African American Studies Commons^™

The Diary And Notes Of Marcus Christian As A Site Of Rhetorical Education, Entries 1924-1945, Nordette N. Adams

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis asserts that Marcus Bruce Christian (1900-1976), a New Orleans, Louisiana, black poet, writer, and historian, used his diary and notes as a site of rhetorical education and as a space in which he constructed and reinforced a Duboisian ethos, a particular type of black identity and character shaped by the political rhetoric of W. E. B. Du Bois. Maintaining this ethos, Christian, an autodidact throughout most of his life, negotiated a society strangled by white supremacist ideology and resisted being interpellated into the negative black identity constructed by a hostile and stifling Jim Crow South.

Roots On The Record, Joaquin P. Cotler

Capstones

Roots on the Record is a podcast featuring musicians and organizers who use their music to promote social consciousness, cultural awareness, and self-empowerment. The first four episodes focus on a black banjo player named Hubby Jenkins, a Brazilian rapper named Eli Efi, a Honduran DJ named De La Ceiba and a Brazilian-American singer/percussionist named Jen Nascimento. They each have a different relationship with music and teaching in their communities.

https://joaquinpcotler.atavist.com/roots-on-the-record

The Blurred Lines Of Cultural Appropriation, Jaja Grays

Capstones

For centuries, fashion designers, music artists and other celebrities alike have borrowed elements or styles from other cultures for personal gain. In my piece, "The Blurred Lines of Cultural Appropriation," I demonstrate the countless ways celebrities have appropriated different cultures whether at high-end fashion shows or live music performances. Cultural appropriation refers to a privileged culture borrowing or stealing from a marginalized culture-- striping elements of the culture to use it as a prop or for profit. I also discuss how to avoid cultural appropriation and engage in respectful cultural appreciation.

Exploring Psychological Territoriality Through The Domestic Gothic In Beloved And Mama Day, Lori L. Cook

English Department Theses

The novels, Beloved, by Toni Morrison, and Mama Day, by Gloria Naylor, contain narratives of families with a history of slavery that explore how their female protagonists claim their identities within the new boundaries of freedom. Using a framework of the Domestic Gothic, this paper explores how formerly enslaved female characters claim new psychological territory in bounded domestic spaces by using the chores they were forced to perform during their times of slavery as a means to independence. Domestic duties such as cooking and gardening along with magical and religious ceremonies and acts of violence are passed down through the …

African American Culture In Historical Art Museums: Remembering A Buried Tragic Past, Lana Sarkisian

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The transparency of reality reflecting in art often represents a false tragedy in African American history because of the lack of preservation and representation due to a predominantly white dominion, ultimately leaving the veracity of their history to consign to oblivion. There is a common thread of forgetfulness with the retrieval of art in today’s society that embodies the African American community. Although artist Fred Wilson does not explicitly assert his assessment to the lack of black representation on account of cultural differences, he vocalizes how African American culture is indoctrinated to the public in a white, supremacist national narrative …

2016 Election: Part 2: The Cycle Continues, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

From Part 1: “North Omaha voted at a poor rate. We did not vote large enough to make our collective voices heard in this election. Thus our preferences were defeated. For good or bad, our non-voting contributed to the victory of Trump and the defeats of Ashford and restoration of the Nebraska death penalty…. Beginning immediately there needs to be, A New Attitude; Demands for accountability from our leadership and outside forces to develop with the community new avenues for inclusion of wealth into north Omaha. Not grants, gifts etc., but job development, small business development and supporting services. …

The Catholic Church, Catalyst For Change: Taking The Black Community Of Rock Hill, Sc From The Twentieth To The Twenty-First Century, 1946-2016, Sandra Ludwa

Graduate Theses

The Roman Catholic Oratorians came to Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1935 with the mission to minister to the poor, underprivileged, and disadvantaged of all races and creeds, and to spread the good news of Catholicism. During the past eighty-one years, the Catholic Church has had a tremendous effect on where the community stands today. It was, and remains, significant because it improves economic, social, educational, and vocational conditions for the black community in particular. The church is ever changing, growing, and evolving to meet the needs of its congregation and community, and is quite different from the Catholic Church …

Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Zora Neale Hurston, And The Creation Of "Authentic Voices" In The Black Women's Literary Tradition, Anna Storm

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on African American women’s literature from the 1890s through 1948, covering the New Negro movement and sentimental domestic novel, the folk writings of the early twentieth century, and white-life fiction. The study investigates writers and texts that at various points in the creation of a black women’s literary tradition have been labeled “inauthentic” or have otherwise received comparably little attention by scholars of the tradition. In particular, I examine the work of Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Zora Neale Hurston, placing them in conversation with one another and within the broader context of black women’s writing at the turn …

A Unicorn's Tale: Examining The Experiences Of Black Women In Engineering Industry, Monique S. Ross

Open Access Dissertations

Black women have recently been identified as the most educated demographic in the United States, and yet they are grossly underrepresented in engineering. They comprise 6.4 % of the U.S. population and only 0.72 % of engineering industry. Meanwhile, engineers have been identified as the key to the United States’ ability to maintain its prominence and leadership in a competitive global economy due to their contribution to maintaining and improving our infrastructures and standard of living. This significance to society has spawned national initiatives geared towards broadening participation in engineering. This research study was designed to explore the experiences of …

Decolonizing African-American Museums: A Case Study On Two African-American Museums In The South, Anastacia Jonique Scott

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand how African-American museums’ exhibits help individuals gain their sense of racial identity through public memory. In an era where the United States is supposedly “post-racial” African-American museums are flourishing. As institutions serving an important role in preserving the collective memory of African-American people in the US, African-American museums evoke questions of representation within the larger US narrative that confirm the persistent saliency of race in society, and therefore continue to have a public function in maintaining and developing a racial African-American identity (Jackson 2012; Eichstedt and Small 2002; Wilson 2012; Golding 2009).

My research is …

Defying Convention: Atypical Perspectives Of Slavery In Antebellum New Orleans, Amanda N. Carr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the first half of the nineteenth century, slavery became a vital economic component upon which the success of the southern states in America rested. Cotton was king, and slavery was the peculiar institution that ensured its dominance in the domestic and international markets of America. Popular portrayals, however, often neglect the complicated dynamics of American slavery and instead depict the institution in simplistic terms. The traditional view has emphasized an image of white southerners as slaveholders and blacks as slaves. In New Orleans, the lives of three men—all of whom were tied to slavery in varying capacities—reveal a much …

Initiating Race: Fraternal Organizations, Racial Identity, And Public Discourse In American Culture, 1865-1917, John D. Treat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on ritual books, organizational records, newspaper accounts, and the data available from cemetery headstones and census records, this work argues that adult fraternal organizations were key to the formation of civic discourse in the United States from the years following the Civil War to World War I. It particularly analyzes the role of working-class white and African-American organizations in framing racial identity, arguing that white organizations gave up older, comprehensive ideas of citizenship for understandings of Americanism rooted in racism and nativism. Counterbalancing this development, now-forgotten African-American fraternal organizations were among the earliest advocates of Afrocentrism. These organizations, form …

Reconciling The Past In Octavia Butler's Kindred, Haley V. Manis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the observations of Nancy J. Peterson on historical wounds as a springboard to discuss Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred and its use of both white and black characters to reexamine the origins of the historical wounds and why they are so difficult to deal with even today. Other scholarly works will be used to further investigate the importance of each character in the story and what they mean to the wound itself. Specifically, Dana is analyzed alongside the other main characters: Rufus, Alice, and Kevin. Though Dana’s relationships with these characters, Kindred’s version of the past can be …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 26, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Kast, Monica. Some WKU Donors Kept Confidential by Foundations – WKU Foundation, College Heights Foundation
• Ares, Nicole. Records Denial Appeal Filed to Attorney General – Title IX
• Keltner, Bryson. International Students Share WKU Experience – Ali Alessa, Eunyoung Hayley Choi
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: Chestnuts Roasting
• Ho Ho Herald: College Heights Herald 2016 Christmas Gifts
• Henderson, Andrew. Look Above to the Stars for Final Week Woes
• Miller, Callie. Culture Series Attracts Expensive Speakers – Cultural Enhancement Series
• Collins, Emma. Preston Health & Activities Center …

A Performance Analysis Of Dorothy Rudd Moore's Sonnets On Love, Rosebuds, And Death, Cordelia Elizabeth Anderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this document is to evaluate Dorothy Rudd Moore’s Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds, and Death through a performance analysis, and to discuss the significance of the Harlem Renaissance in relation to the song cycle. Moore used seven reputable poets from the Harlem Renaissance to compile this song cycle. The poets are Alice Dunbar Nelson, Clarissa Scott Delany, Gwendolyn Bennett, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, and Helene Johnson. A few of them were a part of the core group that spurred this powerful movement. The Harlem Renaissance was a flourishing time in American history when African Americans felt …

Image, Narrative, & Concept Of Time In Valerie Capers's Song Cycle Song Of The Seasons, Lillian Channelle Roberts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Once I was a classical pianist, then I was a jazz pianist, but now I’m a pianist – No label. And in my writing, I’m not concerned with any particular style. I’ve found that if you have musical groundwork and some idea of the emotional impact the music should have, the musical style will hang together.

—Valerie Capers

Primarily known as a renowned jazz pianist, Valerie Capers is a blind, African-American woman composer who defied all odds by becoming the first blind graduate of The Juilliard School. Dr. Capers also became valedictorian of the New York Institute for the Education …

Black Americans And The South African Anti-Apartheid Campaign In Portland, Oregon, Ethan Johnson

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper argues that in order to understand the anti-Apartheid campaign in Portland, Oregon it must be located within the particular socio-historical context of race and racism in the city and state. Thus, Black people living in Portland had good reason to compare the Apartheid system in South Africa to their own experience. Therefore, the confluence of national and local issues that move the local anti-Apartheid campaign forward is examined; the paper documents the rise and development of critical organizations in the anti-Apartheid campaign in Portland; the paper focus on the closure of the Honorary South Africa Consulate in downtown …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 25, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Dick, Jacob. Sigma Alpha Epsilon Suspended One Year for Alcohol Violations
• Sandefur, Alex. Strive for Success – Geo International High School, Refugees
• Collins, Emma. WKU Files Suit Against State Retirement System
• Kast, Monica. Greek Affairs Adviser Removed After Twitter Post – Alexandria Kennedy
• Alvey, Rebekah. List of Campus Safe Spaces Available Online
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: End of Semester
• Dimeo, Chris. Smokey Bones Is Back At It Again
• Beauchamp, Kijana. Educate Yourself Following Election
• Huff, Taylor. Taking a Look Back a the Barak Obama …

Abdurraqib, Samaa, Iris Sangiovanni, Samar Ahmed

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Samaa Abdurraqib is a Black, queer, Muslim woman living in Portland, Maine. Abdurraqib was raised in Columbus, Ohio. She attend the University of Ohio, and later the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a PhD in English Literature. After graduating she worked as a visiting professor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Next she went on to work the American Civil Liberties Union in Maine as a reproductive rights organizer. She now works for the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence. Her advocacy and organizing work has included places such as Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine, …

2016 Election: Time For New Attitudes, New Agendas And New Actions, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

The initial numbers from the 2016 national elections are in and the results are our new realities. Many of us along with the Black Votes Matter initiative have been calling for a strong and forceful vote to provide additional leverage to our advocacy for our community’s best interest. Our voting power assists us when arguing our case to the public and private sectors. We need our community’s leadership to demand respect and demand economic inclusions measures necessary for us to build an economically healthy and developing community for our youth, our businesses and our culture. Ultimately, our community’s welfare needs …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 24, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Collins, Emma. PolitiFact Staffers Visit WKU
• Perry, Natalie. International Dialogue Informs Students About Recent Political Events
• Keltner, Bryson. Bowling Green Black Lives Matter Hosts Action Meeting
• Miller, Callie. Associate Provost Plans Awareness of Research – Cheryl Davis
• Carlson, Kylie. Student’s Work Prompts Proclamation Signing – Antibiotic Awareness Week
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: Nutrition Labels
• Burgess, Kelly. Three Major Keys to Nutrition
• Kaufkins, Barry. Standing with My Muslim Students
• Johnson, Kalyn. Coming to Understand Why People Protest
• Disalvo, Ann. Bowling Green Beauties – Miss Bowling …

Ua1b2/1 A Commemoration Of Wku's Integration: 1956-2006, Howard Bailey, Monica G. Burke, John Hardin, Sherese Martin, Maxine Ray, C. J. Woods

Monica Burke

A publication that chronicles the history of WKU's desegregation efforts. This commemorative publication is also an historical document that highlights the prolific accomplishments of WKU African American graduates. The impact of Western's spirit on countless African American graduates and the Bowling Green community unfolds in the pages that follow. The joy of having access to an education, the struggles of transforming an institutional climate, the kindness of WKU faculty, staff, and students and the rewards of walking across the stage in Diddle arena are chronicled by those who experienced it firsthand.

Eyes On The Prize: Delivering Archival Content With Synchronized Transcripts In Hydra, Irene Taylor, Shannon Davis

Central Plains Network for Digital Asset Management

Regarded as the definitive work on the Civil Rights Movement, the documentary series, Eyes on the Prize, has been seen by millions since its PBS debut in 1987. However, what remains unseen is the nearly 85 hours of interview outtakes that provide further insight into the series’ original stories of struggle, resistance, and perseverance. Through the Eyes on the Prize Digitization and Reassembly project, funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Washington University Libraries has made the complete, never-before-seen interviews and TEI XML encoded, synchronized transcripts freely accessible through its newly developed Hydra digital repository.

This session …

“Way Down Upon The Suwanee River”: Examining The Inclusion Of Black History In Florida’S Curriculum Standards, William Newell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As education focuses increasingly on standards based assessment, social studies must be examined for its integration of Black History in the United States History curriculum. Using a Critical Race Theory lens, this directed content analysis attempts to examine the Florida Standards for United States History to determine if and how Black History is integrated into United States History courses. The study also makes use of Banks’ (1994) “levels of integration” to explore the degree to which this is accomplished. In addition, lesson plans created and/or endorsed by the state of Florida are analyzed for their inclusion of Black History. Data …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 23, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Kast, Monica. Two School of Journalism & Broadcasting Majors to Move Schools – Advertising, Public Relations
• Collins, Emma. Tension – Donald Trump
• Williams, Jamie. Andre Dowell – Elections
• Carlson, Kylie. Jacob Karaglanis – Elections
• Kast, Monica. eSports Team Moves Into Permanent Space
• Miller, Callie. Sophomore, International Enrollment Declines
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon: Echo Chambers
• Build Bridges: Understanding Protests, Understanding Each Other – Elections
• Carter, Brandon. There is Much Work to be Done After Election
• Chism, Kalee. Luncheon Opens Discussion on Gender – Genderations
• Austin, Emma. …

A People’S Journey, A Nation’S Past: The National Museum Of African American History And Culture, Danielle E. Jones

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

On September 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened to the public after almost two decades of planning and more than a century of fighting for a memorial for African Americans. Starting in 1915, when a group of United States Colored Troops sought a memorial for their fallen soldiers, African Americans have worked to have their history remembered on a national scale. A congressional commission for a museum dedicated to African Americans was signed in 1929 by Calvin Coolidge, but the stock market crash in October prevented the museum from being built. The memorial …

Ua12/2/1 Topper Extra, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

Special football edition of the College Heights Herald:

• Heichelbech, Evan. Unique Senior Class Prepares for Home Finale – Football
• Chisenhall, Jeremy. Five Keys to Watch for in Today’s Matchup – Football
• College Heights Herald Football Pick ‘em
• WKU Depth Chart
• University of North Texas Depth Chart

Our Home By The Sea: Critical Race Reflections On Samuel Chapman Armstrong’S Accommodationism Through William Watkins’ White Architects Of Black Education, Theodorea Regina Berry, Michael Jennings

Faculty Publications

The work and words presented are a reflection of the multidimensionality of two critical race scholars and their engagement with the work of Dr. William H. Watkins, specifically his seminal text The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power, 1865-1954. This work will be framed similarly to the way Watkins framed his chapter on General Samuel Chapman Armstrong in this work. Our story, a critical auto-ethnographic narrative, will begin with a discussion of the historical context that frames the relationship we have with Watkins and the relationship we have with General Samuel Chapman Armstrong and Hampton Institute. Next, …

"Daring Propaganda For The Beauty Of The Human Mind:" Critical Consciousness-Raising In The Poetry And Drama Of The Black Power Era, 1965-1976, Markeysha D. Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a literary and intellectual history of the contributions of black American theorists, poets, and dramatists in the 1960s and 1970s towards the establishment of black critical consciousness in order to lay grounds for black people to experience a fuller existence as human beings through black-centered creations and presentations. Through the following chapters, I establish the framework and evolution of black psyche-liberation theories—spanning Du Bois’s theory of double-conscious through the contributions of black artist-theorists like Baraka, Neal, and Woodie King, Jr., followed by examinations at length of the theories of black liberation in praxis by the poets and …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 22, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Dick, Jacob. WKU Professor to Elect President – Scott Lasley
• Kast, Monica. Students Encounter Polling Confusion – Brian Wiech, Brandon Killian
• Williams, Jamie. Gary Ransdell Casts Vote at Big Red Precinct
• Dimeo, Chris. Voters Disappointed, Unable to Vote in City
• Ziesig, Kathryn. Students Protest Presidential Election Results
• Collins, Emma. University Faculty, Staff Lacks Diversity
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: Election 2016
• Huff, Taylor. Sauteed Selection: After the Election, Where Do We Go From Here?
• Henderson, Andrew. A Failed Press, Other Disappointments of the Election
• Joyner, …