Looking At The Past To Change The Future: Showcasing Featured Collections, Building Communities, And Co-Creating, Sherry Buchanan

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Academic libraries have the opportunity and the responsibility to promote and advance content that creates transformative and iterative learning opportunities. To that end, and in an effort to build communities and facilitate co-creation, Portland State University showcases three main Featured Collections in our open access repository, PDXScholar: Climate Justice, COVID-19, and Racial and Gender Equity, with a fourth pilot collection—Student Work: An Open Showcase of Outstanding Student-Created Research & Creative Work—under development. The collections include a broad range of audiovisual materials, such as podcasts and webinar series, as well as sustainability and equity work, student-created content, and numerous future-focused multidisciplinary …

Playing Changes: Music As Mediator Between Japanese And Black Americans, E Taylor Atkins

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

Since the mid-twentieth century, music has played a central role in encounters and interactions between the people of Japan and those of African descent. It proved far more effective for pro- moting interracial dialogue and understanding than efforts in the early 1900s to foster an alliance against white supremacy and imperialism. This essay unpacks the ways that encounters with Black music transformed Japanese musicking and generated knowledge and empathy for people of African descent among Japanese. Personal interactions between Black and Japanese musicians constituted a process of “grassroots globalization” that circumvented the dominance of American mass media in representing African …

Afro-Latin Americans Living In Spain And Social Death: Moving From The Empirical To The Ontological, Ethan Johnson, Joy González-Güeto, Vanessa Cadena

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper has three objectives. First, we establish that although Spain has attempted to distance itself from its role in the sub-saharan African slave trade and the significance blackness plays within its borders, there exists a significant population of people of African descent from Latin America living in Spain. Second, we show Black people are living what Sadiyah Hartmann refers to as the afterlife of slavery in Latin America. We claim it is worthwhile to take into account that Afro-Latin Americans are fleeing to the country that is largely responsible for them being in Latin America and the conditions of …

Digital Footprints: Freedom On The Move At The University Of Kentucky, Vanessa Holden, Reinette F. Jones, Jennifer A. Bartlett, Kopana Terry

Library Presentations

During the late 18th through the mid-19th centuries, the Commonwealth of Kentucky saw significant movement of self-emancipated people seeking freedom from bondage. Often referred to as “runaways” or “fugitive slaves,” in historical texts, self-emancipated people defined freedom in many ways. These migrations were widely documented in newspaper advertisements known as fugitive slave advertisements and runaway ads in local newspapers published throughout the state. Access to these materials (often buried in databases or on microform) has been problematic at best. Enter the Self Emancipated and Enslaved People in Kentucky (SEEK) Project, a partnership between faculty in the University of Kentucky Libraries …

Navigating Black Identity: Black Young Adults’ Perception Of Being ‘Black Enough’ In America, Tabitha Omanano

Masters Theses

This thesis highlights young adults’ assumptions that social performance and certain cultural proficiencies validate one’s Blackness. I discuss cultural expressions and differences and social behaviors and why such markers and differences are insufficient to define and authenticate Black identity. I posit that the primary determinant of Blackness is a matter of biology and a shared historical context. I begin by reviewing historical and contemporary perspectives on the racial identity of African Americans and Black Africans across various eras in the United States. This is followed by analyzing the ways in which young people question their Black identities—ethnic, cultural, social, and …

Ua12/2/84 Sigma Chi, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Sigma Phi Alpha fraternity and it's forerunner Sigma Chi.

Ua12/2/82 Phi Beta Sigma, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Ua12/2/85 Sigma Gamma Rho, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.

Ua1c11/127 Stephen Flora Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs donated by WKU alumnus Stephen Flora, taken for class and College Heights Herald.

The Realities Of Adulthood: Insecure's Journey Through Chaos To Fulfillment, Aniyah G. Lathan

Emerging Writers

This article discusses the profound impact of the HBO series "Insecure" (2016) on the lives of young black women, particularly those navigating the complexities of their 20s and early 30s. Through the lens of the awkward yet endearing character Issa Dee, the show portrays a vivid narrative of love, friendship, and career struggles.

Housing Equity In Golden Gate Village, Nicole White

Social Justice | Senior Theses

For generations, the African American community has faced many forms of housing discrimination that have created major inequalities in their everyday lived experiences (Lockwood, 2020). This study explores the long-lasting effects of discriminatory housing policies in creating disparate housing conditions within the public housing community in Marin City called Golden Gate Village, as well as the role of the Marin Housing Authority in practices of displacement and neglect. The methodology for the study included seven different interviews with Golden Gate Village residents to obtain knowledge about the community as well as grasp an understanding of the lived experiences of the …

The Bourgeoisie Black Church: An Analysis Of The American Black Church's Aspirations And Imagination, Alexander Robert Booker

Seattle Pacific Seminary Theses

I am a product of the Black church. It is my home, my heart, and it has helped me spiritually, financially, and emotionally in many ways throughout my life. However, the church that I love dearly and has provided me with many opportunities has also provided spaces of harm, exclusion, and the promotion of an imperialistic Christ. This tension is not a unique tension for many institutions born in America, but what I see so clearly is the tension between the Black church’s countercultural and resistant roots that started in the brush harbors of the antebellum south and into what …

Reclaiming My Identity: A Philosophical Deconstruction Of Stereotypes Placed On Black Women In Hip-Hop, Kichev L. Moultrie

Honors College Theses

Imposing damaging stereotypes on Black women has persisted throughout American culture, specifically within hip-hop. To analyze modern depictions of Black women in hip-hop, I will trace the historical roots of these stereotypes including, but not limited to, angry Black woman, jezebel, sapphire, and how they have persisted in modern media. This includes referencing the works of philosophers like Patricia Collins, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, etc. I will address the intersectionality of gender, racism, and classism, to show how these stereotypes are used as an oppression mechanism which we witness in society and the hip-hop community. However, in the face of …

Confronting Yanqui Racismo: The Cuban Revolution And The (R)Evolutionary Radicalization Of Amiri Baraka, Ariane Ribeiro Santana

Theses and Dissertations--History

This study examined the July 1960 trip to Cuba financed by the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the Cuban cultural center Casa de las Américas, in which the Black poet and activist Amiri Baraka took part. Diving into his experiences in Cuba and his later writings, it is possible to conceive of diaspora as an interaction that is based not only on race, but on points of common oppression, as seen between Baraka and the African American delegation he joined in 1960 and the Cuban society he engaged with during the trip. This work therefore furthers the field of …

Looking At The Past To Change The Future: Showcasing Featured Collections, Building Communities, And Co-Creating, Sherry Buchanan

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Academic libraries have the opportunity and the responsibility to promote and advance content that creates transformative and iterative learning opportunities. To that end, and in an effort to build communities and facilitate co-creation, Portland State University showcases three main Featured Collections in our open access repository, PDXScholar: Climate Justice, COVID-19, and Racial and Gender Equity, with a fourth pilot collection—Student Work: An Open Showcase of Outstanding Student-Created Research & Creative Work—under development. The collections include a broad range of audiovisual materials, such as podcasts and webinar series, as well as sustainability and equity work, student-created content, and numerous future-focused multidisciplinary …

"Where Did Your Christ Come From?", Kamara V. Townes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, “WHERE DID YOUR CHRIST COME FROM?”, shown at Gallery 937 in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (displayed April 5th-June 9th, 2024). Through painting, sculpture, and installation, I rely on an intuitive artmaking practice to create work that makes commentary on race, gender and identity. This thesis documents my research on contemporary influences, experimentation with materials and my point of view in conversation with intersectional feminism while navigating institutional racism.

Conceptually the work of my thesis is deeply influenced by womanism and Black culture, which informs my exploration …

Pauline Echoes In The Preaching And Activism Of Francis James Grimké (1850–1937): Confronting Ethnic Prejudice Through An Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic (Eeh), Eric J. Freeman

Dissertations

Pauline Echoes in the Preaching and Activism of Francis James Grimké (1850–1937): Confronting Ethnic Prejudice through an Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic examines how Grimké’s sermons and public discourse, rooted in the proclaimed and embodied gospel of Jesus Christ and resonant with the Apostle Paul’s hermeneutic and pastoral heart, addressed social injustices—particularly ethnic prejudice—through a distinct, socially conscious homiletic. This research defines Grimké’s unique homiletic as an Evangelical Emancipatory Homiletic (EEH), a term coined here to convey the gospel-embodied, contextually aware nature of his ministry. Framed within the practical theology of homiletics, this study illustrates how Grimké’s EEH incorporated textual and thematic …

Using A "Moves To Innocence" Approach To Dissect And Debunk The Claim That Critical Race Theory Is Antisemitic, Diane Kemker

Lewis & Clark Law Review

In the United States, law and policy have most frequently reflected dominant white Christian majority interests. Critical Race Theory (CRT) offers powerful tools for understanding our history and situation, including that of American Jews, and how the social positions and interests of American Blacks and Jews, real and perceived, have intersected, sometimes aligning, sometimes diverging, and sometimes conflicting. And yet, among other charges leveled against it, Critical Race Theory is frequently accused of being antisemitic.

Intentionally or not, this charge delegitimizes and discredits CRT, and therefore advances the aims of all who oppose it for any reason, including white supremacists …

The Challenges And Rewards Of Carrying Out Qualitative Research On The Police In The African American Community, Daniel K. Pryce, Ingrid Phillips Witaker

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In this paper, we discuss the challenges and rewards of carrying out qualitative research on the police in the African American1 community. Using data drawn from interviews with seventy-seven African American adults in Durham, NC, we found that community member hostility toward research(ers) and fear of both neighbors and the police lowered African Americans’ willingness to be interviewed about their perceptions of and experiences with U.S. police. These findings were observed primarily in public housing and middle-income communities. On a positive note, we found that greater awareness of policing issues increased African Americans’ willingness to participate in research about the …

Digitizing The Photographs Of Black Photographers Horace And Evelyn Stewart, 1897-1978, S. Victor Fleischer

University Research

The purpose of this two-year project is to digitize and make available online for research and discovery the photographs of Horace and Evelyn Stewart from The University of Akron Archives & Special Collections. The Stewarts were a husband-and-wife team of professional Black photographers who owned and operated Stewart’s Photo Studio in Akron, Ohio. Their photographs visually document the rich history of the Black community in Akron, northeast Ohio, and beyond, from 1897 to 1978. The collection consists of 37 boxes containing approximately 46,000 historic black and white and color photographic prints and negatives that capture Black personalities and families; religious, …