Spring 2020 Volume XXVI
Jonathan Bennett
Editor
Cullen Moran
Assistant Editor
Dr. Alexander Macaulay
Faculty Advisor
Editor’s Introduction
The twenty-sixth volume of the Tuckasegee Valley Historical Review goes to publication during an unconventional and heartbreaking time in American history. Presently, the COVID-19 pandemic is altering life in ways unforeseen. As Americans and those around the world deal with this tragedy, life goes on. Despite online classes, closed dormitories, and an abrupt halt to the normalcy of campus life, the Tuck presses forward. We will leave future editors and authors to address the pandemic and do our due diligence in the moment to provide thought-provoking historical analysis through the words of Western Carolina University graduate students.
This volume includes an article that investigates the Caribbean economy during the glory days of piracy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and one that analyzes the Nonaggression Pact signed by the Soviet Union and Germany in the buildup to World War II. There is also an oral history study that looks at the role of work in the childhoods of Appalachian people. Book reviews include historical insights into politically conservative women, the federal government’s perpetuation of racial segregation, and the cultural significance of Sherman’s March to the Sea.
On a personal note, I’d like to thank Dr. Ferguson, Dr. McRae, Dr. Green, Dr. McGuire, and Dr. Swigger for not only your academic expertise but also your care and concern for my personal and professional success. Thanks to Dr. Clines, Dr. Szabo, and Dr. Aderinto for broadening my understanding of the larger world. Special thanks to Dr. Macaulay for responding to a phone call I made to him two years ago as I began looking for a new direction in life as well as his continual guidance for graduate students. Finally, thanks to my classmates, who challenged me to think in new ways and appreciate different perspectives. The discussions we shared in class will be the fondest memories of my graduate years. Blessings to you all.
Table of Contents
Keiling, Brook
Pirates and Plantations Exploring the Relationship between Caribbean Piracy and the Plantation Economy During the Early Modern Period
O’Dell, William
Friends of Necessity: The Effects of the 1939 German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
Martinez, Mary
Growing up Poor in Appalachia and the Rural South: Defining Attitudes Toward Work
Moran, Cullen
Review of This is Our Message: Women’s Leadership in the New Christian Right, by Emily S. Johnson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019)
Bennett, Jonathan
Review of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein (New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2017)