The fall of the Roman Republic was not caused by a singular event but was instead the culmination of decades of political strife and polarization. The beginning of the end of the Republic however can be attributed in part to the unusual and unprecedented career of one man, Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 -78 BCE). Sulla by all indications was not a man destined for greatness. He was born into a disgraced aristocratic family and for much of his early life was impoverished. Despite the accomplishments of his military service, many in Rome considered him an outsider unfit for advancement. This feeling of Sulla’s inferiority by the sitting aristocracy, however, came to an end starting in the year 83 B.C.E when for the first time in the republic's history a Roman general took up arms against his own countrymen. The bloodshed of the war–although great–was not the only shadow Sulla cast upon Rome and its people. His subsequent dictatorship saw sweeping legislative changes, political purges, and the rise of some of the Republic's most influential future players.

On May 9, 1986, John B. Valentine paid homage to his friend Terry Lee “Teddy” Langley in The Calendar, a queer community newsletter in San Antonio. Teddy died on April 28, 1986 from pneumonia due to complications with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Valentine stated, “I remember his courage and anger when he wrote his columns in his paper about the indignity he had suffered as a Person With AIDS.” A vibrant Queer community existed in San Antonio as early as the 1930s. However, by the 1980s, the Queer social climate changed with the rise of the AIDS epidemic and increased institutionalized discrimination against Queer individuals. While scholarship on these experiences within Queer communities in the United States has increasingly grown since the 1980s, limited scholarship exists on Texas and San Antonio particularly as a Queer hub. This gap is addressed in the following question. How were Queer individuals in San Antonio Texas able to create a community with the rise of the AIDS epidemic and increased institutionalized discrimination? Thus, utilizing various archival manuscript collections, this presentation will provide an overview of the under-researched story of San Antonio's Queer Community from the 1980s to the 2000s in order to demonstrate how the advent of the AIDS epidemic and continued discrimination affected Queer individuals as they built their own community.

Between the start of colonial rule and abolition, the British government and plantocracy in Jamaica enslaved hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in conditions that may have killed just as many. However the slave society only reached the height of its power after making peace with its ‘intestine enemies’ the Jamaican Maroons, who nearly destroyed it numerous times. From the 17th to the early 19th century, the Windward and Leeward Maroon communities of Jamaica repelled British invasions and raided and destroyed plantations, forcing the colonial government to make two separate peace treaties with them in 1739 and a land deal in 1740. The communities were led by a brother and sister, the legendary Granny Nanny of the Windwards and Captain Kojo of the Leewards. My research uses comparative historical methods in which I survey and compare secondary literature on this topic to examine and contrast the forms of organizational resistance the Leeward and Windward Maroon polities engaged in during the First Maroon War. While I have identified contrasts in organizational resistance between Windward and Leeward Maroons, both formed part of Jamaica’s counter-plantation society during the First Maroon War. Further research might look into how, after the treaties, the two polities, ‘unrecognized’ Maroons, and emancipated slaves in the 19th century, formed counter-plantation spaces. I would also like to see if there is a connection between counter-plantation spaces and current resistance to neo-liberalism in modern day Jamaica.

The purpose of this research is to look at religious groups, specifically the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), and how they use different forms of media to preach about women's roles in sexual relationships and life while, in actuality, not following those set rules. This research will be used to bring attention to the issues of body politics and purity culture that groups like the IBLP share online. To conduct this research, different sources were utilized. These sources ranged from academic articles to blog posts from the leading figures being studied. Within this work, many vital primary sources were found on websites owned by the IBLP which allowed me to understand their public image. My work also used the documentary “Shiny Happy People” (2023) and Jill Duggar’s memoir “Counting the Cost” showing the other side of the IBLP not commonly known by outsiders. With these sources as a backbone, a timeline could be developed regarding the case study. After reviewing primary sources relevant to the case study and gathering information about the public opinion of those not in the IBLP, we were able to see patterns or trends. The results show the inaccuracy of the rules set forth by the groups. They showed the hypocritical standard set between men and women who participate in the ministries with strict guidelines.