African American Studies Commons^™

Malcolm X

Massachusetts Hall of Black Achievement

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, NE. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the family’s eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. In 1929, their Lansing, MI, home was burned to the ground. Two years later, Earl’s body was found lying across the town’s trolley tracks. Louise suffered an emotional breakdown several years after the death of her husband, was institutionalized, and her children were split up amongst various foster homes and orphanages.

Malcolm was a smart, …

Her-Story: Black, Middle-School Girls Exploring Their Intersectional Identities, Crystal Latanya Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

While intra-racial-group comparisons have lead scholars to argue that Black girls are succeeding academically and therefore require less explicit focus in educational research, there is little literature that focuses on the ways that Black girls’ experiences in formal educational spaces shape their emotional wellbeing and sense of intersectional identity—specifically, from their own perspectives (Paul, 2003; Townsend, Thomas, Neilands, and Jackson, 2010). In recognizing this relative invisibility, my research redirects focus to obstacles that typically go relatively unnoticed and unaddressed. Utilizing focus groups and diary/follow-up interviews as methods, I explore the subjective experience of Black girls within the educational context. Placing …

Black Men Who Betray Their Race: 20th Century Literary Representations Of The Black Male Race Traitor, Gregory Coleman

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation, Black Men Who Betray Their Race, gathers a literary archive in order to identify and introduce the “race traitor” as a heretofore unrecognized yet important trope within 20^th century African-American Literature. In addition to coping with the burden of racism, African Americans have had to put considerable energy toward negotiating the possibility of being perceived as race traitors by others within the African American community. This study tracks the possibilities and perils of black group identity in literary representations of black men, neither privileging opposition to the white world, nor celebrating black unity beyond it. Focusing …

Opinion Editorial: Why Is It That So Many White People Fear Black Men?, Dmitri C. Westbrook

College Student Affairs Leadership

Why is it that so Many White People Fear Black Men?

The Colonial Roots Of The Racial Fetishization Of Black Women, Caren M. Holmes

Black & Gold

In my research, I examined the history of sexual debasement and abuse of black women throughout American history and its influence of modern racial fetishization. In my paper, I explore the influence of European colonial thought on these modern realities. I argue that the conquest and feminization of the New World led to the dehumanization and conquest of African women who were perceived by colonialists to be byproducts of manifest destiny. My research reflects how the sexual debasement experienced by black women throughout American history has led to the racial fetishization prevalent today. I also consider how this history of …

"Because God Said So": A Thematic Analysis Of Why People Denounce Black Greek-Letter Organizations, Mea Ashley

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Today, Black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs) struggle to use empirical data to address financial burden, elitism, hazing, relevance in social justice issues, and the anti-BGLO movement. The anti-BGLO movement frames this study. The movement stems from beliefs that secret societies, fraternities, and sororities are anti-Christian. Society will continue to question the relevance and importance of BGLOs if they cannot overcome the issues plaguing them. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to ascertain why members are leaving BGLOs, in case the organizations find the anti-BGLO movement to be a threat to organizational vitality. Through thematic analysis, 18 YouTube testimonials from denouncers …

The Hidden Help : Black Domestic Workers In The Civil Rights Movement., Trena Easley Armstrong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the 1960's, nearly ninety percent of black women in the South worked as domestic servants. While much has been written depicting the dehumanizing and exploitative conditions in which they lived, their contributions to human rights garnered from their subtle acts of resistance and specifically, their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, has either been undocumented or documented quite minimally. Despite their historical roles and socioeconomic disadvantages, their reach for human agency was beneficial to society. This thesis examines their labor as domestic workers and their participation in the Civil Rights Movement using the qualitative research method of interviews and …

1960 English Golliwogg Doll

Eva Freeman-Lewis Doll Collection

English Golliwogg Doll. Series I, Box 1

16” high 6½” wide

1960

Europe

Cloth

The Golliwogg doll comes from the book, "The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg". A product of the blackface and minstrel tradition, the Golliwog has jet-black skin, a tall thin build, bright red lips, bulging eyes and wild woolly hair. He wears clothes that are common for the minstrel singer, a short red coat and long red and white striped pants. The Golliwogg has been seen as a negative stereotype of peoples of the African Diaspora in Europe since the 1890’s. This particular doll …

Justifying Injustice: How Caricatured Depictions Of African Americans Impacted Worldwide Perception, Jaida Noble

Global Honors Theses

Despite racist depictions of African Americans in art seeming to be behind us, the consequences of such representation, including the baggage of stereotypes alongside them, live on. This paper will argue that the racist caricaturing of Black people throughout history has been used as a form of propaganda, affecting the overall perception of African Americans and influencing policies that have determined them as belonging to the lower levels of the American caste system.

Bodies Without The Burden: White Appropriation And Exploitation Of Black Appearance And Culture, Marisa E. Balanda

Student Publications

Critiques of cultural appropriation in regards to inappropriate Halloween costumes and the phenomenon of Instagram models “black-fishing” their followers are more prevalent now than ever before, but white exploitation of black culture and appearance is nothing new. In academia, the term “cultural appropriation” describes how aspects of a marginalized group’s culture are taken by those in a dominant group without regard to their cultural significance. In her chapter, “Black Culture Without Black People,” Imani Kai Johnson refers to appropriation as “colonialism at the scale of the dancing body or the sacred ritual object, its life and dynamism reduced to a …