Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons^™

Oral History: William Iannello, Andrew I. Dalton

Student Publications

Research paper devoted to the life of my grandfather, William Iannello, a second-generation Italian American. His parents came to the United States during the first decade of the 1900s from Calabria, the southernmost region of the Italian mainland.

The "Unfinished Work:" The Civil War Centennial And The Civil Rights Movement, Megan A. Sutter

Student Publications

The Civil War Centennial celebrations fell short of a great opportunity in which Americans could reflect on the legacy of the Civil War through the racial crisis erupting in their nation. Different groups exploited the Centennial for their own purposes, but only the African Americans and civil rights activists tried to emphasize the importance of emancipation and slavery to the memory of the war. Southerners asserted states’ rights in resistance to what they saw as a black rebellion in their area. Northerners reflected back on the theme of reconciliation, prevalent in the seventy-fifth anniversary of the war. Unfortunately, those who …

Two-Spirit Indigenous Americans: Fact Not Fiction, Casey S. O'Higgins

Student Publications

This paper examines the narratives of Two-Spirit Indigenous Americans who have been oppressed by heteropatriarchal norms of colonization. Two-spirit creation stories are explored to show the prevalence and importance of their identities prior to contact with Euro-American settlers and the evolution of violence, exclusion, and marginalization due to colonization.The term "Two-Spirit" is examined as a cultural identity of the Indigenous Americans. Finally, the paper looks at how Two-Spirit scholars are looking to combine Queer Theory with Indigenous Studies to deconstruct colonial heteropatriarchal America.

Book Review: Ethnic Cleansing And The Indian: The Crime That Should Haunt America, Mark Meuwese

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This critical review examines the recent monograph by Gary C. Anderson, Ethnic Cleansing and the Indian. Although Anderson's work gives a comprehensive overview of how Native Americans were forced from their homelands by European and American settler-expansion, the author's analysis is weakened by his refusal to consider that many of the Indigenous groups may have experienced this process as genocide.

Residential Segregation In Norfolk, Virginia: How The Federal Government Reinforced Racial Division In A Southern City, 1914-1959, Kevin Lang Ringelstein

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines how Norfolk, Virginia maintained residential segregation between the years 1914, when the city passed its first segregation ordinance, and 1959, when it received the All-America City Award for its massive slum clearance projects. By focusing on federal government initiatives in Norfolk, it shows that Norfolk’s leaders used the federal government’s assistance to map, analyze, and remove the city’s African American slums. Ultimately, it highlights the central role the federal government played in perpetuating residential segregation in Norfolk and how it opened a space for Norfolk’s leaders to act on their prejudice.

This thesis demonstrates that in the …

Editors' Commentary: We Should Opt To Be Turtles And Sing To One Another: Protection, Community, Poetry, Eliza Rodriguez Y Gibson

Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

‘Reclamation Road’: A Microhistory Of Massacre Memory In Clear Lake, California, Jeremiah J. Garsha

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article is a microhistory of not only the massacre of the indigenous Pomo people in Clear Lake, California, but also the memorialization of this event. It is an examination of two plaques marking the site of the Bloody Island massacre, exploring how memorial representations produce and silence historical memory of genocide under emerging and shifting historical narratives. A 1942 plaque is contextualized to show the co-option of the Pomo and massacre memory by an Anglo-American organization dedicated to settler memory. A 2005 plaque is read as a decentering of this narrative, guiding the viewer through a new hierarchy of …

Liberating Genocide: An Activist Concept And Historical Understanding, Tony Barta

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

From the outset, historians of genocide have seen themselves as activists. Among historians of colonial societies that is what distinguishes them most in relation to indigenous peoples. An ethnographic sensibility should be visible in any such study, and the more so when a question of genocide is raised. After all, if we do not have a sense of difference between peoples we fail the test of genocide at the first hurdle. And if we do not have an ethnographic sensibility towards our own cultures (including academic cultures) we will fail to make the most of our role in affecting deeply …

And The Elders And Scholars Wept: A Retrospective On The Symposium: Killing California Indians: Genocide In The Gold Rush Era, Held At The University Of California - Riverside, 7 November 2014, Organized By The California Center For Native Nations, T. Robert Przeklasa

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This retrospective looks-back on and provides a summation of “Killing California Indians: Genocide in the Gold Rush Era,” a symposium organized and executed by the California Center for Native Nations and the University of California, Riverside. It provides a synopsis of each of the papers presented as well as the presentations of the Native Community Panel, all of which all dealt with the nineteenth century genocide. Highlights of audience discussion as well as a description of cleansings and blessings offered by local spiritual leaders and the Native flute tributes that opened and closed the event are included, as well.

The Black Church : Responding To The Drug-Related Mass Incarceration Of Young Black Males : "If You Had Been Here My Brother Would Not Have Died!", Sharon E. Moore, A. Christson Adedoyin, Michael A. Robinson, Daniel A. Boamah

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The mass incarceration of young Black males for drug-related offences is a social issue that has broad implications. Some scholars have described this as a new form of racism that needs to be addressed through the concerted effort of various institutions, including the Black Church. In this paper the authors will elucidate the past and current roles of the Black Church, discuss the utilization of the social work Theory of Empowerment and Black Church theology to address the disproportionality of drug-related mass incarceration of young Black males, focus on initiatives undertaken by the Black Church to address this issue and …

Canadian Women In Prison: A Racial And Gendered Discursive Analysis, Eva Osazuwa

Social Justice and Community Engagement

Research shows that women are the fastest growing prison population worldwide, and this trend proves no different in Canada (Balfour, 2008; Pate, 2006; Pollack, 2003; Sudbury, 2005). According to the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies of Manitoba (n.d.) (CAEFS), this past decade has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of women who are federally incarcerated in comparison to the 15 percent increase for men. More specifically, Sudbury (2005) argued that poor, young, racialized women and girls are amid the fastest growing population in Canadian prisons. That said, the goal of this paper is to examine government documents …

"The Planet Is The Way It Is Because Of The Scheme Of Words": Sun Ra And The Performance Of Reckoning, Maryam Ivette Parhizkar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This constellatory essay is a study of the African American sound experimentalist, thinker and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial Sun Ra (1914-1993) through samplings of his wide, interdisciplinary archive: photographs, film excerpts, selected recordings, and various interviews and anecdotes. In composing this essay, I particularly consider how these fragments resonate against each other, offering insight into how Ra radically subverts the restraints imposed upon him as a black man in the United States and thus transfigures his racial alienness into a liberatory, literally alien performance. This self-transfiguration allows Ra to transform such impossible restraints into a condition of possibility for reckoning. I …

Blazing New Paths From Ancient Footprints: Enactment Of Mexican Traditional Dance And Music (Folklórico) In A New York Urban Community Of Early Childhood Learners, Pamela Proscia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The research undertaken for this study centers on outside-of-school teaching and learning through the practice of traditional Mexican music and dance (folkloric musical culture or folklórico) as transmitted to children of early childhood age in a New York urban ethnocultural dance community. The study focuses on the ways in which the traditional Mexican music and dance community, as cultural producers, pass along knowledge and inherent values of Mexican heritage and on how the process of acculturation includes changes imparted through progressive western approaches to teaching movement.

The study incorporates a long-term sociohistorical perspective in order to contextualize the place …

Organizing Against Discrimination: The Chinese Hand Laundrymen Historical Niche And Ethnic Solidarity In America, Johnny Thach

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, hand laundries developed into the first Chinese historical niche in America in conjunction with Chinese laundrymen's activism, community organization, and ethnic solidarity in response to the proliferation of anti-Chinese discriminatory ordinances and laws instigated by White laundries and government officials. Using primary sources and secondary historical examples, this thesis explores the formation of the niche through the collective actions of two Chinese laundrymen organizations: the Tung Hing Tong “("同心堂")” in California, and the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York. This thesis demonstrates that not only were both organizations founded differently and for …

The Heterotopia Of Flight: Resisting The Domestic, Sarah Elizabeth Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The familiar image of a woman fleeing danger is a well-worn convention of heroine-centered fiction, a plot device inevitably resolved when the heroine returns safely to her home and family. This dissertation proposes a new reading of that narrative by asserting that rather than serving as a space of protection, the home poses the greatest threat to an individual's autonomy. If we understand the domestic as a space in which bodies are ordered and, more specifically, gendered, classed, and raced, the trope of flight from the domestic can be read as an act of resistance to subjugation. This act is …

More Than A Game: The Legacy Of Black Baseball, Tara Moriarty

Kaleidoscope

Out of a segregated and persecuted black society, the Negro Leagues arose to provide a form of business, entertainment, and charity. The leagues served as a form of uplift within the race and as a tool to bring blacks together within their communities. In 1945, with the signing of Jackie Robinson to Montreal, baseball became a vehicle for integration. While Robinson broke the color line in professional baseball, he simultaneously broke the Negro Leagues. Black fans abandoned black baseball and turned to the Major Leagues to watch Robinson. Although the integration of baseball was the first major victory for integration …

On A Particularly Patriotic Day, Laila M. Mufty

SURGE

I stare at myself in disgust before turning away and beginning to apply skin creams and makeup that promise a lighter complexion. I straighten my naturally thick, curly hair, methodically going over the same strand multiple times while wishing for straight hair like the other perfect blond girls in my grade. I put on a modest all black ensemble in an effort to avoid unwanted attention and pull on a large jacket with a hood to hide my face. [excerpt]

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 91, No. 11, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Harney, Lashana. Enrollment Numbers Drop 0.2 Percent - Registrar
• Henderson, Andrew. Board of Regents Committees Hold September Meeting
• Wright, Samantha. Board of Regents Committee Approves New Physical Therapy Department – Curriculum
• Mayo, Marcel. MajorRedz to Host First Ever Talent Show
• Shaffer, Hannah. Cigarette Butts Pose Beautification Problem on Campus – Smoking, Tobacco
• Freeman, Shane. The Green Inferno – Movie Review
• Editorial Cartoon Lips are Sealed on Sexual Assault
• Lips Sealed: WKU’s Response to Sexual Assault Needs to Change
• Hardin, Scout. Dressing to Impress: First Date Do’s & Don’ts for …

Indigenous Knowledge And Maple Syrup: A Case Study Of The Effects Of Colonization In Ontario, Hayley Moody

Social Justice and Community Engagement

For many Indigenous communities throughout the province of Ontario on Turtle Island, maple syrup (MS) practices are culturally and spiritually significant; however, since the arrival of European settlers, these MS practices have substantially declined. This research utilizes the decline of maple syrup practices and related Indigenous Knowledge (IK) as a case study to exemplify the damaging impacts colonialism has had on the culture of Indigenous peoples living within Ontario. Over a period of two months, I spoke with seven Indigenous individuals throughout Ontario about their experiences and opinions regarding the relationship between colonialism and MS practices. Accordingly, colonialism has impacted …

On Rage, Jerome D. Clarke

SURGE

“Honestly [Flight] was written out of rage. I wrote it immediately after Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, in a matter of months. It was in the aftermath of 9/11. I was upset with the way people were acting, People on the Left and the Right, Muslims and Christians were justifying violence towards the other side. And everyone believed they were correct. I was thinking ‘What if Everybody is wrong?’” — Sherman Alexie in The Gettysburgian. [excerpt]

Orange, Joseph, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Joseph Orange’s family moved to the Bronx in 1941 from Harlem, he is the youngest of 8. Orange grew up in the Morrissina section. Orange explained that the Bronx represented upward mobility to many African Americans at the time.

There were a number of musicians in his family. Orange’s uncle, J.C Higgenbotham was a popular trombone player in the 30’s and 40’s. He went on to play with Louis Armstrong and other famous jazz musicians. Orange was surrounded by music growing up. Neighbors would play music that could be heard on the street. Music stores would play music out the …

Norman, Gene, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Gene Norman’s family first moved to Clairemount Parkway and Third Avenue in the Bronx. He was an only child and his father was not living with him. His mother worked as a housemaid and later as a nurse. The neighborhood was predominately African-American and he attended PS 23 and PS 9. These grade schools had tracked ability levels, which were determined by standardized testing. He was always in the “1” classes and noticed that there were significantly less African-Americans in those classes. He attended Junior High School 52 and noticed a change in the makeup of the student body. Students …

Pita, Dorothy, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Dr. Dorothy Pita was born and raised in the Bronx. She worked as a teacher in the South Bronx starting in 1950 at PS39 and later at PS18. She mostly taught Latino and African American kindergarten students of low-income. She remembers parents not being involved in their children’s education, but the students were also well-dressed and not malnourished

While she was a teacher, the Patterson Houses and other housing projects opened, and at the time it was seen in a positive light. The school had after school programs as well, and throughout the 50s she doesn’t recall any racial tensions, …

Payne, Patricia And Russell, Marilyn, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Patricia Payne and Marilyn Russell are both college professors who grew up in the Patterson Houses – a housing project. As a child in the 1950s, Marilyn moved there from Harlem with her family: her mother, a stay-at-home mom, her father, a shipping clerk, and her siblings. Her parents were from the South, and she recalls the housing projects as very safe and clean, as well as very diverse.

Both Marilyn remember attending after school programs at their public schools, being supervised by tutors of the same sex, as well as having librarians read to children at the library. Meanwhile, …

Ua12/2/1 Topper Extra, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Special edition of the College Heights Herald featuring football:

• Rutledge, Billy. D’Andre Ferby Steps Into Starring Role for Hilltopper Offense
• Rutledge, Billy. Hilltoppers With Higher Aspirations for Second Conference USA Year
• Phillips, Jonah. Hilltoppers Will Look to Rebound Against 1-2 Miami

Crier, Arthur, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Arthur Crier

Interviewer: Mark Naison

Summarized by Concetta Gleason

Crier is an organizer of the Morissania Review and a leading figure in Doo-Wop and Rhythm and Blues in the Morrisania community. Crier was born in 1935 in Harlem, but raised on Prospect Ave in the Bronx. His mother was from the South, specifically North Carolina, which is where he currently resides. He attended a mixed elementary school and also played street games with the other children on the block. The schools were very good and teachers genuinely cared for their students. The neighborhood was safe and the families looked …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 91, No. 10, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Hederson, Andrew & Samantha Wright. Gary Ransdell Offers Insight Into Confucius Institute
• Sullivan, Tommy. Pearce-Ford Tower Loses Nine Resident Assistants – Housing & Residence Life
• Wright, Samantha. Faculty, Staff Salaries Could See A Boost Soon – Budget
• Mayo, Marcel. Student Government Association Disapproves Confucius Institute Building Process
• Henderson, Andrew. U.S. Bancorp CEO Lectures Students on Leadership – Richard Davis
• Henderson, Andrew. Housing & Residence Life Director Steve Briggs Resigns
• Pettway, Shantel. Student Presents Research at Atlanta Conference – Marcus Stubbs, Association for the Study of African American Life & …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 91, No. 9, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Sullivan, Tommy. Event Kicks Off Campus Fire Safety Month – Environmental Health & Safety
• Shaffer, Hannah. Forensics Team Hosts Season Opener
• Wright, Samantha. WKU Recognized for Campus Landscape – National Wildlife Federation
• Brown, Monica. WKU Offers Nursing Program on Farmers’ Health – Agriculture
• Shaffer, Hannah. Student Government Association Delays Contract With Transport Company Uber
• Henderson, Andrew. Gary Ransdell Addresses University Senate Meeting
• Crowe, Shawn. Letter to the Editor – Campus Landscape
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon Black Lives Matter
• Black Lives Matter Kept Alive at WKU
• Hardin, Scout. New York …

Burbridge, Richard And Doris Interview 2, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison, Natasha Lightfoot, Brian Purnell

INTERVIEWEE: Richard Burbridge, Doris Burbridge

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Richard and Doris Burbridge conduct genealogical research in order to find out more about their respective families’ history. Richard’s mother was from New Orleans and his father was from Biloxi, Mississippi. The couple met in Biloxi, and moved to New York, where Richard and his two siblings were born. Upon taking a genealogy class at the Queens Public Library in 1992, Richard decided to conduct some research on his own roots. He soon found out that his family also had roots in Kentucky: his …

Renwick, Evril, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Evril Renwick was born and raised in Grenada by her maternal grandparents. Her father abandoned Evril’s mother after her elders refused to allow her to travel alone with her young children to Brazil and meet him there. Evril’s mother wrote her brother in New York and went to live and work with him in 1924 when Evril was still a baby. Evril was living a content, independent life in Grenada until her twenties when her older sister died (her grandparents had already passed away) and for the first time Evril had a strong desire to see her mother. In1946, after …