John Mark Rhea is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Oklahoma.  He received a bachelor's degree from Cameron University in 2001, and a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2004.  His master's thesis, “Farewell to My Beloved Ethiopia,’” examined Drusilla Dunjee-Houston as the voice of elite Oklahoma African American women during the decline and fall of racial uplift (1917-1933).  Currently Rhea is working on a dissertation that expands his thesis interest to encompass a much broader investigation of the social and cultural forces that influenced women historian's scholarship in the decade following 1865.  A Century of Discontent:  Women, Native Americans, and the History Profession, 1865-1965, will analyze the roles of post Civil War science, cultural shifts, gender politics, academic professionalism, and personal agency in shaping women's unique role in Native American historical scholarship.  Rhea has presented his research at various conferences, has authored several articles, and has contributed to larger published works.  Mr. Rhea was the 2007 recipient of the A. K. and Ethel T. Christian Research Fellowship.