“Let the American potter be a professional amateur" Laura Anne Fry and the American art pottery movement

"Artist Laura Anne Fry blended the concepts of professional and amateur, and helped raise the merit of ceramics in the United States. Fry influenced American art pottery with her contributions to Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati—changing the course of the company. Her successful experiments with decorating techniques helped Rookwood become a national leader in art pottery, and eventually led to over a decade of controversy between Fry and Rookwood"

The African-American Islamic Renaissance and the Rise of the Nation of Islam

This dissertation examines African-American Islamic culture from 1920 through 1959, a period I label the "African-American Islamic Renaissance" (AAIR). The AAIR is characterized by a significant increase in interest in Islam, extreme diversity in views about Islam, and the absence of a single organization dominating African-American Islamic culture for a significant amount of time. Previous works dealing with African-American Islam in this period have failed to fully recognize these features, particularly the last of these. As a result, explanations for the rise of the Nation of Islam (NOI) have not satisfactorily explained why it was only the NOI--and not other Islamic groups that were more popular than the NOI up until the mid-1950s--that became a "mass movement," gaining the allegiance of tens of thousands of African Americans. There has been some tendency, for instance, to assume that the NOI was the most popular African-American Islamic group by the early 1950s, a notion that is probably an inference drawn from two other popular but inaccurate assumptions: that the NOI's rise was due primarily to its radical racialized doctrines and its charismatic leaders, particularly Malcolm X, who became a popular minister for the group in the early 1950s. I argue, however, that the NOI was in fact not the most popular African-American Islamic group until at least 1955, and even as late as 1959 its official membership numbers were not particularly large by AAIR standards. Also, its doctrines were not especially unique in the AAIR, nor was its having extremely charismatic leaders. I contend that the success of the NOI in the mid-to-late 1950s was the result of three levels of changes at the time: internal, external in the AAIR community, and external in the broader U.S, culture.

Save the Planet - Buy Organic: The Role of Consumers in the Sustainable Agricultural Movement

The severity of the environmental situation in agriculture is described. Progress made so far is then listed and critiqued. Misconceptions that sustainable agriculture cannot produce as much food as industrial agriculture, as well as the false impression that sustainably-produced foods must cost more are discussed. In conclusion, the only force strong enough to convince farmers to switch to sustainable practices is the consumer. Advertisements and educational campaigns will inform consumers about industrial agriculture. The shift in demand for sustainable goods will eventually cause prices to fall, allowing more consumers to purchase these formally expensive goods. This process will make a sustainable agricultural revolution possible and profitable.