Two Counties in Crisis offers a rare opportunity to observe how local political cultures are transformed by state and national events. Utilizing an interdisciplinary fusion of history and political science, Robert J. Dillard analyzes two disparate Texas counties—traditionalist Harrison County and individualist Collin County—and examines four Reconstruction governors (Hamilton, Throckmorton, Pease, Davis) to aid the narrative and provide additional cultural context. Commercially prosperous and built on slave labor in the mold of Deep South plantation culture, East Texas’s Harrison County strongly supported secession in 1861. West Texas’s Collin County, characterized by individual and family farms with a limited slave population, favored the Union. During Reconstruction, Collin County became increasingly conservative and eventually bore a great resemblance to Harrison County. By 1876 and the ratification of the regressive Texas Constitution, Collin County had become firmly resistant to all aspects of Reconstruction.

During World War II the United States mobilized its industrial assets to become the great “Arsenal of Democracy” through the cooperation of the government and private firms. The Dallas Story examines a specific aviation factory, operated by the North American Aviation (NAA) company in Dallas, Texas. Terrance Furgerson explores the construction and opening of the factory, its operation, its relations with the local community, and the closure of the facility at the end of the war. Prior to the opening of the factory in 1941, the city of Dallas had practically no existing industrial base. Despite this deficiency, the residents quickly learned the craft of manufacturing airplanes, and by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack the NAA factory was mass-producing the AT-6 trainer aircraft. The entry of the United States into the war brought about an enlargement of the NAA factory, and the facility began production of the B-24 Liberator bomber and the famed P-51 Mustang fighter. By the end of the war the Texas division of NAA had manufactured nearly 19,000 airplanes, making it one of the most prolific U.S. factories.

Interview with Marilyn Gibson Calhoun, a UNT graduate from Dallas, Texas. Calhoun discusses her education, family, involvement with the civil rights movement, support and community groups that formed among African-American students that were experiencing discrimination at North Texas State, her teaching career, family, going through breast cancer, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Remembering Black Dallas group.

Interview with Birdie Meyer, a registered nurse with a master's in counseling from Speedway, Indiana. Meyer discusses education, experience working as a nurse, learning about maternal mental health issues through Postpartum Support International and Depression After Delivery, working closely with PSI, Wade Bowen fundraising for the organization, training and programs, impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, inclusivity, and resources in the field of maternal mental health.

Interview with Noel Lisboa, a Filipino personal trainer from Plano, Texas. Lisboa discusses growing up in the Philippines, Catholic education there, Filipino cuisine, family traditions and holidays, experiences with a political uprising, immigrating to the United States, food, life, and holidays in the United States compared to the Philippines, gang activity in the U.S., the fitness industry, and his community.

Interview with Laurence Kruckman, an anthropologist who specializes in mental health and epidemiology from South Venice, Florida. Kruckman discusses education, learning about postpartum illness and starting self-help groups with friends, spreading awareness, the DSM, Dar a Luz, becoming involved in leadership at PSI, and evolution of the support system in the U.S. for new mothers over time.

Interview with Pec Indman, a mother and advocate for women's mental health from Cozumel, Mexico. Indman discusses working in a women's clinic, her education, raising awareness about postpartum depression, becoming co-author to a book, PSI, teaching and creating curriculum, transgender perinatal issues, and change over time.

Interview with Jeanne Watson Driscoll, a clinical nurse scientist from Boston, Massachusetts. Driscoll discusses her experience with obsessive thought disorder during her pregnancies, Carol Dix's book about postpartum depression, helping women with breastfeeding, becoming active in postpartum support organizations, PSI, the NURSE plan, DAD, and speaking on maternal mental health.

This guest recital was performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.

Symphony Orchestra concert performed at the UNT College of Music Winspear Hall.