case the Mexican Americans of Texas—who
were traumatized by the Jim Crow laws and practices prior to 1965. I researched the
racial, socio-cultural history of Texas from its colonial days up to the Jim Crow historical
era of 1876-1965 and utilized archival, legal, and historical sources for my study.
Additionally, I explore theories and frameworks of trauma, structural violence, and
restorative justice, and analyze twenty-eight oral histories from the Voces Oral History
Collection (University of Texas, Austin). Lastly, I apply oral history methodology to
collect seventeen oral histories for my own project, Project Aztlan.
My findings reveal a community suffering from structural violence—a theory that
argues unjust laws harm individuals as much as physical violence. The oral histories unearth several issues: first, both groups of narrators were victims of structural violence
as a result of traumatic racism. I anticipated finding traumatic racism, but not on such a
broad scale. The results reveal it occurred in all four corners of Texas. Second, these Jim
Crow laws and practices targeted members individually and collectively through racially
restrictive housing covenants, segregation of schools/public facilities, job discrimination,
and disfranchisement or poll taxes. Thirdly, the oral histories demonstrate and legitimize
the fact that the Mexican American community deserves atonement, apology and
reparation from historically guilty institutions. The State of Texas battered them with
mass lynchings, disfranchisement, racially restrictive housing covenants, school
segregation, and discrimination, oppressing them for over 100 years.
My dissertation concludes that the oral history process helps victims attain moral
repair because, similar to moral repair, it also allows them the space to voice their stories
of injustice. In turn, the oral historian validates their claims and reconciliation occurs
when narrators received vindication through this reparatory process. This
acknowledgment fuses broken moral bonds by equalizing members of society.

During the 1700’s, several biologists and naturalists
attempted to create a myriad of designs in order
imbibe structure in this world of chaotic organisms.
Among the many candidates for a taxonomic system
were the Swedish biologist Carol Linnaeus (1707-1778)
and George Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788). Insight
into their scientific methodologies allows us a
rare window into mid-eighteenth century discussions
about the animal-human relationship and its place in
society. Historians, and scientists have commented on
this ever growing debate and its outcome, but none
have seriously delved into the approaches of both
Linnaeus and Buffon and its comparisons to modern
day understanding of animals. In this paper I explore
the similarities and differences in the methodology of
these two naturalists by analyzing three distinct birds:
the ibis, the sandpiper, and the hummingbird.

As society is continuing to become digitally integrated, many museums and archives are facing difficulty appealing to newer generations, especially those that are raised on digital availability of resources. Beginning with an explanation of the history of museums, my thesis expands on the evolution of museums, focusing on the current digital climate. The current digital revolution is an exigent matter that museums and non-profits must respond to, and without proper financial assistance and adaptation of new technologies, museums and non-profits cannot fully achieve digital integration. New technologies allow museums to appeal universally: rather than being available to only a specific community, digitization has allowed museums to dissipate information globally. Ultimately, the question for archives and museums has evolved from how to provide information to the public to how museums and other non-profit organizations can better adapt to the growing needs of the digital age and those within it.

By the nineteenth century, ships and sailors were firmly entrenched as symbols
of American progress and nationalism; however, the development of the Great Lakes
maritime world challenged the meaning of “maritime” and the cultural symbolism of
the American sailor. A growing anxiety that the influence and power of New England
traditions would diminish as the nation moved westward resulted in a shared discourse
between religious reformers and influential leaders of Cleveland, Ohio. Their language
ascribed the symbolism of Jack Tar as essential for maintaining cultural hegemony.
This thesis examines how this power struggle transpired at the intersection of race, class
and geopolitical rivalry, altering the depiction of Jack Tar to Steamboat Jack.

During the twenty-one year British occupation of Florida from 1763 to 1784, the city of St. Augustine served as a Loyalist outpost during the American Revolutionary War. The British repaired the city's Spanish defenses and constructed seven redoubts outside the city walls. Plans were made to connect these redoubts with defensive walls but were not carried out. Several of the seven British redoubts were constructed on or near older redoubts built by the Spanish, as seen on maps of the period. Maps of the period are the key to locating the redoubts today. Supplementing the maps are the various documents in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, the Public Records Office in London, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. This research project identifies the locations of the British Redoubts and provides historical and archaeological interpretations of these defensive works within the totality of the fortifications of St. Augustine.

The sport fishing industry is a very important part of South Florida's lifestyle and economy. This thesis explore that industry, from its beginnings in the not too distant past to the current condition of the industry and the fishery which exists because of it. The thesis shows how the discovery of the fishery in South Florida was the call for thousands of fisherman from the north and from Europe. The "Golden Years" of the industry are shown through the writings and adventures of some of the greatest anglers in the world, such as Ernest Hemingway, Philip Wylie, and Michael Lerner. Conversely, the successes of those anglers and the waste of fishery resources, along with the man's meddling with the environment, will be explored. The thesis documents how the fishery and the industry may be saved from certain ruin through new laws and the application of common sense by all involved.

This thesis will explore material culture by focusing on textiles and needlework of American immigrant women in the twentieth-century. It will feature three textiles: the Fishman bris dress from Britain, traditional Ukrainian embroidery, and refugee Hmong story cloths. Material culture is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates a wide variety of sources, theories, and interpretations. Social history incorporates voices and sources that have been disregarded in the mainstream narrative. Without scholarship in material culture, these sources would be lost forever. Textiles and their study allow for a wider and more inclusive interpretation of the American experience as immigrant and female. Most immigrant women do not hand down traditional primary documents. The everyday object allows historians to pursue historical imagination through material culture. Material culture scholarship and various sub-fields, allow these voices to be included in the canon of the American historical experience.

World War II has been considered a "golden age" for Americans, years during which civilians cooperated in defense programs and faced shortages with cheerful self-sacrifice. The wartime experiences of individual communities such as Leesburg, Florida, provide pieces of the national mosaic and offer insight into small town perspectives of home front duty and obligation. Leesburg's residents faced the same adjustments as other Americans, and their immersion in wartime activities cultivated characteristic home front patriotism. Though the town's population nearly doubled when unprecedented military expansion brought thousands of personnel into the area, and hundreds of German POWs arrived to ease the critical agricultural labor shortage, Leesburg was spared the severe deprivation, health problems, and social tensions common in overcrowded defense industry areas. Thus Leesburg successfully preserved its civic goals, its social values, and its small town atmosphere, and experienced a slow but steady rate of growth and improvement during the war.

A Brief History of Project Orion describes the research and development of an interplanetary spacecraft which was to use atomic bombs as its propulsive force. Initiated in the late 1950s, the project involved some of the most brilliant scientists of the time. The concept of using atomic detonations for spacecraft propulsion was extremely attractive because of the vastly greater energy available as opposed to conventional chemical propellants; atomics produce in the range of one million times as much energy as chemicals. The project was headed by Theodore Taylor (later by Frederick de Hoffman) and included Freeman Dyson as a theoretical physicist and mathematician. Project Orion was ultimately canceled because of funding problems and the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban treaty in 1963.