Disunity in diversity: the controversy over the admission of black women to the General Federation of Women's Clubs, 1900-1902

From 1900 to 1902, the General Federation of Women's Clubs' official commitment to "unity in diversity" was tested to the limits when an explosive debate over the admission of African American women's clubs deeply, and in some cases irreparably, divided individual clubs and state federations and nearly resulted in the loss of half of the organization's burgeoning membership. The controversy reveals a captivating, complicated, and at times bizarre struggle between Northern and Southern white members of the General Federation to defend their particular views of race and, in many cases, to obfuscate their own deep-seated racial prejudices. Most members ultimately sacrificed principle for the sake of federation unity, albeit a unity without racial diversity, and thus squandered the opportunity to combine the talents and energies of all organized women in an effort toward social justice and humanitarian reform.     

Reviews

Feldbæk, Ole, Slaget på Reden (The battle of Copenhagen), K0benhavn (1985), 282 pp., ill.

TVÅKAMMARRIKSDAGEN 1867–1970. Ledamöter och valkretsar. På riksdagens uppdrag utarbetad av Andreas Tjerneld. Band 2, Östergötlands, Jönköpings, Kro‐nobergs, Kalmars, Gotlands och Hallands län. (The bicameral parliament 1867–1970). Prepared by Andreas Tjerneld at the request of parliament. Volume 2. The provinces of Östergötland, Jönköping, Kronoberg, Kalmar, Gotland and Halland). Riksdagen och Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm (1985), 438 pp.

Martti Turtola Tornionjoelta Rajajoelle. Suomen ja Ruotsin salainen yhteistoiminta Neuvosto‐liiton hyökkäysen varalle vuosina 1923–1940. Puolustuspoliittinen vaihtoehto. (From the River Tornio to the Border River. The secret collaboration between Sweden and Finland against Soviet attack 1923–1940. A defence policy alternative) (Porvoo, 1948). 259 P#lb

Nissborg, Agnete, Danmark mellan Norden och väst (Denmark between the North and the West). (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Skrifter utgivna av Statsvetenskapliga föreningeni Uppsala, vol. 101, Uppsala 1985.) ISBN 91–554–1676–4. 147 pp. English summary.

The North Sea. A Highway of Economic and Cultural Exchange. Character — History, Edited by Arne Bang‐Andersen, Basil Greenhill, Egil Harald Grude, (Norwegian University Press, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1985). NOK 260, ISBN 82–00–072 67–3.     

Branded Axes,Thrown into a Pool? The Hoogeloon Hoard and the Shape‐Based Bronze Economy of the North‐West European Bronze Age

One of the biggest challenges for students of the European Bronze Age is to understand the reason behind the massive deposition of large amounts of recyclable metal in non‐metalliferous regions. Such depositions are particularly puzzling when material was buried in a manner which directly seems to denote trade itself, in so‐called ‘trade hoards’. Based on observations on a recent find of such a hoard, in Hoogeloon (NL), we move to an overview of Bronze Age metalwork economy in general and the deposition of trade stock in particular. We argue that Middle Bronze Age metalwork circulation in North‐west Europe may be understood as an aes formatum system, with the serially produced axes in hoards displaying a koiné having a particular social evaluation: a ‘brand’. We suggest that objects were selected by brands for their deposition in the landscape and that this ‘ritual’ act was integral to the ‘practical’ economy of circulation.     

The Magnetic Field Model Applied to Swedish Settlements

To study the reason for changes in the population of urban settlements and sparsely populated districts we need an approach on a regional geographic level that will combine various theoretical elements and which, taken together, will provide an interdisciplinary platform. The identity of a place is created by specific local factors as well as by social and economic processes occurring both in the place itself and in the urban system. We can use indications showing how local and regional urban systems function in order to ascertain why one urban settlement grows while another stagnates, why a sparsely populated district in one region flourishes while other districts languish. Using the decision-making point of view adopted by households and businesses will help us to achieve our aim.
The starting point of the model employed—called the magnetic field model—is the fact that an attraction field of positive factors forms in and around places with a growing population. The aim of this paper is to show that a regional geographic analysis can be made from a number of indicators of significance for the development of populations in urban settlements and sparsely populated districts. Naturally these indicators can—and should—be queried, added to and assessed when other, similar investigations are carried out.     

First results of metallographic analysis and absolute dating of iron finds from Nowe Brzesko,site 26, Proszowice District

This paper presents the results of analyses of metal artefacts discovered at a multiphase site in Nowe Brzesko, Małopolskie Voivodeship, Poland. Fieldwalking prospection led to the discovery of steely iron objects, ploughed out on the site among other numerous archeological finds. A prospecting sondage yielded more corroded metal artefacts, identified mainly as agricultural tools (e.g. sickles, scythes). These chronologically nondistinctive artefacts could be assigned to the third to fourth century AD using radiocarbon dating, complemented by metallurgical analysis. The results open up new research perspectives on the economy and society of the Przeworsk culture in the Late Roman period.     

Hiding to eat: the role of carnivores in the early Middle Pleistocene from the TD8 level of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca,Burgos, Spain)

Damage generated by large and small carnivores is common in many Middle Pleistocene sites. However, identifying the predator that produces the faunal accumulations is often a difficult task. In order to recognize the main type of carnivore that acts on a faunal assemblage, a combination of several characteristics should be taken into account: taxonomic and skeletal element representation, age profiles, carnivore damage (location, frequencies and dimensions of tooth-marks, bone breakage and digested bones), degree of fragmentation and frequencies of coprolites. But, adding environmental characteristics and the ethology of non-human predators/scavengers is also important. All these aspects are applied to the faunal assemblage from the TD8 level of the Gran Dolina site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Paleomagnetic data combined with ESR and U-series place the TD8 level at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, specifically circa 700 kyr ago. The TD8 level contains a large faunal accumulation primarily composed of ungulate skeletal elements, and to a lesser extent carnivore remains. This assemblage is characterized by an overrepresentation of fallow deer (Dama vallonetensis), a skeletal profile biased towards cranial remains and limb bones, diversity of ages at death, a high proportion of carnivore damage and tooth-marks of large size, and an absence of human activity. According to these data, the accumulation seems to have been produced primarily by large carnivores, possibly hyenas. This observation does not rule out the possible occasional activity by other carnivores. Nevertheless, the characteristics of the TD8 assemblage do not correlate entirely with those traditionally used to define carnivore dens. In TD8, there are (1) no immature carnivore remains (remains of just one young Mosbach wolf); (2) scarce traces related to the end stages of consumption and some anatomical connexions; (3) few coprolites; (4) high proportion of adult ungulates and; (5) high quantities of whole bones and epiphyses. From this perspective, the TD8 faunal assemblage seems to correspond to a succession of carnivore occupations that allows the development of a suite of features to identify the activities of several species of predators that may have used the cave in different ways and durations. This study aims to emphasize the importance of these analyzes in order to know the behaviour of different non-human predators/scavengers in the European Middle Pleistocene sites.     

Parsons on national socialism

Talcott Parsons On National Socialism, edited and with an introduction by Uta Gerhardt (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1993), vii + 375 pp., DM 88.00 cloth.