African American Studies Commons^™

Empowered Presence: Theorizing An Afrocentric Performance Of Leadership By African American Women, Sharon Wamble-King

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

There is a paucity of theorizing concerning leadership enactments performed by African American women. The performances have been marginalized and obscured within the Western leadership canon as they fall outside its epistemological boundaries; they have also been sidelined within Critical Leadership Studies. This study employed Afrocentricity as a decolonizing paradigm and Africology as the research methodology to describe and define a leadership phenomenon enacted by African American women. Setting aside Western conceptions of leadership, focus groups of African American women examined video excerpts of Africana women’s oral performances through an Africological lens. Participants’ Afrocentric-oriented perceptions sparked collective storytelling and Meaning-Making …

Historical Sisters: Black Feminist Actions Across History And Literary Studies, Jazz A. Milligan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis seeks to understand how the actions of Black women from the past have inspired the modern Black female literary movement. This thesis focuses on three historical women: Phillis Wheatley, Elizabeth Freeman, and Cathay Williams, and their literary sisters: bell hooks, Barbara Smith, and Patricia Hill Collins. By viewing the lives of these historical women through a modern-day lens, we can understand how their actions created a ripple effect that Black women are still discussing today. Black feminism did not start in a vacuum, and the actions of everyday Black women have pushed us forward to being more accepting …

African American Women’S Body Image Perceptions And The Built Environment, Andrea Denise Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American (AA) women have a 54.8% overall obesity rate in the United States. This quantitative cross-sectional study’s aim was to determine what factors may have an impact on body image perceptions of AA women in Alabama and New Jersey. A gap in research this study addressed is sociodemographic and geographic differences that may impact obesity rates among AA women. The theoretical framework used for this study was the social cognitive theory. Secondary data were obtained from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Linear regression (LR) analyses results showed that none of the sociodemographic variables (education level, employment status, …

A Narrative Study Of The Experiences That Disrupt Or Terminate Entry In The Community College Presidential Pipeline For African American Women, Dana G. Stilley

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Organizational structures, beliefs, and values in higher education are influenced by the deep-seated characteristics of patriarchy, dominance and racial and gender bias, upon which higher education was founded. These factors continue to impact the ascension of African American women to college presidencies. Current challenges facing community colleges include a gap in executive leadership and the underrepresentation of African American women in the presidential pipeline.

The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to better understand the experiences that disrupt or terminate the journey to a presidency for African American women in senior level positions at community colleges. The goal was to …

Maternal Discrimination Stress And Negative Birth Outcomes Among Black Women, Quantrilla Y. Ard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black women are more than twice as likely as White women to experience losing their infants in the first year of life. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine relationships between maternal discriminatory stress and negative birth outcomes such as preterm delivery, low birth weight, very low birth weight, and infant death among Black women with varying levels of education. This study was grounded in critical race theory and Black feminist theory, positing that Black women are the sum of intersecting identities that shape their world view. A sample of 107 Black women were recruited by convenience and …

College, At What Cost? African American/Black Women Undergraduate Students’ Perception Of Institutional Policy Levers, Tamara D. White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is exploring how institutional policy levers impact retention for African American/Black women undergraduate students at a private four-year predominantly white institution in a mid-western state of the United States. Retention of African American/Black women undergraduate students is not a widely researched area. In this exploratory case study, eight African American/Black undergraduate junior and senior women, ten administrators and one focus group of six African American/Black women were interviewed. Artifacts were collected from the administrators. The data collected was analyzed using the culturally engaging campus environment model. The experiences of the African American/Black undergraduate women were examined in academic …

Developing And Sustaining Political Citizenship For Poor And Marginalized People: The Evelyn T. Butts Story, Kenneth Cooper Alexander

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study tells the deep, rich story of Evelyn T. Butts, a grassroots civil rights champion in Norfolk, Virginia, whose bridge leadership style can teach and inspire new generations about political, community, and social change. Butts used neighbor-to-neighbor skills to keep her community connected with the national civil rights movement, which had heavily relied on grassroots leaders—especially women—for much of its success in overthrowing America’s Jim Crow system of segregation and suppression. She is best-known for her 1963 lawsuit that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1966 decision to ban poll taxes for state and local elections, a democratizing event …

African American Women Managers' Experiences In Predominantly Black Work Environments, Ray Muhammad

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The experiences of African American women managers in predominantly Black work environments and the implication of these experiences on their ability to lead remains unknown. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to gain deeper understanding of the leadership experiences of African American women managers employed in predominantly Black work environments. This study was framed by three key concepts: intersectionality of gender and race, intraracial discrimination, and colorism. The trustworthiness of the study's data was supported by employing methodological triangulation of the study's multiple data sources: semistructured interviews with 10 African American women managers as participants, journaling/ reflective …

Cultural Sensitivity And African American Women's Compliance With Breast Cancer Screening, Cynthia Payne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although the incidence of breast cancer is almost the same for middle-aged African American and Caucasian women, the rate of patients' following breast cancer screening and following up recommendations differs. African American women are less likely to follow recommendations and have higher mortality rates when compared to Caucasian women. One factor thought to affect compliance with breast cancer screening and follow up is culturally sensitive communication. This purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if the culturally sensitive communication of a medical center influenced compliance with breast cancer screening and follow up and if compliance has an effect …

Imaging Her Selves: Black Women Artists, Resistance, Image And Representation, 1938-1956, Heather Zahra Caldwell

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses specifically on dancer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006), pianist Hazel Scott (1920-1981), cartoonist Jackie Ormes (1911-1985), singer Lena Horne (1917-2010), and graphic artist, painter, and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012). It explores the artistic, performative, and political resistance deployed by these five African-American women activists, artists, and performers in the period between 1937 and 1957. The principal form of resistance employed by these women was cultural resistance. Using a mixture of archival research, first person interview, biography, as well as other primary and secondary sources, I explore how these women constructed personas, representations, and media images of African-American women to …

Barriers Encountered By African American Women Executives, Latasha Denise Cain

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2014, less than 16% of executive leaders in U.S. corporations were women and less than 5.3% of executive leaders in U.S. corporations were African American women. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of 20 African American women in senior executive positions in the Southeastern region of the United States. The goal of this study was to provide business leaders with information to recognize the value of diversity and equality in the workplace. Participants were recruited using snowball sampling. The conceptual framework incorporated general systems theory, which highlights the bidirectionality between an individual and his …

The Politics Of Black Womens' Hair, Vanessa King, Dieynaba Niabaly

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Historically, black women’s image has been subjected to high scrutinization that rendered every choice they made for their body and hair important. Black women have undergone many pressures that shaped their hair choices in various ways. However, there is a general tendency in the literature to homogenize all black women’s experiences and disregard their ethnic diversity. In this study, we explored both African and African American college women’s feelings about the motivations to straighten (relax) or wear their hair without chemical treatment (natural). For this qualitative approach, we utilized a cross-cultural approach and interviewed 12 African and African American college …

“Work What You Got”: Political Participation And Hiv-Positive Black Women’S Work To Restore Themselves And Their Communities, Monica L. Melton

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

Black women’s rates of HIV/AIDS infection have skyrocketed in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups over the past thirty years. Despite these rates, HIV-positive Black women’s perspectives are rarely sought regarding best practices to eradicate and interrupt HIV/AIDS among African American women, even though historically Black women have often proved phenomenal agents of social change. HIV-positive Black women’s activism has been understudied and input from the community in crisis has rarely been deemed as valuable to public health officials in HIV/AIDS prevention and interventions. Through the narratives of thirty HIV-positive Floridian Black women, I present HIV-positive Black women’s political …

A Phenomenological Study On The Leadership Development Of African American Women Executives In Academia And Business, Deanna Rachelle Davis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the intersectionality of race and gender for African American women through their lived experiences of how they developed into leaders. This research study was designed to determine how the intersection of race and gender identities contributed to the elements of leadership development as perceived by eight African American female executives in academia and business. The researcher sought to explore strategies future leaders might utilize to address leadership development and career ascendency for African American females who aspire to leadership roles. A phenomenological research method was most appropriate for this research …

Mother Knows Best: The Rhetorical Persona Of Michelle Obama And The "Let's Move" Campaign, Monika Bertaki

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Some first ladies are often condemned for being too involved with the presidents' power in politics while other first ladies find themselves condemned for the lack of involvement. First ladies, it seems, are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Consequently, Michelle Obama faces rhetorical problems that in some respects are similar to those of previous first ladies and in other respects are quite different. Along with the criticisms encountered by previous presidential wives, Obama faces the stereotypes African American women have endured since the inception of the nation. Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign serves as a rhetorical …

A Study Of African American Women And Their Perceptions Of Life In Utah, Jennifer Caye Demayo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine, through the use of the ethnographic interview (Spradley, 1979), residential preferences, as well as the stated reasons for relocation of African American women who live in a predominantly White, Utah Mormon culture. The "push and pull" factors that impacted the women's decisions to come to and/or remain in Utah were qualitatively analyzed in some detail. The end goal of the research was to determine whether Utah was perceived as a desirable residence by and for African American women.

Residential preference is a complex issue which requires an in depth explanation. The prominent …

Zora Neale Hurston, Daryl Cumber Dance

English Faculty Publications

Some new information is occasionally being ferreted out that may help to cast additional light on some of these issues, but quite clearly Zora Neale Hurston will remain something of an enigma - too complex a figure to reach any easy conclusions about, except perhaps that she defies simple characterization. People responded to her (and still do) very emotionally: her detractors despise her bitterly; her defenders love her passionately. All agree that she was eccentric, colorful, entertaining, humorous, and unforgettable.

Perhaps the most crucial question to pose about her is why one of the most important figures in the Harlem …