Browsing by Author "Williamson, Frances"

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    Contested Symbols: Vichy France and the Legacy of the French Revolution
    (Rice University, 2019) Satterfield, Emma; Williamson, Frances
    This paper examines how Vichy, the authoritarian government in France throughout most of the Second World War, reckoned with the legacy of the French Revolution. I investigate this relationship through the regime’s treatment of four revolutionary symbols: the figure Marianne, the anthem “La Marseillaise,” the national holiday of Bastille Day, and the slogan of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Because these symbols were deeply embedded in French social and political life, I argue that Vichy could neither fully reject nor embrace them; instead, it pursued a middle ground by twisting the symbols’ meanings and introducing alternatives in line with the traditionalism and ethnocentrism of its National Revolution. In doing so, Vichy attempted to replace the French Republic and the revolutionary values that it stood for with its own vision of the French past, present, and future.
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    Race, Labor, and Class in Interwar New York
    (Rice University, 2018) Ratnoff, David; Williamson, Frances
    Black urban politics in New York City blossomed as black migrants found employment in the industrial North during the Great Migration. Publishing its first issue in 1917, the black radical newspaper the Messenger, sought to raise race and-class consciousness among its readership. Heralding the “New Negro,” the Messenger promoted Socialist politics and encouraged trade unionism. An important interlocutor with other black periodicals, the Messenger argued that racial advancement was predicated on class consciousness and labor organization. Yet the Messenger’s short lifespan reflected the limits of Socialist politics as a vehicle for black political mobilization.