African American Studies Commons^™

The City Is Full Of Bugs, Michael Stanley

Michael A Stanley

This essay explores the use of symbolism and metaphor in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, focusing on a particular scene inside Mary Rambo’s apartment in the middle of the novel. The use of symbolism in the novel is extensive, and many objects and characters serve as metaphors for social classes and groups, and often these representations also function as direct satire for various political groups, folkways, and the expectations or prejudices of the time period in which the novel is set. The objects and events that take place in Mary Rambo’s apartment go beyond symbolism to include a forecast of future …

Attachment-Focused Integrative Reminiscence With Older African Americans: A Randomized Controlled Intervention Study, Myra Sabir, Suk-Young Kang

Myra Sabir

A Narrative Inquiry Of Successful Black Male College Students, Malou Chantal Harrison

Malou Chantal Harrison

Despite a growing enrollment of Black males in colleges and universities in the U.S., the nationwide college degree completion rate for Black males remains at disproportionately low numbers as compared to other ethnicities and to that of Black females. The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to evoke and promote the voices of successful Black male students and to understand their perspectives on factors that contributed to their college success. Findings from this research provide insight into college experiences and interventions that have positive implications for Black male college student success. Valencia's (2010) work on educational attainment served as …

Review Of The Book Black Males In Postsecondary Education: Examining Their Experiences In Diverse Institutional Contexts, By A. A. Hilton, J. L. Wood, & C. W. Lewis (Eds.), Donald Mitchell Jr.

Donald Mitchell Jr., Ph.D.

'The Last Honest Film Critic In America': Armond White And The Children Of James Baldwin, Daniel Mcneil

Daniel McNeil

Piercing The Prison Uniform Of Invisibility For Black Female Inmates, Michelle S. Jacobs

Michelle S Jacobs

In Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women In Prison, Professor Paula Johnson has written about the most invisible of incarcerated women — incarcerated African American women. The number of women incarcerated in the United States increased by seventy-five percent between 1986 and 1991. Of these women, a disproportionate number are black women. The percentages vary by region and by the nature of institution (county jail, state prison or federal facility), but the bottom line remains the same. In every instance, black women are incarcerated at rates disproportionate to their percentage in the general population. In Inner Lives, Professor Johnson …

Ruby Dee, 1922-2014, Judith Smith

Judith E. Smith

Ruby Dee was a marvelously expressive actor, and a lifelong risk-taking radical committed to challenging racial and economic inequality. She made history as part of an extraordinary group of Black Arts radicals — including Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, Harry Belafonte, John O. Killens and Julian Mayfield, as well as her husband Ossie Davis — who actively protested white supremacy and thought deeply about the political implications of conventional racial representations, creating new stories and introducing new Black characters to convey deep truths about Black life.

In small parts and choice roles, Dee’s presence lit up stage and screen. In her …

Review Of Demands Of The Dead In American Literary History, Katy Ryan

Katy Ryan

No abstract provided.

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 …

Desire And Disaster In New Orleans: Tourism, Race, And Historical Memory, Lynnell Thomas

Lynnell Thomas

Most of the narratives packaged for New Orleans's many tourists cultivate a desire for black culture—jazz, cuisine, dance—while simultaneously targeting black people and their communities as sources and sites of political, social, and natural disaster. In this timely book, the Americanist and New Orleans native Lynnell L. Thomas delves into the relationship between tourism, cultural production, and racial politics. She carefully interprets the racial narratives embedded in tourist websites, travel guides, business periodicals, and newspapers; the thoughts of tour guides and owners; and the stories told on bus and walking tours as they were conducted both before and after Katrina. …

Blues People Final Curriculum Guide.Pdf, Vincent L. Stephens

Vincent L Stephens

Environmental Justice And Health: An Analysis Of Persons Of Color Injured At The Work Place, Jennifer Schoenfish-Keita, Glenn Johnson

Glenn S Johnson

Occupational and environmental hazards have a direct impact on people of color lives. People of color are disproportionately employed in the dirtiest and low-paying jobs in the United States. This study investigates workplace safety for persons of color from the analysis of three personal injury cases. These personal injury cases include two African-American females and one African American male who were killed or severely injured as a result of their job or the type of transportation they used trying to get to their place of work. The authors use the Environmental Justice Framework to examine how persons of color are …

Maya Angelou, Poet, Activist And Singular Storyteller, Dies At 86

Joanne Braxton

An Intensely Sympathetic Awareness: Experiential Similarity And Cultural Norms As Means For Gaining Older African Americans’ Trust Of Scientific Research, Myra Sabir

Myra Sabir

We Believe It Was Murder, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

This paper explores how Black men in Champaign-Urbana Illinois mobilized the Black community’s critical social capital to respond to what many believe was the murder of Kiwane by either Officer Norbits, or Chief Finney, as Manning-Carter claimed. I argue that the men in the NORTH END BREAKFAST CLUB responded to what they believed was the murder of Kiwane Carrington in a variety of civic engagement activities that sought to mobilize the community’s transformative resistant capital to variously expand critical Black social consciousness, organize Black men into a militant social force, and mobilize the community to resist anti-black racial oppression across …

The Young White Faces Of Slavery, Mary Niall Mitchell

Mary Niall Mitchell

No abstract provided.

In Search Of Progressive Black Masculinities, Keon M. Mcguire, Jonathan Berhanu, Charles H.F. Davis Iii, Shaun R. Harper Phd

Charles H.F. Davis III

During the last several decades, research concerning the developmental trajectories, experiences, and behaviors of college men as ‘‘gendered’’ persons has emerged. In this article, we first critically review literature on Black men’s gender development and expressions within college contexts to highlight certain knowledge gaps. We then conceptualize and discuss progressive Black masculinities by relying on Mutua’s germinal work on the subject. Further, we engage Black feminist scholarship, both to firmly situate our more pressing argument for conceptual innovation and to address knowledge gaps in the literature on Black men’s gender experiences. It is our belief that scholars who study gender …

Being Black Academic Mothers, Angela Lewis, Sherri Wallace, Clarissa Peterson

Sherri L. Wallace

An Intersectional Social Capital Analysis Of The Influence Of Historically Black Sororities On African American Women’S College Experiences At A Predominantly White Institution, Lindsay A. Greyerbiehl, Donald Mitchell Jr.

Donald Mitchell Jr., Ph.D.

A Curriculum Guide To Teaching And Discussing: Stomping The Blues (1976) By Albert Murray, Vincent L. Stephens

Vincent L Stephens

The Curriculum Guide is a comprehensive resource for educators seeking to use Albert Murray’s classic reflection on blues and jazz, Stomping the Blues in a classroom setting. The Guide includes summaries of each individual chapter and a listing of critical themes embedded in the chapter, a list of discussion questions, and a supplemental bibliography featuring reviews and essays on Stomping the Blues, and a resource for Murray’s additional writing on the blues genre. The Guide was funded by a grant awarded to scholar Vincent Stephens by Bucknell University's Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender (CSREG) in the …

John Marrant Blows The French Horn: Print, Performance, And Publics In Early African American Literature, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon

Elizabeth Maddock Dillon

No abstract provided.

Hank Willis Thomas:Branding Black Men - Identity & Violence Through Images Of Black Masculiinity, Nafisah Ayobola Raji

Nafisah Ayobola Raji

Branding black bodies in media adverts and hip hop is not alien to the 20th century popular culture. Identity as a fluid and constantly evolving binary is also a problematic in the American space.In this paper, I explore representations of Black men in media adverts with commercial intent or to canonize violence. Using photographic works of Hank Willis Thomas; "Branded series 2007" will show issues of identity & Violence in branded images of black bodies for commercialism, "Pitch Blackness 2008" will look at race and color stratification while "Rebranded series 2010" attempts a reinvention for the image of the Black …

Phoebe Snow: Odd, Rare And Sublime, Vincent L. Stephens

Vincent L Stephens

A draft from my work-in-progress essay collection on post-war American popular singing "Sound Love." The essay argues that Phoebe Snow is unique among her generation of singer-songwriters as she is more notable as an interpreter than as a writer. Her synthesis of elements from blues, jazz, pop, gospel and R&B defy category as does her artistry.

Introduction To We All Got History: The Memory Books Of Amos Webber, Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] Who was this Amos Webber who assumed such a prominent role in this public, regional celebration of the black presence in American life? That he was a veteran was clear, but that alone did not account for his prominent position in that day's events. Certainly James Monroe Trotter, the eminent musician, author, and politician, William H. Carney, and William Dupree were all more widely known in the black North. How did a man such as Amos Webber, unknown beyond his own circle, the recipient of no awards or editorials in the local or national press, achieve such prominence in …

"The Real Ida May: A Fugitive Tale In The Archives", Mary Niall Mitchell

Mary Niall Mitchell

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Africana Studies: Multidisciplinary Perspectives On The African Experience, Marc Prou

Marc E. Prou

Introduction to Africana Studies: Multidisciplinary Perspectives is a rich collection of essays on Africana social and cultural history. Its purpose is to provide a thorough scholarly examination of Africa and its Diasporas. This book provides a general introductory survey of Africana Studies to undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Spirit Injury And Feminism: Expanding The Discussion, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

To discuss spirit injury, it is at first necessary to articulate a space in the theoretical diaspora to conceptualize spirit injury as a concept deeply tied to the historical tradition of several theoretical frameworks. “Spirit injury” is a phrase popularized by critical race feminist Adrien Katherine Wing. It is a term utilized in critical race feminism (CRF) that brings together insights from critical legal studies (CLS) and critical race theory (CRT). Wing’s training is as a lawyer and legal scholar, not as a communication scholar, yet her work may help communication scholars more keenly theorize harm and violence. Her scholarship …

Memory Of A Racist Past — Yazoo: Integration In A Deep-Southern Town By Willie Morris, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

Willie Morris was in many ways larger than life. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, he moved with his family to Yazoo City, Mississippi at the age of six months. He attended and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin where his scathing editorials against racism in the South earned him the hatred of university officials. After graduation, he attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship. He would join Harper’s Magazine in 1963, rising to become the youngest editor-in-chief in the magazine’s history. He remained at this post until 1971 when he resigned amid dropping ad sales and a lack of …

Dick Allen's Second Act, Mitchell J. Nathanson

Mitchell J Nathanson

It is hard to imagine a more polarizing figure in Philadelphia sports history than Dick Allen. Countless gallons of ink have been spilled in furtherance of trying to capture and explain Allen’s stormy relationship with the Phillies and the city of Philadelphia during his 1963-69 tenure with the club. Much less focus has been given, however, to his mid-Seventies return to Philadelphia amid circumstances that were seemingly far different than those in which he left it. Despite these purportedly changed circumstances, Allen departed Philadelphia in 1976 much as he had in 1969 – amid controversy and bad blood on both …

Women Of African Descent: Persistence In Completing A Doctorate, Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

This study examines the educational persistence of women of African descent (WOAD) in pursuit of a doctorate degree at universities in the southeastern United States. WOAD are women of African ancestry born outside the African continent. These women are heirs to an inner dogged determination and spirit to survive despite all odds (Pulliam, 2003, p. 337).This study used Ellis’s (1997) Three Stages for Graduate Student Development as the conceptual framework to examine the persistent strategies used by these women to persist to the completion of their studies.