African American Studies Commons^™

Old Union Church Of Christ - Sumner County, Tennessee (Sc 3216), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3216. Minute book of Old Union Church of Christ, Sumner County, Tennessee, also known as the Congregation Electa Cyrea. Includes an introductory narrative on the formation of the church, meeting minutes, members lists (white and African American), and lists of contributions and expenditures.

Historicizing Muslim American Literature: Studies On Literature By African American And South Asian American Muslim Writers, Wawan Eko Yulianto

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to the challenge of understanding Muslim Americans in a way that highlights their integral role in the United States through literature, this research starts with two questions: 1) how should we read Muslim American literature in relation to the lived experiences of Islam in America? and 2) how does Muslim American literature contribute to the more mainstream American literature.

To answer those questions, this research takes as its foundations the theories by Stuart Hall and Satya Mohanty on, firstly, the evolving nature of diaspora identity and on the epistemic status of identity. Following Hall’s argument that every expression …

Black Islamic Evangelization In The American South, Chester Warren Cornell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broadly speaking, my research focus is on African American religion, with particular interest in the various manifestations of black Islam in the United States. I am particularly interested in the question “Has religion served as an opiate or stimulant for black political protest?” And my research attempts to answer it by chronicling the experiences of black Muslims in southern prisons. My dissertation builds on Michelle Alexander’s groundbreaking book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010). Alexander argues that African Americans were not over-represented in America’s prisons in the 1970s, but with President Reagan’s War on …

Don't Call King A 'Civil Rights' Leader: Toward Abolishing Poverty And War By Correcting Our Fatally Inadequate Remembering Of Mlk Jr., Theodore Walker

Perkins Faculty Research and Special Events

Remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—primarily as a domestic “civil rights” leader—is inadequate, and sometimes harmful. The term “civil rights” fails to embrace King’s abolitionist movements toward the global abolition of poverty and war. Moreover, King was a Baptist preacher called by God. He advanced an optimistic realism (including a “realistic pacifism”) that improves upon pessimistic-cynical versions of political realism. And King went beyond advancing “civil rights” to advancing economic justice, economic rights, and human rights. He prescribed adding a social and economic bill of rights to the US Constitution, plus full-employment supplemented by “guaranteed income,” …

The Fluid Pastoral: African American Spiritual Waterways In The Urban Landscapes Of Harlem Renaissance Poetry, Maren E. Loveland

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

In 1921 Langston Hughes penned, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” in his poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (Hughes 1254). Weaving the profound pain of the African American experience with the symbolism of the primordial river, Hughes recognized the inherent power of water as a means of spiritual communication and religious significance. Departing from the traditional interpretation of the American pastoral as typified by white poets such as Robert Frost and Walt Whitman, the African American poets emerging from the Harlem Renaissance established a more nuanced pastoral landscape embedded within urban cultures, utilizing water in particular as …

The Decline Of Church Attendance In Black America: A Biblical Mandate For Black Males To Godly Leadership., Elder E.Q. Truss

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The church was established as a place where sinners could come and find refuge for their souls. Getting people to feel secure in their relationship with Christ, many churchgoers have decided to stay away from church. Studies show for the past several decades’ church attendance declined in many Baptist churches across America by 61 percent. The roles of black males lack the leadership ability to lead in the home, as a husband, and in the family. Research has uncovered several issues which have shown because of this decline. Black Baptist churches in Florida are suffering from male leadership. Leadership must …

Increasing The Involvement Of African American Men At Contending For The Faith Church In Wilson, North Carolina, Dameion Royal

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Contending for the Faith Church Ministries was founded in 2004. It is a predominantly African American congregation located in the eastern North Carolina city of Wilson. Since the church’s founding, the gender gap in involvement has been obvious. It is quite clear that men’s involvement is significantly lower than the than that of women within this congregation. This project will suggest a model to increase involvement of African American men at Contending for the Faith Church. Taking into consideration the challenges faced by African American men in America as well as specifically in the community surrounding the church, this study …

Interview With Carlton Pearson, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

Editor John Lyden had the opportunity for a conversation with Rev. Carlton Pearson, the subject of the Netflix film Come Sunday which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2018. They discussed Pearson's theology of inclusion and what led him to it.

Better Than Before, Makia Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Better than Before is an experiential art installation that profiles the life of James Isreal, a Vietnam vet who shares a spiritual journey that is filled with self-discovery, introspection, and hope in the midst of war and abhorrent racism. His poignant retrospective follows his struggle to find peace in the midst of trauma and disease, providing life lessons that transcend the pangs of adversity and the unknown.

Powerpoint: Critical Engagement: Colin Kaepernick, Mason Sargent, Tate Henrikson, Sean N. Bennington, Justin M. Porter, Nicolete D. Moyo

Womanist Ethics

Critical Engagement is the use of practical strategies and pedagogical methods [that] challenge dominant intellectual legacies, theological resources, and ideologies that undermine the goals of Womanist ethics, namely, the empowerment of black women. It is a concept created by Floyd Thomas, in whose writings, it is one of the five Womanist tenants. We decided to base Colin Kaepernick’s ‘take a knee’ movement as an example of Critical Engagement. Using this perspective, we examined the various aspects of the movement and analyzed the effects on American culture and society through a Womanist lens.

Magazine: Alice: A Womanist Ethics Magazine, Lucy Kebler, Grace Dematteis, Karli Stankus, Laurin Hopping

Womanist Ethics

Alice is an academic magazine that focuses on the topic of womanism and one of its primary tenets, radical subjectivity. Incorporating both historical womanist content, and modern womanist perspectives, Alice brings a modern twist to the idea of radical subjectivity. The magazine concentrates heavily on current womanist celebrities, who bring womanism to the public. Alice maps out both straightforward and ambiguous instances so that the reader can better understand them. The magazine also incorporates interactive material, such as a womanist quiz, and two womanist recipes.

Toward A Theology Of Transformation, Hannah Kathleen Griggs

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

Black liberation theologians come to terms with white supremacy by collectively remembering the story of the Exodus and Jesus' crucifixion--affirming God's preference for freedom and in-the-world salvation. The particular history of white American Christianity requires a different story to provide the foundation for our social memory. As white American Christians, we have certain blind spots—blind spots created by historical and social privileges that have given white people unequal access to power and resources. The story of Zacchaeus has the potential to help reframe white Christianity’s conception of race relations in the United States, shifting from a reconciliation paradigm to a …

Ua1c6/1 Demonstration / Protest Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images of student / faculty demonstrations and protests of various types.

Meeting At The Threshold: Slavery’S Influence On Hospitality And Black Personhood In Late-Antebellum American Literature, Rebecca Wiltberger Wiggins

Theses and Dissertations--English

In my dissertation, I argue that both white and black authors of the late-1850s and early-1860s used scenes of race-centered hospitality in their narratives to combat the pervasive stereotypes of black inferiority that flourished under the influence of chattel slavery. The wide-spread scenes of hospitality in antebellum literature—including shared meals, entertaining overnight guests, and business meetings in personal homes—are too inextricably bound to contemporary discussions of blackness and whiteness to be ignored. In arguing for the humanizing effects of playing host or guest as a black person, my project joins the work of literary scholars from William L. Andrews to …

Southern Veils : The Sisters Of Loretto In Early National Kentucky., Hannah O'Daniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the experiences of Roman Catholic women who joined the Sisters of Loretto, a community of women religious in rural Washington and Nelson Counties, Kentucky, between the 1790s and 1826. It argues that the Sisters of Loretto used faith to interpret and respond to unfolding events in the early nation. The women sought to combat moral slippage and restore providential favor in the face of local Catholic institutional instability, global Protestant evangelical movements, war and economic crisis, and a tuberculosis outbreak. The Lorettines faced financial, social, and cultural pressures—including an economic depression, a culture that celebrated family formation …

Spirituality Among Black Americans: A Hierarchical Classification Of The Family Strengths Model, Genese Clark

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is a need for disaggregate data pertaining to the perceived strengths of Black American families. This study identified which traits are salient and dominant among African-American families according to the Family Strengths Model. Utilizing this model, a mixed methods study was conducted among Black Americans living in Connecticut who identify with belonging to a family (N=59) to investigate the importance of six family strength domains. Results found the hierarchical rank (from most important to least important) to be commitment, spirituality/ spiritual wellbeing, appreciation and affection, positive communication, time together, and the ability to manage stress and crisis effectively. Additionally, …

Emerging Challenges To Long-Term Peace And Security In Mozambique, Ayokunu Adedokun

The Journal of Social Encounters

Mozambique’s transition from civil war to peace is often considered among the most successful implementations of a peace agreement in the post-Cold War era. Following the signing of the 1992 Rome General Peace Accords (GPA), the country has not experienced any large-scale recurrence of war. Instead, Mozambique has made impressive progress in economic growth, poverty reduction, improved security, regional cooperation and post-war democratisation. Mozambique has also made significant strides in the provision of primary healthcare, and steady progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Notwithstanding these stellar achievements, Mozambique still faces a large number of political, social and economic problems: …

Black Lives, Sacred Humanity, And The Racialization Of Nature, Or Why America Needs Religious Naturalism Today, Carol W. White

Faculty Journal Articles

Embedded in persistent representations of people of African descent as inferior beings or subpar humans are problematic notions of animality, race, and nature in the U.S., or a lethal combination of intimately conjoined white supremacy and species supremacy. Confronting these processes is a model of African American religious naturalism, which presupposes human animals’ deep, inextricable homology with each other and with other natural processes. Building on the ideas of Anna J. Cooper, W. E. B. du Bois, and James Baldwin, this model of religious naturalism emphasizes humans as sacred centers of value and distinct movements of nature itself where deep …

Providential Capitalism: Heavenly Intervention And The Atlantic’S Divine Economist, Ian F.P. Green

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Providential capitalism names the marriage of providential Christian values and market-oriented capitalist ideology in the post-revolutionary Atlantic through the mid nineteenth century. This is a process by which individuals permitted themselves to be used by a so-called “divine economist” at work in the Atlantic market economy. Backed by a slave market, capital transactions were rendered as often violent ecstatic individual and cultural experiences. Those experiences also formed the bases for national, racial, and classed identification and negotiation among the constellated communities of the Atlantic. With this in mind, writers like Benjamin Franklin, Olaudah Equiano, and Ukawsaw Gronniosaw presented market success …

"I Do Feel The Fire!": The Transformations Of Prison-Based Black Male Converts To Islam In South Central, Malcolm X, And Oz, Kameron J. Copeland

Journal of Religion & Film

Historically, imprisoned Black male converts to Islam have been known for their narratives of redemption and struggles for religious freedom behind bars. While Islam possesses a strong visible presence throughout predominately Black areas of inner cities, it has become a natural feature of Black popular culture in mediums such as hip-hop, film, and literature. By the 1990s, the portrayal of Islamic conversions yielding Malcolm X-style transformations among young Black men, who formerly embodied self-destructiveness, were visible in films featuring Black male protagonists. The prison-based transformations typically involved highly influential Black Muslim leaders improving the social conditions of the inmate, the …

Ua12/2/2 2017 Talisman: Well Being, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

2017 Talisman yearbook.

• Kaetzel, Kylee. Editor’s Note
• Upton, Jordan. His Hands
• Watkins, Abby. The Meal Plan – Recipes
• Eastham, Lillie. New Hieghts – Reed Mattison, Rock Climbing
• Robb, Hayley. A Life Transformed – Annabeth Welborn
• Robb, Hayley. 6:00 AM Bright & Early – Exercise
• Doyel, Rachael. Redifining Ability – Jacob Holt
• Upton, Jordan. Yom Kippur at Happy Hills Buddhist Temple
• Wegert, Sally. Inner Peace – Allison Adams, Yoga
• Mattingly, Evan. The Future’s in Your Hands – Bianca Williams, Psychics
• Frint, Hunter. Too Often Silenced – Unity Walk
• Doyel, Rachael. Changing Tides
• Wells, Spencer. Struggle & Rebirth – Trey Farlee, Musicians …

Guest Editor's Introduction, Sherlynn Allen-Harris

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgments And Disclaimer, Regennia N. Williams

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

The Rule, Marylou And Jerome Bongiorno

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

2018 Call For Submissions, Regennia N. Williams

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

Black, Queer, And Blessed: Toward A Biblically Based Black, Queer Narrative Of Leadership, Arthur Leon Tredwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the evolution of traditional African-American religious leadership as it evolved during the first half of the twentieth century. It traces the two primary models of Black religious leadership that emerged from White, cis, benevolent and dominating models of patriarchy. This task is accomplished primarily through a survey of the ministries of Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Jr. (1908-1970) and their consecutive sixty years of ministry at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, Harlem, New York. It intentionally engages the issue of homophobia, demonstrating how it operates in Black churches generationally.

Determining these historical patriarchal models of leadership to …

A Former Student And Colleague Remembers Gil Scott-Heron, Linwood Gato Martinez-Bentley

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

Why Does The Caged Bird Sing? A Phenomenological Analysis Of The African American Clergywoman And Her Plight In Black Churches: An Ethical Dilemma, Andriette Dionne Jordan-Fields

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative analysis with a phenomenological approach seeks to address the fact that the Black Churches fail many of its members, specifically the female segment, which encompasses at least eighty-five to ninety percent of the churches population. Despite the historical evidence of how the Black Church championed causes/issues of discrimination, while being considered the bastion of liberation, African American females historically have been disregarded, disrespected and denied leadership opportunities, by the patriarchal leadership. This deleterious, ecclesial episteme (the churches system of understanding) and the ideology of African American male clergy, toward clergywomen, have developed strategies of containment, designed consciously and …

The Legacy Of Gil Scott-Heron, Regennia N. Williams

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Engagement In The Digital Age, Sherlynn Allen-Harris

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.