African American Studies Commons^™

Becoming Belafonte: Black Artist, Public Radical, Judith Smith

Judith E. Smith

A son of poor Jamaican immigrants who grew up in Depression-era Harlem, Harry Belafonte became the first black performer to gain artistic control over the representation of African Americans in commercial television and film. Forging connections with an astonishing array of consequential players on the American scene in the decades following World War II—from Paul Robeson to Ed Sullivan, John Kennedy to Stokely Carmichael—Belafonte established his place in American culture as a hugely popular singer, matinee idol, internationalist, and champion of civil rights, black pride, and black power.

In Becoming Belafonte, Judith E. Smith presents the first full-length interpretive …

Slaves To Contradictions: 13 Myths That Sustained Slavery, Wilson Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

People have a fundamental need to think of themselves as “good people.” To achieve this we tell each other stories – we create myths – about ourselves and our society. These myths may be true or they may be false. The more discordant a myth is with reality, the more difficult it is to convince people to embrace it. In such cases to sustain the illusion of truth it may be necessary to develop an entire mythology – an integrated web of mutually supporting stories. This paper explores the system of myths that sustained the institution of slavery in the …

A People's History Of Baseball, Mitchell J. Nathanson

Mitchell J Nathanson

Baseball is much more than the national pastime. It has become an emblem of America itself. From its initial popularity in the mid-nineteenth century, the game has reflected national values and beliefs and promoted what it means to be an American. Stories abound that illustrate baseball's significance in eradicating racial barriers, bringing neighborhoods together, building civic pride, and creating on the field of play an instructive civics lesson for immigrants on the national character. In A People's History of Baseball, Mitchell Nathanson probes the less well-known but no less meaningful other side of baseball: episodes not involving equality, patriotism, heroism, …

Actions Speak Louder Than Words - Nixon's Effect On School Desegregation, Demetri L. Morgan

Demetri L. Morgan, Ph.D.

A review of Preisdent Richard Nixon’s deeds rather than his rhetoric or policy stances, illuminates a previously under investigated reality that Nixon’s education civil rights record has been the most progressive and beneficial for the education of students of color to date. How can this be? As this presentation will outline, Nixon’s rhetoric and stances on education were symbolic measures to appease both the ‘silent majority’ and conservative southern democrats, which Nixon identified as vital to his election aspirations in the 1968 presidential campaign. This political ploy eventually collided with Nixon’s efforts to acquiesce to his campaign mantra and governing …

A Law Unto Themselves: Historical Consequences And Cultural Realities From The Neglect Of Africana Studies In Policymaking Processes, Seneca Vaught

Seneca Vaught

No abstract provided.

Haiti's Condemnation: History And Culture At The Crossroads, Marc E. Prou

Marc E. Prou

As Haiti emerges from its recent bicentennial, the persistent underdevelopment combined with the absence of independent social and judicial institutions denote an increase in the level of repression and social division. Such social divergence has been intensified since the overthrow of (Baby Doc) Duvalier in 1986, and subsequent political turmoil throughout the 1990's and beyond. Thus, political instability, violent overthrows, successive coups and countercoups, persistent poverty, the state against the nation, all constitute the trademarks of this economically collapsed but cultural rich Caribbean island. Interestingly, individual Haitians are relatively successful peple abroad. Thus the question then becomes: what explanations do …

Review Of Only One Place Of Redress: African Americans, Labor Regulations, And The Courts From Reconstruction To The New Deal, Brian D. Behnken

Brian D. Behnken

In Only One Place of Redress, David Bernstein contends that between 1890 and 1937 American courts aided black workers in labor disputes. The court did this by upholding the freedom of contract doctrine enshrined in Lochner v. New York, the 1905 case that invalidated legislation limiting the hours a baker could work. "Lochnerism" or "Lochnerian jurisprudence," as Bernstein calls it, benefited blacks by voiding discriminatory labor laws, and he illuminates how these labor regulations harmed African Americans. "The Supreme Court," he writes, "was relatively sympathetic to plaintiffs who challenged government regulations, especially occupational regulations, as violations of the implicit constitutional …

Review Of A Stone Of Hope: Prophetic Religion And The Death Of Jim Crow By David L. Chappell, Brian D. Behnken

Brian D. Behnken

In this provocative new book, David Chappell examines the role of religion and religious thought in the Civil Rights movement. By focusing on the intellectual and religious underpinnings of both the activists and their segregationist rivals, he makes a persuasive argument that the struggle should best be understood as a prophetic religious movement, rather than as a social movement or as the triumph of a liberal consensus. Scrutinizing religion allows Chappell to shift the historiographical debate away from protests and violence to the role of ideas, principles, and faith.

The Little Rock Crisis And Foreign Affairs: Race, Resistance, And The Image Of American Democracy, Mary L. Dudziak

Mary L. Dudziak

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce a school desegregation order at Central High School in the fall of 1957, more than racial equality was at issue. The image of American democracy was at stake. The Little Rock crisis played out on a world stage, as news media around the world covered the crisis. During the weeks of impasse leading up to Eisenhower's dramatic intervention, foreign critics questioned how the United States could argue that its democratic system of government was a model for others to follow when racial segregation was tolerated in …

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …