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Hills of Hope: Eula Hall, Florence Reece, and the Gendered Roots of Appalachian Activism
This paper examines the underrepresented narratives of Appalachian women activists in the early to mid-twentieth century, focusing on the microhistories of Eula Hall and Florence Reece. It argues that Appalachian women became effective agents of change not despite their gender, but because of it. Their experiences as wives, mothers, and female community members directly influenced their activism. Through a feminist Appalachian studies framework, this research demonstrates how personal experiences with poverty, violence, and inequality motivated these women to create significant social change, both within their communities and around the world. This research contributes to evolving historiography that amplifies Appalachian women’s voices without romanticizing their struggles, demonstrating how world-altering activism often begins in traditionally female spaces where women have performed unrecognized labor for generations.
Between Bed and Battlefield: Judith Carter Henry and the Battle of First Manassas
Using a microhistorical approach to explore the life, death and legacy of Judith Carter Henry, the first civilian casualty of the Civil War, this paper seeks to unify and illuminate broader trends that contribute to our understanding of Civil War-era historiography. Drawing from family papers, battlefield narratives, and public memory, it argues that Henry’s fascinating story reveals key intersections between gender, class decline, domestic space, and Civil War memory. As a descendant of the powerful Carter dynasty, Henry’s reduced circumstances reflect the gradual erosion of much of the South’s elite planter class. Her violent death within her own home shows the war’s ability to intrude into the private sphere and effect even the most sheltered individuals. Additionally, the many ways in which her memory has been imagined and contested show how Southern women were often mythologized and made to be symbols.