Published on March 28, 2018 by Sean Flynt  
Colonial Dames 2018
History Department students, faculty and staff at the awards luncheon

Eleven Samford University history students earned $5,200 in awards for essays submitted to the 2018 American Independence Awards, sponsored by the Alabama Society of The National Society of Colonial Dames in America (NSCDA). The awards were presented at a luncheon held at Mountain Brook Club in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 22, 2018.

 The 2018 honors included:

1st Place       Keely Smith
Justice in the Hills: How the Dedham/Natick Land Controversy Reconciled Indian and Colonial Understandings of Property Ownership

2nd Place       Margaret Schultz
Good Fetch’d Out of Evil: A Comparison of Indian Captivity Narratives

3rd Place       Sam Bartz
Colonel John Trumbull: Artist of America’s Legacy

4th Place       Holly Vlach
De Rerum Natura: What Human Nature Dictates about Government – Cicero, Madison, and Hamilton

Other Recognitions

Jessica Brewer–Written Out of the Shadows:  Injustice and the Forgotten Legacy of Chickasaw Removal   

Lauren Canada–Revolutionary Women in the Revolutionary War: The Ladies Association of Philadelphia 

Sean Coffindaffer–Executors and Judges: Debates over Articles I and III of the United State Constitution

Clayton Jones–Exceptionalism in Early America: How One Idea Remained Central to American Intellect and Identity from the Puritans to the Declaration of Independence    

Jared Skinner–American Colonial History: The Puritan Gaze and American Development   

Jake Williams–An Analysis of Garcilaso de la Vega’s La Florida del Inca      

Jenna Barnes–A Historical and Architectural Analysis of Homes Preserved by the NSCDA

The society will dedicate Volume 62 of the Samford students’ winning essays to Mary Lee White Sullivan (Mrs. Charles James Sullivan). The volume will be placed in the Special Collection department of Samford’s University Library.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.