2011 Mid-America Conference
Program

Thursday 9/22:

Friday 9/23:

Session 5: 8:30-10:00
5a. Firearms and War: Tactics and Casualties
Chair: Scott Rohrer, Austin College
Paper: “The Effects of Firearms Technology and Doctrine on WWI Battlefield Tactics,” Justin Prince, Oklahoma State University
Paper: “Homeward Bound or Left Behind: British Animals and the End of the Great War,” Chelsea Medlock, Oklahoma State University
Comment: Scott Rohrer,  Austin College
5b. The Effects of Oil: Crime and Reform
Chair: Robert Miller, Missouri State University
Paper: “Survival of the Shrewdest: How Ida Tarbell Used Historical Methodology in McClure’s Magazine to Turn a Nation against Standard Oil, 1902-1904,” Dennis Savill, University of Central Oklahoma
Paper: “Crime and Violence During the Osage Oil Boom: 1920-26,” Alexandria Gough, University of Arkansas
Comment: Robert Miller, Missouri State University
5c. The American West and Indians in Photographs and Music
Chair:  Steve Kite, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith
Paper: “Breaking the Photographic Frame,” Jennifer McKinney, Oklahoma State University
Paper:  “Run to the Hills!: The Portrayal of American Indians in Heavy Metal Music,” Cody Smith, Oklahoma State University
Comment:  Mary Jane Warde, Oklahoma Historical Society
5d. Nativism and Immigrants
Chair: Phil Smith, Tulsa Community College
Paper: “So Much Savage Popery: Anti-Immigrant Violence and Nativist Resistance to Catholic Influence in Antebellum Cities,” Michelle McCargish, Oklahoma State University
Paper: “How Research Questions on the Cultural and Ethnic Identity of Mexican Immigrants in the U.S. Changed Over Time,” Yiwen Bi, Texas A&M University
Comment: Phil Smith, Tulsa Community College
Friday Session 6: 10:15-12:00
6a. “Let My Southern White People Go!” Did Lincoln Make Mistakes During the Secession Crisis?
Chair: Stewart Winger, Illinois State University
Panel: Glenn Lafantasie, Western Kentucky University
Panel: Stephen Hansen, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Panel: C. David Dalton, College of the Ozarks
Panel: Lisa Guinn, Upper Iowa University
6b. Foreign Relations and African Americans
Chair: Andrew Rosa, Oklahoma State University
Paper: “Deeds of those Daring Men: African American Memory and the Spanish American War,” Merrick Feingold, Northwest Mississippi Community College
Paper: “Symbol of the Third World: African Americans, Ghana and the Eisenhower Administration,” Kevin Grimm, Ohio University
Paper: “Black Reconstruction Redux: WEB Du Bois’ African Peace Initiative during the Cold War, 1945-1963,” Dominic J. Capeci, Jr., and Jack C. Knight, Missouri State University
Comment: Andrew Rosa, Oklahoma State University
6c. Conflict in the Middle East
Chair: Vincent Cornell, Emory University
Paper: “Formulating a Policy: How the Creation of Israel and Early Arab-Israeli Conflict Heightened the U.S. Commitment to the Middle East, 1948-1949, Adam Harris, Louisiana Tech University
Paper: “Henry Kissinger and the Challenges of Transnational Palestinian Terrorism: 1970-1973,” Nicholas Swails, University of Colorado
Paper: “The Baha’is in iran: A Religious Genocide,” Shamim Bina, University of Oklahoma
Comment:  Farid Al-Salim, Kansas State University
6d. Agriculture and Immigration on the Great Plains
Chair: Shelly Lemons, McKendree University
Paper:  “The Great Plains: Early Historiographical Interpretations and Their Impact,” Matthew Deepe, Oklahoma State University
Paper: “The Dearfield Dream: An Analysis of Preparedness of Emigrants to Succeed at Dry-Land Farming,” Lynn M. Burlbaw and Kristina Waller, Texas A&M University
Paper: “To Graze or Plow: Determining Agricultural Patterns in the Central Nebraska Sandhills, 1877-1915,” Drew Folk, Oklahoma State University
Comment:  Shelly Lemons, McKendree University
Friday, Session 7: 1:00-2:45
7a.  Southern Agriculture and Manufacturing Before the Civil War
Chair:  Jane Flaherty, Texas A&M University
Paper: “A Free Soil Fallacy: The Myth of the Mutual Exclusivity of Free and Slave Labor during the 1850s,” Paul Paskoff, Louisiana State University
Paper: “The Virginia Demographic Explosion into Kentucky: The Role of England’s Agricultural system,” Jim Huston, Oklahoma State University
Paper:  “Manufacturing in the Antebellum Gulf South: More than has Met the Eye,” Michael Frawley, Louisiana State University
Comment: Kathleen Hilliard, Iowa State University, and Jane Flaherty, Texas A&M University
7b.  Activism in the 20th Century
Chair: David Gray, OSU-Tulsa
Paper: “Creating Community: Emanuel Haldeman-Julius’ Efforts to Manufacture an Audience and Influence America,” Dustin Gann, University of Kansas
Paper: “A Victory for One Is a Victory for All: The Role of Solidarity Work in Anti-Sweat Shop Campaigns,” Beth Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Paper: “Think Global, Act Everywhere: Echoes of the New Left in the Resistance Movements of the Neoliberal Era,” Dawson Barrett, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Comment: David Gray, OSU-Tulsa
7c.  Missouri and Oklahoma Democrats: Rise and Fall
Chair: Jim Giglio, Drury University
Paper: “Magnolia State Moderates and the Second New Deal: Modernizing Mississippi Fifteen Years into Its Great Depression,” Michael Murphy, Mississippi State University
Paper: “All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go: The Rise and Fall of W.P. Atkinson’s 1962 Campaign for Governor in Oklahoma,” Stephanie Diaz, University of Central Oklahoma
Comment: Jim Giglio, Drury University
7d.  Slavery in the Territories: A Live or Dead Issue in 1859?
Chair: Mark Voss-Hubbard, Eastern Illinois University
Paper: “A Law that Would Make Caligula Blush: New Mexico Territory’s Unique Slave Code,” Mark Stegmaier, Cameron University
Paper: “Slavery and the Conundrum of Popular Sovereignty: The Issue of Race and Self-Government in New Mexico Territory,” Chris Childers, Crowder College
Paper: “Free Soil vs. Slavery, Ceredo, 1850s,” Scott Barton, East Central University
Comment: Mark Voss-Hubbard, Eastern Illinois University
Friday, Session 8: 3:00-4:45
8a.  State of the Research and the Question: Did the Confederacy Ever have a Chance?
Chair: Carl Moneyhon, University of Arkansas, Little Rock
Panel:  Fred Bailey, Abilene Christian University
Panel: Clayton Jewett, Baylor University
Panel: Stan Adamiak, University of Central Oklahoma
Panel: John Daley, Pittsburgh State University
8b.  Changing Perceptions of China and Korea
Chair: Donald Zelman, Tarleton State University
Paper: “The Evolution of Anti-Chinese Legislation in California,” Marcus Kent, University of Central Oklahoma
Paper: “The China Lobby and American Foreign Policy, 1946-1949,” Amanda Biles, University of Central Oklahoma
Paper:  “Spy War in Korea: American Intelligence Operations on the Korean Peninsula, 1993-1996,” Xiaobing Li, University of Central Oklahoma
Paper: “Spy War in Korea: DPRK Intelligence Operations on the Korean Peninsula, 1994,” C. David Heaverin, University of Central Oklahoma
Comment: Donald Zelman, Tarleton State University
8c. Where’s the Border South When You Need It? The Border States during the Sectional Conflict
Chair: Daniel Sutherland, University of Arkansas
Paper: “’Slaves, Servants, and Soldiers’: Uneven paths to Freedom in the Border States, 1861-1865,”Louis Gerteis, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Paper:  “Parties and Political Culture in the Border States from the 1850s to the Civil War,” Chris Olsen, Indiana State University
Paper:  “’The hire of my servants is a better business’: The Adaptability of Border State Slavery,” Diane Muti Burke, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Comment:  Daniel Sutherland, University of Arkansas
8d.   Early Native American History
Chair: Jeff Cooper, Oklahoma State University
Paper: “A Tale of Two Uprisings: The Lawne’s Creek Plot, Bacon’s Rebellion and the Power of Indian Hatred in Late Seventeenth-Century Virgina,” Ethan Schmidt, Texas Tech University
Paper: “Thralldom among the Children of the Middle Waters: European Contact and the Evolution of the Osage Slave Trade, 1650-1800,” Wes Mosier, Oklahoma State University
Comment: Robert Owens, Wichita State University

Banquet: Friday, 9/23, 6:00-7:30pm, Murray Hall Parlor
Speaker: Heather Cox Richardson, Boston College: “Republicans Then and Now: The Republican Party from Its Origins to the Present,” 7:30-8:30pm, Murray Hall 035

Saturday 9/24

Session 9:  9:00-10:45
9a. Slavery’s Completely Unsurprising Role
Chair: Mark M. Carroll, University of Missouri, Columbia
Paper:  “Southern vs. Western: Slavery’s Role in the establishment of Northwestern Texas,” Debbie Liles, University of North Texas
Paper: “Arkansas as Slavery’s Frontier,” Kelly Houston Jones, University of Arkansas
Paper: “The South’s Visible Hand: Plantations, Mill Villages, and the Control of Southern labor, 1855-1860,” Zach Daughtrey, Oklahoma State University
Comment: Fay A. Yarbrough, University of Oklahoma
9b. Public Education: Administration and History Instruction
Chair: Yongtao Du, Oklahoma State University
Paper: “State Superintendents: Beyond ‘One Hundred Years of Service’,” Russell Evans and Lynn M. Burlbaw, Texas A&M University
Paper: “University Students’ Perceptions of High School History Classes,” Molly McLeod Mirll, University of Central Oklahoma
Comment:  Virginia Bellows, Tulsa Community College
9c. Religion and the Founding Fathers
Chair: David Tait, Rogers State University
Paper: “Founding Fathers and Religion,” Matt McCook, Oklahoma Christian University
Paper: “The Faith of George Washington,” Paul Vickery, Oral Roberts University
Paper: “Title,” Alan Bearman, Washburn University
Comment:  Louise Breen, Kansas State University
9d. Explorations in Mexican Culture, Education, and Conservation
Chair: Michael Smith, Oklahoma State University
Paper:  Gary Moreno: “Wild West Performers and Mexican Migration to Oklahoma,” University of Oklahoma
Paper:  Elena Llinas, “Maria Felix in Rio Escondido: Ambassador of the State and Postrevolutionary Educational Reforms,” University of Oklahoma
Paper:  Matt Caire, “Conservando Corn: Mexicans’ Efforts to Conserve Maize, 1980-2008,” University of Oklahoma
Comment:  Michael Smith, Oklahoma State University