Grinnell History Department Newsletter, May 2001

John Aerni, '01, discussed the history of women's athletics in the Midwest Conference. Mr. Aerni followed women's athletic history in the Midwest from the genesis of a separate league and administration for women's athletics in the late seventies to its merger into a single conference, which administered both the women and men's program of its member colleges. Mr. Aerni stressed the remarkable progress represented by the movement from two separate conferences to a single conference where men and women actively support one another's program, often have identical seasons, and often compete on the same day.

Erik Anderson, '01, invited the history majors and faculty to revisit the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381 in his work, "A New Understanding of Bury St. Edmunds as a Central Place During the Rising of 1381" Exploring and questioning the accounts of the medieval English chroniclers, Mr. Anderson sought to explain the relationship between the rural and town rebels in the vicinity of Bury St. Edmunds. He asserted that drawing a distinction between the urban and rural rebels was difficult if not impossible. Mr. Anderson challenged the historiography, which concluded that the interests of town and country were separate and distinct. Instead, he argued that the shift from the woolen production to cloth production, which was occurring in the region, bound peasant and burgher into a complex system of economic dependency that facilitated their cooperation during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

Skyler Artes, '01, presented a paper entitled, "Idol Executions: An Analysis of Huguenot Iconoclasm in 1560's France." In the early 1560's, Huguenots ignited a firestorm of violence in many French towns. This wave of violence took the form of popular iconoclasm. Ms. Artes argued that the popular iconoclasm of the 1560's was a highly political act in which Huguenots attempted to resist royal authority and repression via image destruction.

Rachel Chacko, '01, analyzed Sylvia Plath's journals in search of Plath's voice in a paper entitled, "Sylvia Plath: Demystifying the Breakdown." Ms. Chacko's analysis focused on Plath's Smith College years. In examining Plath's college years, Ms. Chacko discovered the anxieties of a creative young woman who did not want to choose between the stereotypical role of supportive housewife and a career. According to Ms. Chacko, Plath chafed against the societal restraints on women during the fifties, and found herself trapped in a constant state of indecision between family and an all-consuming career until she finally chose to end her existence.

Davin Dahl, '01, discussed the effects African American experience in World War II in a paper entitled, "Fuel for the Fire: The Experience of the African-American Servicemen in World War II and Its Implications for the Civil Rights Movement." Mr. Dahl asserted that the negative treatment African American servicemen received during and after World War II engendered a sense of entitlement among them. Mr. Dahl concluded that if more African American World War II veterans were involved in the Civil Rights movement from the beginning, then that would have resulted in its earlier radicalization.

Jordan Esbrook, '01, lectured about the legacy of the Highlander Folk School and its involvement in the Civil Rights movement. Ms. Esbrook stressed the crucial background role the school played for the Civil Rights movement through its radical education programs from its founding in 1939 to its closure in 1960. By consciously and deliberately blending labor activism with political, and legal activism, the Highland Folk School helped to provide an environment that fostered the growth of Civil Rights activists, and thereby aided in setting the tone of the Civil Rights movement.

Meahgan Evans, '01, traced and analyzed the opposition, on the part of women, to the Equal Rights Amendment from its introduction in the 1920's to its final defeat in the 1970's. In the twenties, most women opposed the amendment on the grounds that it would nullify protective legislation for female workers and would create chaos with its vague phrasing and inflexible adherence to principle over practicality. During the seventies, the identity and rhetoric of the female opposition to the amendment changed. Opposition to the amendment came from the ranks of homemakers, conservative organizations, and fundamentalist religious groups instead of the progressive, liberal quarters from which it was voiced in the twenties. The rhetoric in the seventies focused on the destructive effect the ERA would wreak for women in their traditional family roles. Despite this difference of rhetoric and identity between the opposition of the twenties and the seventies, Ms. Evans emphasized that the fundamental wish of the female opposition throughout the entire sixty-year debate was the desire to preserve the legal protections offered to women.

Seth Ford, '01, peered into the world of English travel etiquette and advice in a paper entitled, "Travel Anxiety: The Impact of Commerce on English Cultural Identity Early Modern Travel Advice Literature." Mr. Ford contended that the genre of travel etiquette and advice books in the seventeenth century manifested an anxiety, on the part of the English gentry, about the consequences of the radical economic transition occurring in early modern England. He added that the classical and medieval conceptions of the incompatibility of virtue and commerce helped to fuel the English gentleman's anxieties about the changing nature of his world.

Mattie Johnson, '01, lectured on black women's involvement in the debate over the Equal Rights Amendment. Ms. Johnson examined black women's opinions regarding the ERA after its introduction by the National Women's Party in 1921. She contended that their positions, both for and against the ERA, were based upon their dual oppression as black people and women, their role in the labor force, and their skepticism of white movements and institutions. Throughout her presentation, Ms. Johnson stressed that black women were more concerned with practical and concrete change with regard to discrimination than with ideological or theoretical equality.

Rob Park, '01, presented his paper entitled, "Tocqueville and Burke on Liberty and How it should be Secured in Illiberal Times." Mr. Park discussed how Tocqueville and Burke could have disagreed about securing liberty when they both defined liberty in a similar fashion. He concluded that Burke and Tocqueville's philosophical differences revolved around the compatibility of liberty and equality as well as their conflicting perceptions regarding the importance of historical precedent.

Ethan Stanton, ‘01, talked about his preliminary findings regarding farmers' success in California's hydraulic mining controversy from 1873 to 1885. In the late nineteenth century a conflict between miners and farmers arose in California over the use of hydraulic mining methods, which blasted away hillsides in an effort to find gold. The result of such a method washed away precious topsoil and left crops in the valleys below covered with loose soil. In a struggle over land use, the farmers of California's valleys organized in an effort to overcome the mining industry's interests and influence in state politics.