African American Studies Commons^™

A Journey To A Black Woman’S (Read Black Girl’S) Joy And Her Story Of Coming Home, Brittany Lauren Brock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is an auto/ethnography about the self-actualizing journey of reclaiming storytelling as my native tongue and my journey to joy. Throughout, using my story and the stories of so many others, I not only lay out the wounds (the pain, the loss, then the hope that comes) within the academy and outside in the world but I also use storytelling as a tool of healing—my tool of healing—to show how I wrote myself free.

When Black women (read Black girls) go through The Reckoning (the moment we realize something isn’t right with how we are perceived by others) …

Children And The Cold War: Race & Hypocrisy Amid Fear Of Nuclear War, Richard D. Mctaggart Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

During the Cold War, American propaganda centered the wellbeing of the child in its messaging warning of atomic attack at the hands of the Soviet Union. However, despite American claims that all children were valued by the United States, this was proven untrue by its unequal treatment of Black children.

The Rise Of An Eco-Spiritual Imaginary: Ecology And Spirituality As Decolonial Protest In Contemporary Multi-Ethnic American Literature, Andrew Michael Spencer

English Theses and Dissertations

The Rise of an Eco-Spiritual Imaginary reveals a shared ecological aesthetic among contemporary U.S. ethnic writers whose novels communicate a decolonial spiritual reverence for the earth. This shared narrative focus challenges white settler colonial mythologies of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism to instantiate new ways of imagining community across socially constructed boundaries of time, space, nation, race, and species. The eco-spiritual imaginary—by which I mean a shared reverence for the ecological interconnection between all living beings—articulates a common biological origin and sacredness of all life that transcends racial difference while remaining grounded in local ethnicities and bioregions. The novelists representing …

Reframing Leadership Narratives Through The African American Lens, Marion Missy Mcgee

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Reframing Leadership Narratives through the African American Lens explores the context-rich experiences of Black Museum executives to challenge dominant cultural perspectives of what constitutes a leader. Using critical narrative discourse analysis, this research foregrounds under-told narratives and reveals the leadership practices used to proliferate Black Museums to contrast the lack of racially diverse perspectives in the pedagogy of leadership studies. This was accomplished by investigating the origin stories of African American executives using organizational leadership and social movement theories as analytical lenses for making sense of leaders’ tactics and strategies. Commentary from Black Museum leaders were interspersed with sentiments of …

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Analyzing Inhumane Practices In Mississippi’S Correctional Institutions Due To Overcrowding, Understaffing, And Diminished Funding, Ariel A. Williams

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi’s correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners’ mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high …

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed A Digital Humanities Project, Elise Tanner, Geoffrey Joseph

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped …

Law Library Blog (February 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Talk This Way: A Look At The Historical Conversation Between Hip-Hop And Christianity, Joshua Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflicting with no willingness to resolve their perceived differences. This paper will argue that there has always been a healthy conversation between Hip-Hop and Christianity since Hip-Hop’s inception. Using sources like Hip-Hop lyrics, theologians, historians, autobiographies, sermons, and articles that range from Ma$e to Tipper Gore, this paper will look at the conversation …

Law School News: Remembering John Lewis 07-18-2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

A New Paradigm For Improving Race Relations, Teresa Reed

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Freedom Triumphant: Embracing Joyful Freedom But Facing An Uncertain, Perilous Future, Thomas L. Tacker

Publications

The newly freed slaves had almost nothing—no money, no education, and no strong social institutions, including marriage which had often been prohibited, rarely supported by slaveholders. Discrimination was rampant and government was often the worst discriminator. Yet, somehow, they triumphed. They built marriages that were actually slightly more stable than those of white families. The newly free went from virtually zero literacy to at least 50% literacy in a generation. They worked incredibly hard and increased their income about one third faster than white workers. The newly free, anchored in their strong faith, were amazingly forgiving and optimistic. Economics Professor …

Fearless Friday: Senait Weldemariam, Senait S. Weldemariam

SURGE

Senait Weldemariam ’16 is today’s Fearless Leader! Senait, originally from the Bronx, NY, is currently a senior at Gettysburg College who is majoring in History and minoring in Educational Studies. During her time here, she has been involved with the Black Student Union (BSU), the Gospel Choir, and the Latin American Student Association (LASA). Specifically, Senait has been involved with the BSU since her freshman year. [excerpt]

Whose Story? His-Story., Meghan E. O'Donnell

SURGE

The essay instructions finally landed in front of me. I passed the extra sheets on and quickly glanced over the page, hoping that the prompt would be inspiring. There were two open-ended options from which to choose: military and social/political aspects of the war. My eyes first fell upon the social option and I pondered using this opportunity to shed light on the experiences of women during the war. I’d done this before – used assignments to explore history’s untold stories – and found it interesting. Then, in a fit of frustration that erupted out of nowhere, I thought to …

"Listen To The Wild Discord": Jazz In The Chicago Defender And The Louisiana Weekly, 1925-1929, Sarah A. Waits

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This essay will use the views of two African American newspaper columnists, E. Belfield Spriggins of the Louisiana Weekly and Dave Peyton of the Chicago Defender, to argue that though New Orleans and Chicago both occupied a primary place in the history of jazz, in many ways jazz was initially met with ambivalence and suspicion. The struggle between the desire to highlight black achievement in music and the effort to adhere to tenets of middle class respectability play out in their columns. Despite historiographical writings to the contrary, these issues of the influence of jazz music on society were …

Chicago's Wall: Race, Segregation And The Chicago Housing Authority, David T. Greetham

Senior Independent Study Theses

When the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) was created in 1937 the organization's mission was to provide decent and affordable housing for low-income people. As thousands of African Americans migrated to Chicago from the South after World War II, a combination of public policy and private exclusion forced them to turn to the CHA for housing. Through political manipulation and racism, the CHA became a tool to segregate, confine, and conceal Chicago's burgeoning African American population. By the 1960s, 99 percent of CHA tenants were African American and over 90 percent of CHA developments were located in predominantly African American neighborhoods. …

Building A Dream, Jenny Nestelberger

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

The August 28, 1963 March on Washington is often remembered primarily for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which serves as the pinnacle of civil rights movement oratory. This thesis, in contrast, examines speeches of the leaders of the “Big Six” organizations that preceded King’s well-known words in order to shed light on the complexities of the movement and the outcomes that can result from meaningful dissent. Occurring at a time of division, the March emerged as a symbol of hope for change in the nation. The addresses of the day reflected this hope and helped build …

Community Control: Civil Rights Resistance In The Mile High City, Summer Burke

Psi Sigma Siren

Black power in the late 1960s was once blamed for the fall of the civil rights movement. The more militant and abrasive black power approach was mistaken for the alternative civil rights movement, contradictory to the progressive approach of nonviolent marches in the South. However, recent scholarship contextualizing black power and the Black Panthers in particular, restructured this paradigm. This move toward a more inclusive approach to studying black resistance across the country steered The Movement out of the Memphis to Montgomery narrative, and instead provides a more textured understanding of black radicalism as a vital aspect of civil rights …

Rhythms Of Rebellion: Artists Creating Dangerously For Social Change, Susan J. Erenrich

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

On December 14, 1957, after winning the Nobel Prize for literature, Albert Camus challenged artists attending a lecture at the University of Uppsala in Sweden to create dangerously. Even though Camus never defined what he meant by his charge, throughout history, artists involved in movements of protest, resistance, and liberation have answered Camus’ call. Quite often, the consequences were costly, resulting in imprisonment, censorship, torture, and death. This dissertation examines the question of what it means to create dangerously by using Camus’ challenge to artists as a starting point. The study then turns its attention to two artists, Augusto Boal …

Grounded History: A Keynote Address To The 14th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, Amilcar Shabazz

Afro-American Studies Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Grounded History: A Keynote Address To The 14th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, Amilcar Shabazz

Amilcar Shabazz

No abstract provided.

"System Of Silence": Philadelphia Orphanages And The Limits Of Benevolence, 1780s-1830s, Brian Sweeney

Honors Theses

In 1831, Mathew Carey, a well-known Philadelphia economist, wrote a city official describing the situation of black children in the city. He called for the creation of an orphanage to aid these children and described the motives for this action as not only the “humanity and benevolence” of Philadelphians, but also “personal interest”, as this class could otherwise turn “lawless”. Unknown to Carey, the Association for the Care of Coloured Orphans had been established in 1822 by a group of benevolent Quaker women dedicated to aiding this destitute class in an effort to promote compensatory justice for generations of oppression …

Nisby Family: James (Jim) Santana (Elder), Christopher Anderson

African American Stories

James Santana spent his teen years on a farm. His parents stressed self-sufficiency. He learned to cook, clean, iron, and even sew. Living on a farm generated chores most children did not have. James learned to take care of chickens, rabbits, ducks, and turkeys. Despite being the youngest of four siblings, his workload was never adjusted downward. During school breaks and summer vacations, he was expected to help his father, who was a carpenter…

Stallworth Family: Lewis Stallworth, Jr. (Middle), Andrew Gelber

African American Stories

African Americans like Lewis Stallworth Jr.’s family did not migrate to Stockton as a part of the California Gold Rush. Instead, they sought stability in changing times: a home, a job, a place to worship and a chance to raise a family. Lewis Jr. was born in Wewoka, Oklahoma in 1944. As the eldest child, his brothers and sisters admired him. The family moved to Stockton when Lewis was still a young child and he has lived here for the past 60 years…

Stallworth Family: Kimberly Hamlett (Youth), Brett Kaufman

African American Stories

As a child of the ’60s, a person might think Kimberly Hamlett would show signs of her rebellious generation. However, those who know this warm, kindhearted and Christian woman would say differently. Kimberly, born in 1965, was the first child born to her large family. She is the oldest of seven children, four girls and three boys. She was born in Walnut Creek, but grew up in Stockton and continues to live here…

Nisby Family: John Nisby (Middle), Christina Conrardy

African American Stories

Imagine the sun shining high overhead. There is nothing but you, the bright blue sky and the musky smell of hay. You focus on the task at hand—bucking hay. Your physical exertion, combined with the knowledge of hard work, meld into a great sense of satisfaction and sweaty accomplishment. For young John, this imagined scene was a daily occurrence…

Nisby Family: John Patrick Nisby, Jr. (Youth), Chris Bauer

African American Stories

Being the son of two high-achievers might be a burden for some people, but John Patrick Nisby says that he has had a “wonderful life.” His parents have played positive roles in his upbringing, introducing many factors into his life, which have inspired and motivated him...

Stallworth Family: Bishop Lewis Stallworth, Sr. (Elder), Brandon Stevens

African American Stories

Bishop L. Stallworth was born in Welty, Oklahoma in 1923. Not long after relocating to Boley, Oklahoma, Lewis attended school and graduated from high school in 1941. The following year, Lewis along with the rest of his family, joined similar migrants seeking new opportunities in California’s emerging defense industry. Lewis fondly remembers his military experiences that allowed him both to serve his country and to interact with different people. Although he was already of adult age when he left his home state, Lewis’s coming-of-age process was reinforced by his years of military service…

Gommage Et Résistance Dans Le Processus De Mythification Postcoloniale, Robert Fotsing Mangoua

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Using the central figures of Um Nyobe and Patrice Lumumba, this paper aims to show that postcolonial mythology is a confrontation of two tendencies: on one hand, the colonial and postcolonial States, whose efforts tend to rub out history and its great faces, and on the other, artists and thinkers from Africa or abroad who want to establish the memory and the deeds of the missing as a source of inspiration for the present and next generation.

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 …

Introduction, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

The mass media can be a positive or negative force in the struggle for racial progress. Unfortunately, the black community faces media that provide many negative influences. Consequently, there is a continuing need to address this issue.

In the articles in this issue of the Trotter Review we examine the current representation of blacks in the news media and representations of blacks in history through the entertainment media.