African American Studies Commons^™

Crime, Drugs, And Race, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

The crime and criminal record statistics of black Americans are frightening; and they keep getting worse. These figures, of course, give us pause. Yet, it must be kept in mind that none of these figures demonstrates that blacks as a race are more prone to crime. Rather, the figures show that the average black person in the United States is more likely than the average white person to be so situated in the social structure that he or she is more likely to be involved in crime, with an even higher likelihood of being arrested, convicted, and imprisoned.

African-Americans And The Administration Of Justice, E. Yvonne Moss, Roy Austin, Nolan Jones, Barry A. Krisberg, Hubert G. Locke, Michael L. Radelet, Susan Welch

Trotter Review

The status of African Americans in relationship to the administration of justice has improved since the 1940s. Significantly, however, researchers continue to find racial discrimination and racial disadvantage operating in various aspects of the criminal justice process in numerous jurisdictions. Such findings are unacceptable in a society that claims to honor equal justice under law.

This article is reprinted from Summary, Volume 1 of the Assessment of the Status of African-Americans series, published in 1990 by the William Monroe Trotter Institute, University of Massachusetts at Boston, and edited by Wornie L. Reed. Materials included in the article were adapted …

Trends In Homicide Among African-Americans, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

Homicide is a particularly significant phenomenon for African Americans because it is the leading cause of death for young black men and women. Blacks, who make up some 12% of the population in the country, account for 44% of all murder victims. Thus, reducing homicide deaths among American population groups, particularly among young black males, is a growing public concern. The term homicide refers to any killing of one person by another. In this chapter the phenomenon and the changing trends of homicide among African Americans over the past 30 to 40 years will be examined.

Blacks In Bridge, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

Two events in the spring of 1991 brought to mind the long battle to integrate the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), which barely beat out the Boston Red Sox in integrating its membership. One was the closing of the famous Cavendish Bridge Club in New York City; the other was a bridge tournament that combined the efforts of ACBL and ABA (American Bridge Association) clubs in the Washington, D.C. area. The ABA is the national association of black bridge players. Both events appear to have been precipitated by a decline in the number of bridge players as the baby boomer …

Sports Notes, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

In the Winter/Spring 1991 issue of the Trotter Institute Review I reported that a black dentist from Boston, Dr. George F. Grant, invented and patented the golf tee in 1899. However, in the May 1991 issue of Golf Digest, a white man, Dr. William Lowell of New Jersey, another dentist, is credited with having invented the golf tee. Having read in a number of reputable publications that Dr. Grant had invented the golf tee, I was interested in finding out how a second man could have been credited so readily with the development of the tee. So I contacted …

Commentary: Characteristics Of African-American Leadership, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

Discussions about the progress of African-Americans frequently involve discussions about the nature and strength of black leadership and leadership roles. Increasingly such discussions contend that with the growth and diversification of the African-American community there can be no one leader for a black America — if there ever was such a thing. Rather various individuals at different places and at different times are the leaders among African-Americans. As these arguments develop it may be useful to examine the nature of leadership in general and the historical patterns of African-American leadership in particular.

Patterns Of Race Hate In The Americas Before 1800, Rhett S. Jones

Trotter Review

The recent growth in the study of the African diaspora reflected in a number of comparative studies calls attention to the ways in which the black experience in the United States — and the thirteen British colonies in North America that preceded its formation — differs from that of blacks elsewhere in the Americas. This paper examines the unique form of race hatred that emerged in North America and places that hatred in the cultural context of race relations in the hemisphere.

The Death Of Markus Lopius: Fact Of Fantasy? First Documented Presence Of A Black Man In Oregon, August 16, 1788, Darrell Millner

Trotter Review

The introduction of the American presence in the early Pacific Northwest has traditionally been portrayed as an exclusively Caucasian endeavor. But with the recent emergence of ethnic studies as a legitimate academic discipline and the development of competent scholars from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, the traditional perspectives on this period of exploration have been broadened and revised. One benefit of this new scholarship is the story of the first documented presence of a black man in the area known today as Oregon. Markus Lopius came to and died in Oregon in 1788.

Still The Long Journey: Thoughts Concerning The State Of Afro-American History, Charles Pete T. Banner-Haley

Trotter Review

Now that Afro-American history is within the mainstream of scholarly discourse, it has become important to take a serious look at the contributions that the last three decades have produced. Of course, that would take more time than I have today, but it may be useful to talk of the latest developments and what they portend for future studies in the discipline and how they have affected my own research and thinking. The areas that I would like to look at today concern the revision of the recent past, the re-emphasis of the centrality of Afro-American history, and the evolving …

Economic Prescriptions For Black Americans, Jeremiah P. Cotton

Trotter Review

The following is a policy statement issued October 12, 1989, by the "Study Group on Employment, Income, and Occupations" of the Assessment of the Status of African-Americans project conducted by the William Monroe Trotter Institute. The full report of the study group is published in an article entitled "Race and Inequality in the Managerial Age," which appears in Social, Political, and Economic Issues in Black America.

One of the major conclusions of this report on the relative economic status of blacks in the United States is that a substantial and persisting gap exists between the general circumstances of blacks …

African Americans And The Future Of The U.S. Economy, Lou Ferleger, Jay R. Mandle

Trotter Review

For the first time in the country's history, the level of skills and education of the African-American labor force is a critical determinant of the potential for growth of the economy itself. The integration of black labor into the economy now means that the development of one is dependent upon the development of the other. To investigate this relationship we first examine the recent performance of the economy and the consequences of that performance for the black standard of living, and then the role the African-American labor force can play in overcoming the economic deficiencies that have plagued the economy.

Blacks In Golf, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

From 1961 until the mid-1980s a weekend ritual was repeated by many African Americans who follow golf. For these individuals, each weekend morning included a peek at the standings of the weekly Professional Golf Association (PGA) tournament printed in the newspaper to see how the black golfers were doing and whether any one of them was the tournament leader or was close enough to the lead to win the tournament. As the 1980s came to an end anyone still practicing the old ritual was doing so in vain. No blacks were winning tournaments on the regular PGA Tour, nor were …