Southern States

Scholars of southern Jewish history maintain that ante-bellum southerners displayed genuine philo-Semitism towards their Jewish neighbors. Historians attribute this to the southern Jews "effort to assimilate into southern society and to the presence of other, more preferred, targets of the southerners" animus, namely blacks and Catholics. This analysis, however, is not sufficiently broad to explain the South's Protestant-Jewish dynamic. It neither appraises the relationship from the perspective of the Protestants, nor accounts for the intellectual inconsistencies such a conclusion presents regarding both Protestants and southerners, generally. This thesis identifies and responds to these shortcomings by examining southern philo-Semitism through the eyes of the Protestants and thesis argues that pro-Judaic rhetoric of southern evangelical clergy inundated southerners with favorable references and images of the biblical Jews, causing southerners to develop a high degree of reverence and respect for Jews, whom they saw as their spiritual kinfolk.

Much of Tennessee Williams' work features mentally ill characters; his devotion to and interest in the subject has led to the composition of many plays that highlight the humanity of the insane, rather that caricaturize them with the usual stereotypes. In Suddenly Last Summer, Williams challenges the social stigmas most "normal" people attach to madness. Throughout the course of the action, the lines dividing sane and insane, normate and non-normate, gradually blur disrupting the audience's social equilibrium. By undermining presumed viewer prejudices toward the mentally ill, Williams creates the opportunity for redrawing the social boundaries of exclusion and inclusion.

Scholars of the literary depictions of lynching have given the majority of their attention to the emasculation of the black male, but the representation of the black female lynch victim has been overlooked. My thesis examines the deaths of black women that had the same effect as lynching practices used against men. This specific literary form of lynching will concentrate on two plays: Mary P. Burrill's They That Sit in Darkness (1919) and Marita Bonner's Exit: An Illusion (1929) and two novels by Toni Morrison, Beloved and Sula. Considering the contours of these black female deaths we can expand the traditional definition of lynching to include the black female lynch victim. The aspects that make her death a lynching are encased in more subtleties than a traditional definition of lynching allows for, and less visible.

This thesis demonstrates how some women used the power of their ancestry and family name to run for political office, to become a positive role model for other women, and also to help pass laws favorable to the improvement of gender equality. Edna Pearce Lockett was unique, but also a reflection of the values of her community. Women who ran for office tended to have strong male figures in their lives that treated them as equals. They often were savvy enough to use the novelty of their gender to encourage positive press. Far from trying to be men, they accentuated their femininity through press accounts detailing their fashion sense, their dedication to feminine pursuits, and their ability to be ladies as well as serve their constituency. Edna Pearce Lockett's life also illustrates what society was like in central Florida during the first half of the 20th century for men and women living on and around the cattle industry.

Throughout the course of North American history, wolves have been persecuted with a vengeance. Negative wolf perceptions have in the past created and continue to create controversial policies and views towards wolves. While most of these attitudes are geared towards gray wolves, as gray wolves are the most common and prominent, unfavorable perceptions have also extended to the less well-known red wolf. This study compares two red wolf reintroduction programs, one in the Tennessee-Kentucky area and the other in North Carolina, as well as the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Reintroduction program. After analyzing these three programs, it can be concluded that the perceptions towards wolves regardless of the type of wolf or location remain largely negative and that wolves continue to face persecution.