"An Investigation into the Rise of Piracy in the Later Roman Republic"

Alex Samansky

This paper examines the Roman Republic’s efforts to maintain control over “Mare Nostrum” (“Our Sea”), the modern Mediterranean Sea. Specifically, it delves into the period ranging from 167 – 67 B.C. During this time, increased pirate activity challenged Roman dominance of “Their Sea.” By analyzing primary sources of ancient authors as well as modern scholarly literature, it is evident that the Romans had trouble containing this intrastate threat. Over the course of the paper, the reasons for the rise in piracy during the period are described: the Roman punishment of Rhodes in 167 BC, the Roman failures to decisively defeat the pirates in battle, and the generally flippant attitude the Romans showed toward the pirates until they endangered the city of Rome itself. All of these factors led to the passage of the lex Gabinia (“Gabinian Law”) in 67 BC, giving Pompey the Great broad authority to deal with the pirate menace facing the republic. This work challenges the idea of continuous Roman domination of the Mediterranean Sea, highlighting the difficulties the Romans faced while trying to combat a group of non-state actors within the borders of their empire.

"The Ku Klux Klan and Hoosier Education"

Thomas Lister

This paper examines the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) to initiate educational reform in Indiana during the 1920s, revealing their significant influence not just as a terror group but as a political force shaping public education. By aligning with the broader societal goals of educational reform, the Klan aimed to combat Catholic influence, promote Protestant doctrine, and enforce Americanization through public schooling. Utilizing public platforms, legislative power, and intimidation tactics, the Klan pursued a dual agenda: undermining Catholic education while positioning itself as a proponent of free public education and American values. This included efforts to incorporate Protestant Bibles in schools, regulate teaching materials, and even attempt to purchase a university to further their educational and ideological goals. The paper highlights the Klan's strategic use of education reform to legitimize their presence in the political and social fabric of Indiana, effectively blending their xenophobic and supremacist ideals with populist educational initiatives.

"The House of Bondage: Slavery, Methodism, and Black Womanhood in the South, 1850-1890"

Rachel Bayler

This thesis critically examines The House of Bondage by Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert (1854-1889), a collection of interviews with formerly enslaved people collected between 1879-1888 in Louisiana by Octavia, a formerly enslaved African American minister’s wife, and published posthumously in 1890 in the Southwestern Christian Advocate one year after her death. 

Through this collection of compiled interviews and social commentary, Octavia Albert sought to denounce slavery, elucidate its residual effects on African Americans in post-Reconstruction Louisiana, and present Methodism, education, and morality as the pathways toward African American advancement in the face of looming segregationist legislation in the latter decades of the nineteenth century. Using The House of Bondage as its focal point, this project is a biographical, social, and religious history of Octavia Albert as a representation of middle-class African American women’s participation in racial uplift movements in 1870s through 1890s. 

Critical analysis of primary sources like The House of Bondage allows historians to assess the ways in which contexts of creation and publication as well as individual experience, preference, and perspective can shape the texts used to interpret histories of race, religion, and gender in nineteenth century United States.