African American Studies Commons^™

Alumna Becomes The Youngest Writer In The Writer's League Of Texas Fellowship Program, Kendra Rainey

Black History at St. Mary's University - 2025 Collection

The youngest member of the Writer’s League of Texas Fellowship Program after graduating was no surprise to her professors as Jamira Richardson proved to be an excellent writer. Richardson in this article is interviewed about her experience at St. Mary’s University and what led to her success, as well as the influences she leaned on to aid in her writing and pursuit for higher education. The road to success doesn’t always pan out as one hope. There are challenges, pitfalls, and doubts, but Richardson is a shining example as to the strength of perseverance and intellect. Richardson is working on …

What Happened In Harris Neck?: Racism, Resistance, And Futures, Anna Sharpe

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This project traces the history and legacy of the seizure of Harris Neck, approximately 2,600 acres on the Georgia coast, once largely composed of rice and cotton plantations. After the Civil War, freedmen and women transformed the area into a thriving Black community. The community of approximately a hundred families, a school, a church, a post office, and many small farms and businesses flourished from the late 1800’s until 1942, when the federal government seized Harris Neck for use as an Army airfield.

The procedures used by the federal government to seize and, later, reallocate Harris Neck will be examined, …

Developmental Outcomes For Alumni Of An Afrocentric Rites Of Passage Program, Kim Langenmayr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractMany middle school and high school African American students experience a predominantly Eurocentric curriculum that may diminish their racial identity as well as academic performance. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the developmental outcomes such as preparation for higher education, career choices, and racial identity development for alumni of a Rites of Passage (RoP) program that sought to facilitate an Afrocentric experience for 8th to 10th graders. The research question concerned the perception of RoP young adult alumni, parents, and teachers relative to the alumni’s developmental outcomes. The conceptual framework was comprised of …

African American Blended Parent Strategies’ And The Influence On Children’S School Performance, Christine Li'chele' Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractDue to increasing divorce rates, the number of Americans living in blended family households have increased over the decades. Studies have revealed that some school-aged children who experience family structural changes due to blending families may experience stress that negatively affects their school performance. The purpose of this study was to determine what strategies African American parents in blended family units used to lessen the impact of family structure change on their school-aged children’s school performance. Bowen’s family system’s theory was used to guide this research. A generic qualitative design was used to obtain data from eight participants residing in …

Tilting Toward Freedom: African American Ring Tournaments In A Postbellum South, Lauren S. Hanson, Carmen Harris

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The ring tournament is an American version of the medieval jousting tradition that had been reserved for the white wealthy planter elite in America for generations. After the Civil War it became an African American cultural practice, whose history has been all but lost to time. Immediately following emancipation, ex-slaves across the South began hosting and participating in ring tournaments through which they asserted their agency while harnessing the sport’s ability to empower the riders and their communities. The tournaments also influenced local politics and challenged power structures. In essence, the black tournaments became a symbol of freedom. The figure …

A Noble Duty: Ladies’ Aid Associations In Upstate South Carolina During The Civil War, Elizabeth Aranda, Carmen Harris

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The contributions of women during the American Civil War have been typically examined within the broader picture of a nation or state-wide mobilization of citizens during a time of war. In this paper, I seek to show the mobilization of women during the Civil War from a regionalized perspective limited to the Upcountry of South Carolina and the effect their development of aid societies had on the war as well as on their place as white women in the Confederacy. Female-run aid societies began for the purpose of gathering supplies for soldiers. Within two years they had founded hospitals and …

Agricultural Service Disparities Between White And Non-White Farmers Provided By The Federal Extension Service During The Jim Crow Era, José Leonel Ramírez Solís, Ben Montgomery

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The Federal Extension Service (FES) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was segregated during the Jim Crow era. FES farm agents provided agricultural education and outreach; they answered questions in office, hosted meetings, and made farm visits. Agents also ran 4-H, which educated youth about agriculture through camps, and demonstrated farming activities carried out by participants. This study investigated whether segregation of services led to disparities between white and non-white (mostly African American) farm operators and families among four South Carolina regions. We compared the level of service provided to white and non-white operators and youth based on …

"Trying Hard To Keep Her From Feeling Outdoors": Race, Ability, And Eugenics In Early Morrison, Grace Caraway

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Blacks In Oregon, Darrell Millner

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Periodically, newspaper or magazine articles appear proclaiming amazement at how white the population of Oregon and the City of Portland is compared to other parts of the country. It is not possible to argue with the figures—in 2017, there were an estimated 91,000 Blacks in Oregon, about 2 percent of the population—but it is a profound mistake to think that these stories and statistics tell the story of the state's racial past. In fact, issues of race and the status and circumstances of Black life in Oregon are central to understanding the history of the state, and perhaps its future …

Maternal Educational Experiences And Academic Expectations For Adolescent Daughters, Brandie Tanille Lee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The National Center for Education Statistics indicated that the number of African American females who have enrolled in undergraduate and postbaccalaureate programs since 2000 has increased significantly. Enrollment numbers do not provide a deeper understanding of what factors inform females’ academic aspirations or their desire to attend college. Through the use of a generic qualitative approach and the application of the role theory conceptual framework, this study was conducted to explore the beliefs and attitudes of African American mothers age 30 to 40 regarding their educational experiences, the formation and communication of the academic expectations for their adolescent daughters, and …

Black Mothers’ Birthing Center Experiences And Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices, Natashia King-Conner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The persistence of racial disparities in breastfeeding is associated with a range of interconnected factors, such as historical, cultural, social, social, and psychological. The current gap in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among Black mothers and White mothers has led to rising concerns in the United States. A basic qualitative approach was used to conceptualize the multidimensional constructs of the social–ecological model to investigate the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and community-level structures and existing policies in birthing centers that inadvertently harbor biases that impede care for Black mothers. Data were gathered through purposeful sampling and semistructured interviews with 10 Black mothers …

Nonacademic Factors Affecting Retention And Academic Success At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Charlene Denise Mallory

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractRetention rates for African American students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been low compared to rates of predominantly White institutions. The problem investigated was the retention rates of African American students enrolled at degree-granting Title IV HBCUs. The absence of research focused on African American students and retention at HBCUs leaves more to be learned about how institutions can improve retention rates for this population. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the association between nonacademic factors (enrollment status, residency status, SES, and family income) and retention rate (full-time and part-time) for African American full-time, …

The Experience Of Conflicting Identities Amongst African American Law Enforcement Officers, Jeremy R. Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Law enforcement’s unjust treatment of African Americans is a worldwide concern but impacts the African American community in different ways, particularly African American law enforcement officers who are placed in conflicting positions. They aspire to see change and more conforming police treatment, compared to other racial populations, but work for the same organization that exhibits the biased treatment they desire to have abolished. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore African American law enforcement officers’ experiences of conflicting identities. The theoretical foundation was based on Turner’s theory of self-categorization (SCT). The key research questions addressed African American …

Wilderness Of Freedom: Slave Narratives, Captivity Narratives, And Genre Transformation In Keckley's Behind The Scenes, Hannah Gautsch

Theses and Dissertations--English

As a modiste well-versed in the social expectations of the domestic world, Elizabeth Keckley crafted an autobiography that would appeal to this wide variety of audiences. Throughout the 1850s, women across the nation negotiated the terms of True Womanhood and identified activism as a space where women could engage with national concerns. At the same time, literary production in the US was increasing exponentially, creating room for literature to be used as a means of social change. Contemporary scholars have devoted much attention to the ways Keckley’s Behind the Scenes combines elements of multiple genres to assure its long-term survival …

"To Claim That Greatness For Themselves”: A History Of The Kentucky Horse Park, Emily Elizabeth Libecap

Theses and Dissertations--History

The Kentucky Horse Park describes itself as the world’s only equine theme park. However, the park is not entirely without historical precedent; instead, world’s fairs, amusement parks, and theme parks all form a century-long pedigree chart through which the park can trace its ancestors. The Kentucky Horse Park’s links to these predecessors deepen our understanding of how the park is a reflection of the world around it and the motivations for how and why it was built. From its inception in the late 1960s, to when it opened in 1978, through the present day, the Kentucky Horse Park was and …

“They Did This Work”: Black Activism, Education, And The Rosenwald Rural School-Building Program In Kentucky, Le Datta Denise Grimes

Theses and Dissertations--History

This study examines what Black Kentuckians did on their own behalf to educate themselves in the early twentieth century. I argue that Black Kentuckians’ agency and activism formed the bedrock of the Rosenwald movement in Kentucky. From 1917 to 1932, they built 158 Rosenwald Schools across the Bluegrass by welding together multiple strategies of resistance. Such agitation included voluntarily taxing themselves, waging legal battles, deploying military-style fundraising campaigns, and building institutions to support their schools. Seeking first-class citizenship, they also volunteered labor, donated land, and bought supplies to uplift themselves and their community through education. This work took place against …

Investigating The Self-Efficacy Awareness Of Black Female Technology Leaders, Marie Roberts De La Parra

Doctoral Dissertations

Black female technology leaders lack leadership opportunities, which affects their self-efficacy and is a crucial concern. Self-efficacy is based on the concept that an individual’s belief in what they can achieve influences their actions and how much effort they invest in the selected action. Self-persuasion can provide high or low self-satisfaction as a determinant for creating incentives for success or failure and converting thoughts and emotions to actions. Limited research has investigated the mindset, the thought patterns, and the self-belief undertaken by Black females in the world of technology. Despite limited amounts of research, data suggest that Black female leaders …

Modeling Black Literature: Behind The Screen With The Black Bibliography Project, Brenna Bychowski, Melissa Barton

Library Staff Publications

The Black Bibliography Project (BBP) plans to produce a bibliographic database of printed works by Black writers from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. With the support of the Beinecke Library and a grant from the Mellon Foundation, project co-PIs and codirectors Jacqueline Goldsby and Meredith McGill collaborated with a team of librarians from Yale to develop the data model for their database. Drawing on Beinecke’s James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection to pull case studies, the team of librarians developed a Linked Data model for BBP in an instance of Wikibase and trained and supported a group of graduate student …

America’S Presidential Crisis Of Legitimacy: How The Electoral College Became Obsolete And How We Can Fix It, Julia Rose Foodman

Scripps Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis is to critique the current American Presidential electoral system, the Electoral College, and to show what an alternative could potentially mean for the American people. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: What are the main arguments for the Electoral College, why are they troubling, and how can we mend American Presidential elections for the greater purposes of political equality, democracy, and freedom? To do so, core arguments made by conservative pundits in favor of the Electoral College are outlined in order to bring attention to their logical, political, and moral inconsistencies. The inequalities …

Being In The Black Queer Diaspora: Embodied Archives In A Map To The Door Of No Return, Alexandria Naima Smith

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Poet, novelist, and essayist Dionne Brand’s unconventional memoir, A Map to the Door of No Return (2001) provides a method for identifying how the embodied experiences of Black queer subjects form an archive for understanding operations of power within Black queer diasporas. Using the analytic of sensual worldmaking, a term I use to describe Black feminist narrative writing that locates embodied erotic and sensual experience as an authorizing source of knowledge about identity-based power dynamics, I illustrate how A Map to the Door of No Return offers a Black queer archive of experiences and narratives in the Black diaspora. Brand …