Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

[Introduction To] Racism In The Nation's Service: Government Workers And The Color Line In Woodrow Wilson's America, Eric S. Yellin

Bookshelf

Between the 1880s and 1910s, thousands of African Americans passed civil service exams and became employed in the executive offices of the federal government. However, by 1920, promotions to well-paying federal jobs had nearly vanished for black workers. Eric S. Yellin argues that the Wilson administration's successful 1913 drive to segregate the federal government was a pivotal episode in the age of progressive politics. Yellin investigates how the enactment of this policy, based on Progressives' demands for whiteness in government, imposed a color line on American opportunity and implicated Washington in the economic limitation of African Americans for decades to …

An Exploration Of Worship Practices At An African American Church Of Christ, Lamont Ali Francies

Doctoral Dissertations

The identity of the African American Churches of Christ is deeply rooted in the American struggle for racial equality. Without a formal governing body, the Churches of Christ have survived throughout the majority of the 20th century without making an official stance on racial relations. Many leaders in the religious movement have claimed racial immunity but have not addressed the evident division among ethnic lines. This study explored the extent of cultural influence that Caucasian Churches of Christ have on African American congregations.

This study observed these influences and how they shape religious culture and tradition in Black churches. The …

Seventy Years Of The African American Male Experience At Eastern Illinois University, Rovion D. Reed

Masters Theses

Using qualitative methodology the researcher analyzed the lived experiences of seven African American men who attended Eastern Illinois University over the past seven decades including one who is currently enrolled. Data was collected by conducting archival research as well and semi-structured interviews. Overall participants reported having good experiences at Eastern Illinois University. The participants' experiences were categorized into seven themes including faculty or staff relations, race relations, intra-racial relations, campus involvement, mentoring, campus climate, and Black Greek organizations. In addition, minor themes were also discovered including only-ness, lowered expectations, positive influence of student organizations, and sense of care from mentors.

Separating The Whites From The Chaff: Whiteness, Blackness, Racial Exclusion In The Midwest Agrarian Mind, Philip Mohr

Masters Theses

This thesis approaches the construction of race through the vantage of one agrarian magazine, the Prairie Farmer. It analyzes the rhetoric of the people who wrote for this magazine to distinguish changing attitudes toward whiteness and blackness in the rural and agricultural Midwest from the end of the Civil War to the Great Migration. While whiteness was equated with what the Prairie Farmer saw as the active, progressive farmer, blackness was associated with stupidity, laziness, and threat to property. From this, the thesis argues we can build a base of knowledge from which to analyze the roots of racism …

Trait Emotional Intelligence, Perceived Discrimination, And Academic Achievement Among African American And Latina/O High School Students: A Study Of Academic Resilience, Nicholas Russell Abel

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The goal of academic resilience research is to identify factors and processes which lead to academic success among groups of students generally found to be at-risk, including those of African American and Latina/o descent. The present study investigated a possible risk factor (perceptions of discrimination), a possible protective factor (emotional intelligence), and the role of gender in predicting academic achievement (as measured by high school GPA) in a sample (N = 79) of African American and Latina/o high school students attending one high school in Minnesota. Through the use of multiple regression, neither emotional intelligence nor perceptions of discrimination was …

The Good Teacher: A Qualitative Analysis Of Perceptions Of Asian American Parents, Mariam Zia Qureshi

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This research study examined the general question "What do Asian American parents believe to be important characteristics of an effective elementary teacher?" In order to investigate this question, the researcher used a qualitative research design employing a semi-structured interview which probed into the personal perceptions voiced by a sample of twelve Asian American parents on the characteristics of good teachers. The twelve Asian American parents who participated in this study were from nine different Asian countries covering the three main regions defined as Asian according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Far East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian sub-continent. Also, …

She's A Brick House: August Wilson And The Stereotypes Of Black Womanhood, Amelia Tatum Grabowski

Student Publications

In his Century Cycle of plays, August Wilson tells ten distinct stories of families in or linked to the Hill District, an African American community in Pittsburgh; one play taking place in each decade of the twentieth century. Through these plays, Wilson's audience sees the Hill District and America evolve, while prejudice, oppression, and poverty remain constant. Many scholars argue that sexism provides a fourth common factor, asserting that Wilson portrays the female characters in the male-fantasized, stereotypical roles of the Mammy or the Jezebel figure, rather as realistic, empowered, and complex women. However, close examination of the women with …

Researching Critical Incidents Of Transformation, Paul R. Scheele

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study examined transformation within individuals in a collaborative adult learning context. Using a combination of methods—surveys and critical incident technique (CIT)—the study explored in depth the experiences of 28 subjects from a population of 100 participants in an open-enrollment workshop, the Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium produced by the Pachamama Alliance. The program employs high-impact training approaches to inform participants about social injustices and environmental practices that threaten the planet, and to encourage them to act on that information. The research focused on critical incidents at or shortly after the workshop that produced significant and meaningful change …

Pressing Seams, Abigail Carl

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

"Pressing Seams" is a collection of poems based on the experiences of Old Colony Mennonites living in settlements near Seminole, Texas, and Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, as well as on the experiences of marginalized individuals and groups living in the El Paso/Juárez region. The juxtaposition of the experiences of these individuals and communities within the geographic location of the United States-Mexico border creates a third space that is, as defined by Gloria Anzaldúa, "both geographical and metaphorical" where these poems seek to intersect and interact in dynamic ways that challenge the dominant socio-political and religious discourses and ideology that govern these communities …

The Role Of A Culturally Appropriate Lifestyle Intervention On Cardiovascular Disease Risk In Hispanic Adults From El Paso, Texas, Julio Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a worldwide epidemic in the last decade and is the leading cause of death in the U.S. population, including Hispanics. The objective of this study was to conduct secondary data analyses to assess the impact of a lifestyle intervention on clinical and behavioral measures of Hispanic participants. A 16-week culturally appropriate lifestyle intervention was part of the Health Education and Assessment Research Team - H.E.A.R.T. Project, a community-based participatory research that is framed around the socio-ecological approach and employs Community Health Workers (CHW) to address cardiovascular disease risk factors among Hispanics living in El Paso, …

A Snitch In Time: An Historical Sketch Of Black Informing During Slavery, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

This article sketches the socio-legal creation, use, and regulation of informants in the Black community during slavery and the Black community’s response at that time. Despite potentially creating benefits such as crime control and sentence reduction, some Blacks today are convinced that cooperation with government investigations and prosecutions should be avoided. One factor contributing to this perspective is America’s reliance on Black informants to police and socially control Blacks during slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Wars on Drugs, Crime and Gangs. Notwithstanding this historical justification for non-cooperation, only a few informant law and policy scholars have examined closely …

La Carte D’Identité De Jean-Marie Adiaffi Ou La Quête Identitaire À Travers La Symbolique De L’Initiation Allégorique, Theodore Akohoue

The Coastal Review

Since the earliest contact between Sub-Saharan Africans and Europeans, European literature tends to erase African history and civilization. Later, after an unsuccessful erasure, colonial literature denigrates it as primitive. Using the “identity card” as a motif in his novel, Jean-Marie Adiaffi exposes the defects of European colonization in its African colonies. Through an approach of allegorical initiation symbolism, Addiaffi revalorizes his culture, tradition, and identity all denied by colonial rule.

Slaves To Contradictions: 13 Myths That Sustained Slavery, Wilson Huhn

Akron Law Faculty Publications

People have a fundamental need to think of themselves as “good people.” To achieve this we tell each other stories – we create myths – about ourselves and our society. These myths may be true or they may be false. The more discordant a myth is with reality, the more difficult it is to convince people to embrace it. In such cases to sustain the illusion of truth it may be necessary to develop an entire mythology – an integrated web of mutually supporting stories. This paper explores the system of myths that sustained the institution of slavery in the …

"When You Tell Them, Your Secret Is Out There": Experiences Of Sexuality And Intimacy Among Hiv Positive Black Women, Mackenzie Rae Tewell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

HIV/AIDS infections disproportionately impact African Americans within the United States. In 2010, black Americans made up 12 percent of the United States population, yet accounted for 44 percent of new HIV/AIDS infections (Kaiser Family Foundation 2013). The majority of black women (85 percent) are infected with the virus through heterosexual contact, meaning it is critical examine their sexual lives in order to gain insight into this infection within this population (CDC 2011b). Through semi-structured interviews at a Tampa, Florida AIDS service organization, this study presents the experiences of sexuality and intimacy among HIV positive black women. Results demonstrate that HIV …

"All Blacks Vote The Same?": Assessing Predictors Of Black American Political Participation And Partisanship, Antoine Lennell Jackson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The politics of Blacks are stereotypically assumed to be the same and share the same race-based root, be it disenfranchisement or solidarity. Given the recent jump in Black political participation and the seemingly race-based and partisan nature "the Black vote" holds, it is essential to investigate what factors drive Black voter turnout as well as what factors contribute to the partisan nature of Black voters. Most other studies of political opinion, turnout, and party preference only consider comparable demographic groups such as men versus women or Blacks versus Whites. This study examines partisan preference and participation only among Black Americans. …

The Strange Life And Stranger Afterlife Of King Dick Including His Adventures In Haiti And Hollywood With Observations On The Construction Of Race, Class, Nationality, Gender, Slang Etymology And Religion, Alan Thomas Lipke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Richard "King Dick" or "Big Dick" Crafus, Cephas, or Seaver(s) first attracted attention by his size, strength and the authority he exercised as leader of U.S. African American Prisoners of War in Britain during the War of 1812. After the War he was celebrated as a boxing pioneer, ceremonial King of Boston's black community and almost certainly auxiliary law officer. Very little has been known about his life, and much of that obscured by his black working-class status; his true standing within his own community remains mysterious. Yet paradoxically he's been made much of, in academic writing and fiction alike …

Urban Indian Perspectives Of Traditional Indian Medicine, Annette Squetimkin-Anquoe

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

American Indians (AI) represent two percent of the United States population with over five hundred and sixty federally recognized tribes. In comparison to mainstream society AI show disparate rates for a number of health conditions. While some AI use traditional forms of medicine and healing practices that encompass mind-body-spirit approaches, studies conducted on the topic of Traditional Indian Medicine (TIM) among American Indians are sparse. Considering the fact that two thirds of the entire AI population currently lives in urban areas, it is timely to learn more about how TIM is seen by them. The purpose of this study was …

What Are The Key Competencies, Qualities, And Attributes Of The African American Municipal Police Chief?, Patrick Oliver

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this dissertation was to identify and understand the dimensions of leadership of those African Americans, who are effective as the chief executive officer (CEO) of a municipal law enforcement agency, and thereby to educate and inform both those aspiring to be police chiefs and those presently serving as police chiefs, particularly African Americans. Four content areas were examined to gain a better understanding of the research question: (1) Police executive leadership literature; (2) African American leadership; (3) The trait theory of leadership; (4) emotional intelligence. Study participants were all African American police chiefs with the expertise and …

Applying A Leadership Framework To Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus) Post Fordice, Armenta Hinton

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a list of outstanding accomplishments that span over a century; however, this segment of higher education continues to be underfunded and remains in a position of justifying its existence in a postracial America. The issues facing HBCUs are significant. Race-based legislation has created a dual system of American higher education that adversely affects these minority serving institutions, impacting the quality of education they dispense and producing potentially negative effects on vulnerable and under-served collegians. Supreme Court Justice Thomas’s opinion in the U.S. v. Fordice (1992) case opposed the creation of HBCUs as “enclaves …

Exploring Tribal College And University (Tcu) Faculty Collegiality, Nora Antoine

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation study explores Tribal College and University (TCU) faculty collegiality utilizing qualitative and indigenous research methodology approaches. Since collegiality is a multidimensional construct, a Rolling Survey process was developed to provide a vehicle for discussion. Within focus group settings, TCU faculty participants created a composite about their relationships, communications, and professional development. Dialogue affirmed important professional relationships and explored issues that contribute or detract from TCU faculty work experiences. The results of this study further suggest wider applications for leadership and businesses in general, affirming the importance of and the need to support professional working relationships. The electronic version …