The argument is that masters had to make concessions to slaves, often offering them freedom to prevent them from attempting to run away, and that this colored the whole character of slavery.  Grivno is currently Associate Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi.

First Prize was awarded to Claire L. Yancey for her paper entitled, Miracles of the American Dream: A 1940s Holiday Film and its Broader Cultural Meanings.

Second Prize was awarded to Austin A. Dressen for his paper entitled, Fitting in: Men’s Clothing and Advertisements in Early 20th Century America.

The first prize award is $350, and the second prize award is $250.

For more information about the contest please visit the Rowberg Essay Prize, website page.

Both Claire’s and Austin’s papers will be archived at the Center for College History office.

Eric Becklin, a double major in History and Asian Studies, has been awarded a Fulbright for study and research in China for the 2012-13 academic year. Eric proposes to study archaeological artifacts left behind by the thirteenth-century Nestorian Christianity in Quanzhou, China, an important seaport in Southeast China. The Nestorian Church – more accurately but less commonly known as the Church of the East – first appeared in seventh-century China and had a significant presence in the Tang capital of Chang’an. While Tang Nestorianism originated among Persian Christian immigrants who came overland across Central Asia, the Nestorians in the Quanzhou appear to have been part of the maritime trade with Western Asia. Eric will examine the imagery of Nestorian artifacts to recreate a representation of the Quanzhou Nestorian community. He’ll catalog the exhibits at the Quanzhou Maritime Museum, collaborating with Xie Bizhen at Fujian Normal University. Although the Nestorian presence in Tang Chang’an is well studied, Eric’s work will further our knowledge of the later Nestorian presence in a maritime area during the era of Mongol rule.