Benjamin A. Railton's Blog, page 73

June 20, 2023: Beach Reads: Katharine Covino’s Books

[Thearrival of summer means a lot of good things, but high on the list for thisAmericanStudier is the chance to read for pleasure, preferably on a beachblanket with a view of the crashing surf. For this year’s annualBeach Reads series, I’ll highlight recent or forthcoming books bycolleagues and friends. Add your Beach Read ideas and nominations for acrowd-sourced weekend post that’ll always keep toes in the sand!]

Look, youngadults can’t boogie-board or suntan all summer long; they need great BeachReads too. So do their parents, their grandparents, their aunts and uncles, allthose who might be seeking to better understand and support the young adults intheir lives. Fortunately, my awesome FSU colleague KatharineCovino has co-written (with ElizabethEnglander and an illustrator) a series of perfect such books: TheInsanely Awesome Pandemic Playbook: A Humorous Mental Health Guide for Kids(2020); TheInsanely Awesome POST Pandemic Playbook: A Humorous Mental Health Guide forKids (2021); and their newest collaboration, YouGot a Phone! (Now Read This Book) (2022). Those books are such greatresources that they might make said young adult get off the beach blanket andhead out on further adventures—but that just means they’ll return to regale thebeach party with all the summertime fun details!

Next BeachReads tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Beach Reads you’d nominate?

June 19, 2023: Beach Reads: New to Liberty

[Thearrival of summer means a lot of good things, but high on the list for thisAmericanStudier is the chance to read for pleasure, preferably on a beachblanket with a view of the crashing surf. For this year’s annualBeach Reads series, I’ll highlight recent or forthcoming books bycolleagues and friends. Add your Beach Read ideas and nominations for acrowd-sourced weekend post that’ll always keep toes in the sand!]

It’spretty rare to find a creative writer who is genuinely equally adept at bothpoetry and fiction—not just at writing them, that is, but at producing stunningworks in both genres. Which makes it pretty cool that I’ve had the chance towork in the Fitchburg State University English Studies Department with two suchmultitalented writers: my past colleague Ian Williams, on whom more in a coupledays; and my current colleague DeMistyD. Bellinger. DeMisty’s first two poetry collections, RubbingElbows (2017) and PeculiarHeritage (2021), were quite different from each other, and alreadyreflected a writer and voice that could take readers on multilayered journeysacross history, culture, identity, and more. But her most recent book, herdebut novel New to Liberty(2022), represents another striking and significant step in this evolvingand inspiring career. You won’t better a better book to bring in your book bagthis summer, I promise!

Next BeachReads tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Beach Reads you’d nominate?

June 17-18, 2023: Women in War: Tanya Roth’s Guest Post

[June 12thmarks the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Women’sArmed Services Integration Act, an important step toward a moreinclusive America on multiple levels. So this week I’ve AmericanStudied thatAct and other histories of women in war, leading up to this Guest Post from oneof the best scholars of those histories and issues!]

[NB. Thisis a repeat of Tanya’s wonderful Guest Post from September 2021.]

Excerpt from HerCold War: Women in the U.S. Military, 1945-1980] by Tanya L. Roth

 

Chapter 2: The Real Miss America: Recruiting Womanpower 

 

Four years after the Women’s Armed Services Integration Actpassed, someone in recruiting decided that the first all-out campaign forwomanpower should take place with the 1952 Miss America pageant. It must haveseemed like the perfect pairing: the pageant highlighted the best youngAmerican women from around the nation, perfectly poised, beautiful, talented,and educated. Recruiters dreamed of signing just these types of young ladiesfor service in the armed forces. Military publicity officers secured apresence for servicewomen throughout the pageant, ensuring visibility wheneverpossible. The goal was simple: get Americans to associate servicewomen with theexcellent reputation Miss America contestants had at that time and to impart asense of glamour into Americans’ ideas of women in uniform...

From the beginning...concernsabout appearances framed woman power recruiting efforts. Recruiters followedthe philosophy that familiarity and femininity would be the most practical andeffective ways to entice women to military careers. Military service becameadvertised as an avenue by which women could become not just ideal Americanwomen, but respectable ladies. This approach helped make women’s serviceacceptable to Americans both inside and outside the armed forces. Ifmilitary service— especially in wartime—could transform boys into men, thenmilitary service could also turn girls into proper ladies. Women belonged innational defense in part because military and government officials saw them aspartners in service with men, doing things women did best and capitalizingon their identities as women to do so. In these regards, staging thewomen’s recruiting drive in conjunction with the 1952 Miss America pageantmade sense. The pageant was about thirty years old, and community servicewas— and still is—an important element of holding the title “MissAmerica.”  During World War II, the crowned Miss Americas all performedwar service activities such as visiting troops and selling war bonds, theirversion  of supporting national defense.5 Scholar Mary Anne Schofieldargues that  during wartime, such efforts “supported the propagandamachine that said  that femininity and war work went together.” In theprocess, the pageant itself solidified the image of Miss America as “the idealAmerican woman.” By 1952, if military leaders wanted a venue that wouldshowcase servicewomen as the very best of American womanhood and service,the Miss America pageant was the place to be.

[BeachReads series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other stories or histories you’d highlight?]

June 16, 2023: Women in War: Miyoko Hikiji

[June 12thmarks the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Women’sArmed Services Integration Act, an important step toward a moreinclusive America on multiple levels. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that Actand other histories of women in war, leading up to a Guest Post from one of thebest scholars of those histories and issues!]

On the book andauthor that can help bring our conversations about veterans into the 21stcentury.

There’s no doubtthat our narratives about veterans have evolved a lot in the last half-century(the post-Vietnam era, we could call it). Thanks to a number of topics aboutwhich I’ve written in this space—controversial activist efforts like VietnamVeterans Against the War, greater awareness of issueslike PTSD, the stories and voices of prominent social and cultural figureslike TimO’Brien and PatTillman—the very concept of a veteran now includes many more elements andangles than, I would argue, at any prior point in our history. But on the otherhand, it seems likely to me that there’s a certain identity that is still moststrongly associated with the concept—the identity of a white male, to put itbluntly—and that quite simply doesn’t align with the realities of our veterans.

As the longhistory of AfricanAmerican veterans or WilliamApess’s War of 1812 service remind us, that stereotypical image of veteranshas never been sufficient. On a more recent note, better remembering the serviceand tragic death of Danny Chen would help us broaden our naratives of 21stcentury veterans (Chen’s death means he did not serve in a war, but his storydemands inclusion in those narratives nevertheless). But alongside thoseimportant issues of race and ethnicity, shifting our images of contemporaryveterans to include gender and sexuality will be equally meaningful, andespecially salient in this 21st century moment that includes a movetoward women in combat roles, the repealof Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and other such evolutions. And I don’t know of abetter voice and book through which to better include and engage with thoseaspects of identity in our images of veterans than Miyoko Hikiji and her autobiographicaland activist book All ICould Be: My Story as a Woman Warrior in Iraq (2013).

Hikiji’s story,as an Asian American young woman from Iowa whose army service took her to theheart of the Iraq War, represents 21st century American life in anumber of distinct but interconnected ways, and she tells that story—along withmany stories of both her fellow soldiers and the Iraqis they encountered—withgrit, humor, and power. But to my mind, even more telling and significant havebeen her activisms and advocacies on the home front—on a numberof important issues, but especially her work to raise awareness of, anddemand responses to, the widespread presence of MilitarySexual Trauma (MST) among our armed forces and veterans. I’ve written agood deal in this space about histories and stories that unite veterans, and ofcourse MST is the opposite, an issue and history that not only reveal conflictswithin our military, but also have the potential to divide both our veterans’communities and our national perspectives on them. But as I arguedin my fourth book, ignoring such dark histories is neither possible noreffective—we must instead engage with them if we hope to move forward, andHikiji’s voice and work can most definitely help us do just that.

Guest Postthis weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other stories or histories you’d highlight?

June 15, 2023: Women in War: World War II

[June 12thmarks the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Women’sArmed Services Integration Act, an important step toward a moreinclusive America on multiple levels. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that Actand other histories of women in war, leading up to a Guest Post from one of thebest scholars of those histories and issues!]

On threegroundbreaking organizations that together helped turn the tide of history.

1)     The Women’s Army Corps(WAC): Without question the more than 150,000 women who served in the Women’sArmy Corps (which began as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corpsin 1942 and then was converted to the WAC a year later) were the single mostsignificant step toward the postwar Women’s Armed Services Integration Act.Many of these women were deployed to the European and Pacific theaters, servingin crucial roles in the war’s difficult final years. Moreover, this was a trulymulticultural community, including the all-African American 6888thCentral Postal Directory Battalion, the more than 200Puerto Rican women who served in the WAC, and the 50 Japaneseand Chinese American women recruited as translators. The WAC thus served asa powerful and influential argument for the integration of the armed forces interms of both gender and race.

2)     The MarineCorps Women’s Reserve (MCWR): The Army might have featured the war’s mostprominent roles for women, but the other branches of the armed forces likewise createdtheir own influential such communities. Created in 1943, the Marine Corps Women’sReserve was defined by some of the most inspiring women in American history,such as MinnieSpotted-Wolf, a Blackfoot woman from Montana who became the first NativeAmerican woman in the Marines when she enlisted. Or LucilleMcClarren, the stenographer whose March 1943 enlistment made her theorganization’s first private. Or RuthCheney Streeter, the clothing designer and mother of four who in January1943 was commissioned as major and made director of the MCWR for the durationof the war.

3)     The Women Airforce ServicePilots (WASPs): Even the women who served in more fully civilian roles didso in courageous and groundbreaking ways, as reflected by the more than 1000pilots who became the first women to fly American military aircraft. Organizedinto the Women’sAuxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and the Women’sFlying Training Detachment (WFTD), these skilled pilots helped move vital aircraftthroughout the United States; and in this still-early era of flight they did soat considerable risk, as 38WASPs died in accidents in the course of the war. Like all the women whoserved in World War 2, these pilots didn’t just help change the culture of theAmerican military; they contributed to ongoing changes in every layer ofAmerican society that would only accelerate in the postwar decades.

Last warwomen tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other stories or histories you’d highlight?

June 14, 2023: Women in War: The Civil War

[June12th marks the 75th anniversary of the passage of theWomen’s Armed Services Integration Act, an important step toward a more inclusiveAmerica on multiple levels. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that Act and otherhistories of women in war, leading up to a Guest Post from one of the bestscholars of those histories and issues!]

First andforemost, I highly recommend archivist and historian DeAnneBlanton’s three-part article “WomenSoldiers of the Civil War” from the National Archives’ Prologue Magazine. I’m not going to repeat everything that’s there,so will instead just highlight interesting AmericanStudies contexts for threeof the women about whom Blanton writes:

1)     FrancesClayton: As this University of Virginia SpecialCollections blog post on Clayton (sometimes spelled Clalin) indicates,there are significant ambiguities and uncertainties surrounding her Civil War service.But even if Clayton did not serve in the military and/or see combat as sheclaimed repeatedly throughout her postwar life, the justifiably famousphotograph of her in a U.S. Army uniform reflects an important element ofevery one of these figures and stories: their refusal to conform to gendernorms, in ways that in the 21st century might connect to identitieslike nonbinary or transgender. Women in war have always pushed the envelope onsuch conversations, and whatever the exact details of her experiences Claytonwas no exception.

2)     SarahEdmonds (Seelye): While some of the individual stories of Sarah Edmonds’Civil War action are likewise ambiguous, there’s less overall doubt that shewas partof the Union Army for many battles and campaigns, both in and out ofdisguise as a man. The difference depended in large part on whether she wasfulfilling her official role as a nurse or her more unofficial but certainlystill vital ones as spy, messenger, and the like. Those are of course quitedistinct, and most Civil War nurses did not, as far as any of us know,moonlight as secret agents (although obviously WaltWhitman did). But Edmonds nonetheless reminds us that countless women servedin the Civil War, and honestly that the line between combatant andnon-combatant was never as clear-cut as gender norms might make it seem.

3)     AlbertD.J. Cashier: Despite the uncertainties, both Clayton and Edmonds wererelatively well-known in their own lifetimes; the same cannot really be saidfor Albert D.J. Cashier, since he did not entirely exist. Or perhaps the exactopposite is true, since Irish immigrant JennieIrene Hodgers lived as Cashier and thus as a man for more than half acentury, long after their Civil War service and up until their 1915 death. Sincethat second life seems to have begun with that Civil War service, it’s possibleto see Cashier as profoundly representative of this complex community of CivilWar women soldiers; since it was so extended and secretive, it’s possible tosee Cashier as quite different from any of their peers. But however we seeCashier, they’re just one of these many compelling and important Americanstories and histories.

Next warwomen tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other stories or histories you’d highlight?

June 13, 2023: Women in War: Molly Pitcher

[June12th marks the 75th anniversary of the passage of theWomen’s Armed Services Integration Act, an important step toward a more inclusiveAmerica on multiple levels. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that Act and otherhistories of women in war, leading up to a Guest Post from one of the bestscholars of those histories and issues!]

On the iconicwar hero who might or might not have existed, and why she matters in any case.

I can think offew more AmericanStudies ways to analyze popular memory and prominence thanthrough theeleven rest stops on the New Jersey turnpike—and by that measure, Molly Pitcherand ClaraBarton are the two most famous women in New Jersey history and culture (ifthat last phrase isn’t an oxymoron—I kid, Jerseyites, I kid). Pitcher’s is alsothe only one of the eleven rest stop referents that wasn’t an actual name, andthat might not even link to an individual figure—some historians believe thatthe name does refer to one woman, Mary Ludwig Hays,who followed her husband and the Continental Army to the Battleof Monmouth and found herself not only serving water to the soldiers buteven takingover her wounded husband’s artillery job; but others have linked the nameto a number of other Revolutionary-era women who performed one or another ofthose roles (camp followers, water carriers, and so on), includingMargaret Corbin.

So Molly Pitcheris as much a folkloric as a historical figure, one not unlike Paul Bunyan, JohnHenry, or, perhaps more accurately, JohnnyAppleseed. Because like Appleseed’s inspiration John Chapman (about whomsee that hyperlinked, wonderful Guest Post by William Kerrigan), women like Haysand Corbin most definitely existed; the details of their lives and experiencesare as partial and uncertain as most any 18th century histories,even those of theRevolution’s most prominent leaders, but there’s plenty of information outthere, such as at the various stories linked in my first paragraph’s closingsentences, and the Molly Pitcher legend provides an excellent starting pointfor researching and learning about these historical figures. Even absent suchresearch, any collective memory of “Molly Pitcher” itself adds women to ournarratives of these Revolutionary war battles and histories, producing a morefull and accurate picture of those histories as a result.

I’d take thatargument one step further, however. I’ve written on multiple occasions,including in this poston Judith Sargent Murray and this oneon John and Abigail Adams, about the striking cultural, social, andpolitical voices and roles of Revolutionary-eraAmerican women (including not only Murray and Adams but also PhillisWheatley, AnnisBoudinot Stockton, and others). Indeed, it’s fair to say that such womenhelp us to see the era’s possibilities for gender and society as likewiserevolutionary, and as foreshadowing and influencing the19th century women’s movement. That some of these women,including Adams and Stockton, achieved such success in relationship to theirhusbands’ lives and work—just as, that is, Hays and Corbin did in relationshipto their husband’s wartime efforts—reflects some of the era’s limitations andobstacles; limitations and obstacles that all these women, like Molly Pitcher,pushed well beyond.

Next warwomen tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other stories or histories you’d highlight?

June 12, 2023: Women in War: The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act

[June12th marks the 75th anniversary of the passage of theWomen’s Armed Services Integration Act, an important step toward a more inclusiveAmerica on multiple levels. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that Act and otherhistories of women in war, leading up to a Guest Post from one of the bestscholars of those histories and issues!]

Threewomen who reflect the arguments for and effects of this transformativelegislation.

1)     MargaretChase Smith: As that hyperlinked Senate bio succinctly illustrates, therewere no shortage of significant moments and achievements in Margaret ChaseSmith’s groundbreaking political career. But I would certainly argue that her(initially) solesponsorship of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act has to be veryhigh on that list. As the ensuing Congressional debate (on which more in amoment) reflects, the idea of legally allowing women to become regular andpermanent members of the armed forces was quite controversial; while PresidentTruman could have taken the step with an Executive Order (as he crucially didwhen raciallyintegrating the armed forces), proposing it as a bill made it possible tohave that debate and still succeed in achieving this inclusive outcome. And wehave Margaret Chase Smith to thank for that!

2)     Mary Hallaren:As a Senator, Chase Smith could help argue for the Act, but of course could notalso serve as an expert witness on its behalf during those debates. Manymilitary men did importantly and inspiringly do so, including Truman’s Secretaryof Defense James Forrestal and Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley.But perhaps the most extended and certainly the most eloquent expert witnesswas MaryHallaren, Director of the WWIIWomen’s Army Corps (on whom more later this week) and as that firsthyperlinked bio quotes “one of the giants among military women” (despitestanding less than 5 feet tall). The Congressman questioning Hallaren, HouseArmed Services Committee Chairman Walter Andrews, was avocal opponent of the Act, and undoubtedly contributed to the long processbetween the February start of hearings and the June 12th passage. Butpass it did, and we have experts like Mary Hallaren to thank for that!

3)     FrancesLois Willoughby: That passage didn’t just immediately transform the U.S. militaryand the national community more broadly; it also transformed the careers andlives of countless American women. One of the first so affected with FrancesLois Willoughby, a pioneering physician who had volunteered for the Navy in1944 but been assigned only to the Naval Reserve due to her gender. She stayedin the military after the war, and in October 1948 was sworn in as the firstfemale doctor in the Navy; two years later she became the first woman to achievethe rank of commander. She would serve for another 14 years before her retirementin 1964, becoming a captain and continuing to influence the Navy, the medicalprofession, and the possibilities for women in both worlds as well as thenation overall. Just one inspiring figure who has the Armed ServicesIntegration Act to thank for her amazing career!

Next warwomen tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other stories or histories you’d highlight?

June 10-11, 2023: Environmental Activisms: The Climate Just Cities Project

[Thissummer, my older son is extending his priorefforts to help combat climate change by interning with the amazing ClimateJust Cities project. That project is part of the long legacy ofAmerican environmental activism, so this week I’ve highlighted a handful ofsuch activisms. Leading up to this special weekend post on Climate JustCities!]

On a fewlinks (beyond the interview hyperlinked above) that help frame the many layersof this vital 21st century initiative.

Professor Joan Fitzgerald:As that interview also reflects, the Project was started by Joan Fitzgerald, a Professor ofPublic Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University (and thesupervisor for my son’s internship). That first hyperlink leads to her profilewith the Scholars Strategy Network and its Boston Chapter (of which I’m aco-leader), a page that captures much of her writing and activism and alsoitself illustrates her commitment to truly public scholarship, research, andservice. That’s all at the core of the Project as well.

Greenprintfor a Climate Just City: That 2021 working paper embodies a great deal ofwhat the Project is working for and toward, and many of the practical andtangible initiatives through which it and all of us can achieve those goals.

Greenovation:Urban Leadership on Climate Change (2022): Like most of us trying to dopublic scholarly work, Fitzgerald is doing so through a wide variety of formsand media, including this recent Oxford University Press book which includesnot only her own research and analysis and arguments, but also “interviews withpractitioners and elected officials” among other resources.

TheBoston Climate Progress Report: While of course these issues and challengesface every American and every global community, it’s not a coincidence that theProject is located in Boston, a city that both facesclimate crisis with particular urgency and that features many individualsand communities (including thenew Mayor) at the forefront of the efforts to confront that crisis. I’mvery excited for my son to become more and more connected to those local andregional as well as scholarly and global efforts this summer!

Nextseries stars Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? American environmental voices or efforts you’d highlight?

June 9, 2023: Environmental Activisms: All of Us

[Thissummer, my older son is extending hisprior efforts to help combat climate change by interning with the amazing ClimateJust Cities project. That project is part of the long legacy of Americanenvironmental activism, so this week I’ll highlight a handful of suchactivisms. Leading up to a special weekend post on Climate Just Cities!]

On threeways we can all be environmental activists in 2023.

1)     Meat: As I wrote in thisThanksgiving post on the wonderful vegan meal delivery company PurpleCarrot, I’m not the proselytizing type of vegetarian, and I’m going to holdmyself to that same standard here. I won’t even quote at length from my youngerson’s amazing and entirely convincing persuasive essay (also mentioned in thatpost) on how the meatindustry contributes to the climate crisis. Instead, I’ll just say this: inthe last few years, vegetarian and vegan meat alternatives (as well as cheesesubstitutes and the like) have become so, so much tastier than they had been,as well as far more numerous and diverse. (Seriously—I couldn’t even stomachmost of them a few years back, and now my sons and I have so many favorites,like these FieldRoast plant-based sausages to name just one.) I’m not telling anyone whatto do, and I’m far from a purist or absolutist in my own diet or choices; butif every one of us made even a small effort to reduce our meat consumption, theeffects would be real and significant.

2)     Cars: Look, I know that hybrid and electricvehicles remain more expensive than their gas-guzzling counterparts; I believethe gap has been lessened in recent years, but it still exists, and reflectsthe complex roles that wealth and class play in movements like environmentalactivism and justice. But I also know that in my situation, as someone with asubstantial commute, the Prius I bought in 2021 had already paid for itself in gassavings within its first year, so I do believe that economics andenvironmentalism can and do go hand-in-hand when it comes to our transportationdecisions. And if a hybrid or electric vehicle isn’t feasible, it seems to methat far more of us (and I’m certainly including myself in this mix) could do amuch better job with carpooling, taking public transportation, and otherwiseworking to reduce what is without question thebiggest carbon footprint in most of our daily lives.

3)     Pressure: I can already hear a clear andunderstandable response to those first two items: “No matter what individualactions I take, they will always be dwarfed by the role that governments haveto play in producing real change.” I don’t think it’s either/or, and indeedwould argue that any perspective which minimizes what each individual can andshould do reflects alevel of cynicism that I find not only counter-productive but ultimatelyhugely damaging for our collective future. But at the same time, yes, farbigger actions have to be taken if we are to really start to confront andrespond to thedefining crisis of all our lifetimes. Can we use our voices and pressure toinfluence those bigger actions and the governments and other global entitiesthat need to take them? In response, and to close this post and series, I’llquote Don Henley’s “Inside Job”: “Insect politics/Indifferent universe/Bangyour head against the wall/But apathy is worse.”

Specialpost this weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? American environmental voices or efforts you’d highlight?