Fighting for workers: a history of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1955-2012. This project provides the first book-length history of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the largest union federation in the United States. It will focus on the central theme of declining union membership and will innovatively place the AFL-CIO's problems in an international context.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100775
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$338,512.00
Summary
Secularism in nineteenth-century America: a history. This project brings to light a popular movement in nineteenth-century America which sought to separate Church and State. The project thus offers a crucial historical context to modern debates about the role of religion in public life and whether or not the United States is a Christian nation.
Year of the riot: Harlem, 1935. Using a website to reconstruct Harlem and map the events of the 1935 riot, this project reveals the dynamics of the first instance of a new kind of racial violence-against police and property rather than between blacks and whites-and the impact of the Depression on African Americans.
Black America and the Korean War: Race, War, and Desegregation. This project aims to provide the first detailed analysis of African Americans in the Korean War. In so doing it will generate new knowledge on the Korean War, the African American military experience, the Black struggle for civil rights, and the complex relationship between race and US foreign policy. Along with a deeper understanding of a conflict that has been overshadowed in popular memory by World War 2 and the Vietnam War, but ....Black America and the Korean War: Race, War, and Desegregation. This project aims to provide the first detailed analysis of African Americans in the Korean War. In so doing it will generate new knowledge on the Korean War, the African American military experience, the Black struggle for civil rights, and the complex relationship between race and US foreign policy. Along with a deeper understanding of a conflict that has been overshadowed in popular memory by World War 2 and the Vietnam War, but which remains a source of international tension, expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the intersection between the African American military experience and US international power. These outcomes will be disseminated via a scholarly monograph, journal articles, and a popular, non-scholarly book. Read moreRead less
War stories and the meaning of the American Revolution. This project aims to understand the role of memory and war in nation-making, particularly in the founding of the United States. The American Revolution defined the American nation. The common view of it is dominated by images of patriotic citizens rising up together against the yoke of British tyranny to establish a democracy. However, it was also a protracted, divisive and bloody War for Independence and many contemporaries called it a civ ....War stories and the meaning of the American Revolution. This project aims to understand the role of memory and war in nation-making, particularly in the founding of the United States. The American Revolution defined the American nation. The common view of it is dominated by images of patriotic citizens rising up together against the yoke of British tyranny to establish a democracy. However, it was also a protracted, divisive and bloody War for Independence and many contemporaries called it a civil war. This project will examine the neglected memoirs of ordinary Americans in the early republic. Understanding how participants made sense of this conflict can show how war, memory and history create nations and sustain and enrich citizenship in democracies.Read moreRead less
Rationality and modernity: a history of fortune telling in modern America. This project will produce the first scholarly history of commercial fortune telling in modern America, told from the point of view of customers as well as practitioners. The history of the persistence of the trade in prophecy well into the twentieth century will shed new light on the relationship of rationality and modernity in United States history.
America's Other Automakers: A History of Transplant Car Makers in the U.S. This project will provide the first book-length history of foreign-owned car manufacturing in the US. The first foreign-owned car factory was established by Volkswagen in 1976, and by 2009 these transplant factories employed 78,000 people, turning out 25 percent of all cars made in the U.S. Taking an historical approach, the project will explore the central question of why these factories have thrived at a time when Ford, ....America's Other Automakers: A History of Transplant Car Makers in the U.S. This project will provide the first book-length history of foreign-owned car manufacturing in the US. The first foreign-owned car factory was established by Volkswagen in 1976, and by 2009 these transplant factories employed 78,000 people, turning out 25 percent of all cars made in the U.S. Taking an historical approach, the project will explore the central question of why these factories have thrived at a time when Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler have steadily laid off workers. An original examination of a topic that has received little academic attention, this project will provide insights into capital mobility in this key industry, offering lessons for Australia and other high-wage labour markets.Read moreRead less
The revolution in Black American life: memory and history in the making of African America. The American Revolution has shaped the United States and the world in which we now live in profound ways. Understanding how that event has been remembered, commemorated and invoked by successive generations of African-Americans is critical in comprehending the role of memory and history in the business of nation-making, citizenship and democracy.
Child Soldiers: Militarism and American Youth. Today, the term 'child soldier' evokes images of youths brutally coerced into fighting wars in the developing world. Yet until recently, children aged seven to seventeen made up a significant portion of the American military. Masses of children also joined organisations or schools structured along military lines. This project is expected to provide the first examination of the relationship between childhood and militarism across United States histor ....Child Soldiers: Militarism and American Youth. Today, the term 'child soldier' evokes images of youths brutally coerced into fighting wars in the developing world. Yet until recently, children aged seven to seventeen made up a significant portion of the American military. Masses of children also joined organisations or schools structured along military lines. This project is expected to provide the first examination of the relationship between childhood and militarism across United States history. Exploring debates over the militarisation of childhood, as well as the experiences of child soldiers themselves, it aims to reveal how changing understandings of childhood intersected with evolving attitudes toward America as a military nation.Read moreRead less
Black Americans and the Pacific War: African-American encounters with the South Pacific, 1941-1945. This project explores African Americans' experiences in the Pacific War. By placing Black Americans' experiences in a racially segregated military culture in the context of European colonisation of the Pacific, it will cast new light on issues of racial and national identity in a region of continuing significance to the United States and Australia.