African American Studies Commons^™

The 1985 Move Bombing: A Study In Perspectives, Kaci Delisle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a military grade bomb on 6221 Osage Avenue, a row house in a Black neighborhood in West Philadelphia. This home was occupied by a revolutionary group called MOVE. The bomb started a fire that the police and firefighters decided to “contain” rather than put out, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and the destruction of sixty-one homes. Only two MOVE members survived the fire. Using court records, documents from the investigation conducted by the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (PSIC), and other interviews regarding MOVE and the bombing, this paper reconstructs different perspectives …

Autherine Lucy & The University Of Alabama Integration At U Of A 1952-1956, Tamera Lott

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the University of Alabama was chartered in 1820 and is Alabama’s oldest public university. Prior to 1956, the University was segregated; admission was limited to white men and women. On February 3, 1965, Miss Autherine Lucy stepped foot on campus for the first time to attend classes at the University; history was made as she was the first African American present. Lucy’s attendance stirred conflict throughout campus and the state of Alabama. Unbeknownst to many, Lucy’s attendance garnered both national and international attention. The central argument here is that Lucy’s experiences at the University of Alabama …

Reconstruction Embattled: The Memphis Race Massacre Of 1866 In The Press And Tennessee's First Year Of Interracial Democracy.", Morgan Nicole Baxter

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The racial violence that occurred in Memphis, Tennessee on the first three days of May 1866 was no sudden accident. Following the abolition of slavery and the fall of the Confederacy, race riots and racial violence in general intensified as a result of fluctuating race relations in southern states whose social hierarchies were built upon the degradation and supposed inferiority of blacks. The Memphis Massacre of 1866 was one such expression of white anger and bitterness over the disenfranchisement of former Confederates, the increasing numbers of educated, wealthy blacks coming into Memphis, and the disturbance of the old status quo …

Break Us Beautiful, Elizabeth Upshur

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problem addressed in this thesis is cultivating an answer to the question: what creates or comprises the sum total of my Blackness as a modern American woman living in our current political climate? I primarily use a read/call and response methodology, responding to both lived and hypothetical experiences that explore or demonstrate the ways that identity, race, gender, sexuality, regionality, religion, and the historical thumbprint intersect. The results are this collection of poems that is at times mythological, at times irreverent, both abstract and formal as it seeks to fit these pieces into a singular mosaic. The conclusion drawn …

He Was A Glance From God: Mythic Analogues For Tea Cake Woods In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Kathleen Hannah

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The use of myth in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God has been touched on by a few critics, but the wealth of Hurston's knowledge of different cultures offers readers a number of stories and tales from which to draw possible analogues to her characters. In fact, readers can trace Greek, Roman, Norse, Babylonian, Egyptian, African and African-American mythic elements in her character Tea Cake Woods. Hurston uses these analogues to enrich the characterization and to posit her theories of love and happiness in the modern age.

Zora Neale Hurston: The Voice Of The Goddess, Mella Davis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Zara Neale Purston has re-emerged as an author of promise due to the re-appraisal of her works led by Alice Walker and Robert Hemenway. In both literary and folklore academic circles, Hurston's work has been reclaimed by African-American female scholars and writers, but still a significant study has yet to be done about her ethnographic contributions to folklore and her farsightedness in fieldwork methodology. This thesis seeks to validate her work as a folklorist, thereby dismissing the charges of popularization and amateurishness by re-examining her work. Mules and Men and Jonah's Gourd Vine are Hurston's two most influential folklore texts …

A Case Study: Neighborhood Ii Conservation Plan, Alice Brooks-Giles

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study was initiated to demonstrate how declining neighborhoods can be revitalized through the cooperation and Partnership of local residents, financial institutions, and local government. The Neighborhood II Conservation Plan assumes that interested and informed residents can plan their own environment just as they plan their own family affairs and budget their incomes. The plan further assumes that residents working together as a team can revitalize their neighborhood at the point of decline. This study pursues various approaches to neighborhood preservation which may be useful to other cities.

School District Performance In Erie County & Buffalo, New York: The Socio-Spatial Dimensions Of Educational Quality, Jeffrey Ewell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The educational quality of Erie County and Buffalo, New York, as represented by school district performance was examined and the relationship between school district performance and the social environment was analyzed. Socioeconomic status, social stability and race were all found to be strongly correlated to school district performance. Within Erie County, Buffalo has the poorest school performance levels while Snyder and Williamsville, two high status suburban districts, have the highest school performance levels. The overall spatial pattern of school district performance based on the PEP test results for 1974 reveal a strong correspondence between school district performance and the social …

Race And Sentencing Equality In Kentucky, Robert L. Hurley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Disparity in sentencing felons based on racial considerations has long has been considered a problem for civil libertarians and scholars alike. Examining data gathered in Kentucky, this thesis addresses this issue through the application of recently developed methodological techniques. Utilizing an index of sentencing equality, this study shows that while differences do exist in black and white offender offense characteristics, these differences do not account for the variations in sentences rendered in cases of white as opposed to black felons. This exploratory research reviews and critiques previous research and provides evidence which should prove useful in resolving the problem of …

The Relative Efficiencey Of The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Wais) As A Predictor Of College Academic Achievement, Ollie Dennis

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the predictive validity of the WAIS in an academic setting. Traditional WAIS IQ scores and subtests of 127 male and 163 female college students were correlated with Grade Point Averages at the end of four semesters and within five academic areas. Five groups were examined including the total group, male group, female group, black group, and white group. The academic University's general and Communication of areas investigated corresponded to the education requirements; Organization Ideas, Humanities, Social and Behavioral Studies, Natural Science and Mathematics, and Physical Development. Results indicated that dictor of both semester GPA and five groups. …

Race As A Moderator Variable In The Prediction Of Grade Point Average From Act Scores: Implications For Course Placement Guidelines, Robert Ungarean

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problems focused on in this study are to determine (1) if racial differences exist when American College Testing Program (ACT) scores are used to predict Grade Point Average (GPA); (2) how placement decisions may be affected if differences do exist; (3) and what guidelines or recommendations can be formulated to avoid possible test bias and discrimination in placement procedures. Subjects consisted of the total population of 139 Black freshman students and a sample of 139 White freshman students entering a Southeastern regional university in the fall of 1970. Separate regression analyses were performed for Black, White and combined (total) …

An Interpretation Of The Florida Ex-Slaves' Memories Of Slavery & The Civil War, Dianna Zacharias

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is an analysis and interpretation of oral folk history preserved in the Florida Narratives, one state collection of ex-slave narratives from the larger Federal Writers' Project collection compiled in the 1930s. Fifty-four tales were extracted from this state collection and used as a basis for this study. These personal reminiscences, called memorates by folklorists, fell into two categories: slavery and the Civil war. The tales about slavery were compared to the theses and conclusions regarding slavery held by sociologists and The tales about the Civil War and emancipation were gathered by historians.

The comparison revealed that there …

The Cedar Grove Community In Oral Folk History, Ada Parker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The thesis was originally done for the Center for Intercultural & Folk Studies which no longer exists.

Baltimore Of Mount Pleasant: A Case Study Of The Tradition Of The Chanted Sermon In Virginia, E. Henry Willett Iii

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Analysis of theme, style and structure of the chanted sermons of a Virginia preacher shows that the chanted sermon is a powerful ritualistic expression in certain communities. As practiced among Afro-American groups the chanted sermon is a ritual expression which serves to resolve conflicts, affirm values, and meet certain socio-psychological needs.

The Beeson Farmstead: A Study Of The Functional Aspects Of A Black Farm In The Richland Community, Annelen Archbold

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study documents the lifestyle on a small, prosperous black farmstead in the Richland community of Butler County, Kentucky. It is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted with Percy Beeson, owner of the farm for aver fifty years. The result of the fieldwork and interviews was the documentation of how this farmstead, maintained without mechanical farm equipment, worked as a functional unit on a year-round basis.

As a functional unit, the Beeson farmstead is described in terms of the Beeson family and their ownership of the farm and the breakdown of the property into two dependent units. In the …

White Attitudes Toward Racial Tolerance & The Perception Of Party Differences: 1956-1969, Paul Messick

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine attitude change toward a particularly salient political and social issue "over time." A second purpose is the examination of the perception of party differences in their positions toward the aforementioned issues "over time."

The Relationship Of Educational, Economic & Social Characteristics Of The Degree Of Desegregation In The Public Schools Of Kentucky, J. Frank Yeager

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problem in this study was to examine the relationship of social-climate to the degree of desegregation in the public schools of Kentucky. This study attempted to determine the relationship of educational, economic and social characteristics of those school districts with bi-racial student bodies operating in Kentucky and the degree of desegregation experienced voluntarily by those districts during the period from 1955-56 school year through the 1963-64 school year.

A Program Of Improvement For Union County Kentucky Schools, Thomas Fortenbery

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The problem presented in a Program of Improvement for Union County Schools deals primarily with future school buildings. The problem is threefold:

1. The location of future school buildings must be determined in the light of population trends and economic developments.
2. The size of the buildings must be determined.
3. A plan to finance the program must be developed.

Twentieth Century Negro Poets, Sheila Higgins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

According to Matthew Arnold an open mind is one of the chief essentials for true literary criticism. One is impressed by the truthfulness of this statement when he seeks to evaluate Negro poetry.

The term, Negro poetry, has several interpretations. In its most general sense, the one in which it is used in this paper, it means poetry written by Negroes on any subject. In a more restricted sense it refers to poetry that contains allusions, rhythms, sentiments and idioms more or less peculiar to the Negro. In its narrowest meaning it refers to poetry of racial protest and self-exhortation. …