African American Studies Commons^™

The Effect Of Gender And Racial Stereotypes And Education-Related Beliefs On The Academic And Social Identity Development Of Urban African American Girls, Wanda Marie Shealey

ETD Archive

This qualitative, ethnographic study explores various tensions and struggles around gender and racial stereotypes that three urban teenage African American girls encounter as they try to develop a sense of oneself as an individual and in relation to the world. The purpose of this study was to explore Black high school girls’ experiences in a predominately urban public school in the Midwest. This study is guided by the following research question: In what way do gender and racial bias contribute to the self-perception of African American adolescent girls? Interrogating the multiple standpoints that inform African American female identity and how …

The Sellout By Paul Beatty: “Unmitigated Blackness” In Obama's America, John E. Davies

ETD Archive

Visibility and invisibility are long-standing tropes in the African-American literary tradition. Frequently they are presented in satiric language. I argue that Paul Beatty's Mann Booker Award-winning novel The Sellout now holds an important role in this tradition. Specifically, The Sellout hearkens specifically to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and to Paul Beatty's earlier novel The White Boy Shuffle. Further, The Sellout exposes the ongoing presence and function of racism in an America that has elected its first African-American president, Barack Obama, and that now claims to be "post-racial," even as its spectral reproduction and commodification of blackness persist. By analyzing the …

Will Marion Cook And The Tab Show, With Particular Emphasis On Hotsy Totsy And La Revue Nègre (1925), Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This document is a supplement to "Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of Will Marion Cook," a 2017 document which is mounted on-line at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/66/. It puts into some kind of order a number of research notes, principally drawing upon newspaper and genealogy databases, that amplify the earlier work in certain respects. This is not a finished, polished effort; it represents work in progress, complete with repetitions, missing data, and the occasional typographical error. I invite queries, amplifications, and corrections, which may be directed to [email protected]. The present document is a first draft of November 2018.

True Colors: Crime, Race And Colorblindness Revisited, Itay Ravid

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

The violent, racially motivated events of the Charlottesville rally unleashed demons that many Americans believed were long buried. Old Jim Crow-inspired racism came straight through the front door. Yet critics of colorblind policies were not surprised. For them, such an eruption of racial hatred manifested what they had repeatedly argued: colorblind policies neither alter racial predispositions nor affect the unequal treatment of minorities in the United States. In fact, colorblindness has given rise to a modern, latent type of racism. This Article empirically investigates this claim in an unexplored context-the media's colorblind, crime-related coverage policies. Utilizing a novel dataset spanning …

Hip Hop, Religion And The Youth Of Romania: A Preliminary Study, Oana Alexandra Chirilă, Cassandra D. Chaney

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

For the past two decades, Hip Hop has attained a significant presence in Romania. The fall of Communism as well as growing social unrest has led a growing number of Hip Hop artists to incorporate strong Orthodox and nationalist messages into their lyrics. However, not all Hip Hop fans advocate this stance. This essay argues for an investigation of how Romanian youth respond to the religious and spiritual lyrics in Hip Hop. This mixed-methods study examines whether Romanian youth gravitate toward "spiritual-oriented messages or religious-oriented messages" and are thus, "hardcore listeners" or "casual listeners." The results of the study highlight …

"Is There A Heaven For A Gangsta?": Hip Hop, Spirituality, And Heaven, Cassandra D. Chaney

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

A content analysis was conducted on the lyrics of 24 Hip Hop songs to identify how Black male Hip Hop artists discuss heaven. The songs were released between 1993 and 2015 and phenomenology was the theoretical foundation on which the themes were identified. I propose that Black Hip Hop artists create a heaven that reflects their own experiences, values, and traditions, envision a heaven where the weak and oppressed receive vindication from the indignities suffered on earth as well as a way to connect with dead loved ones. Essentially, Black Hip Hop artists’ expressions of heaven acknowledge racial experiences, demonstrates …

Racial Prioritization In Black-White Relationships, Nia Tariq

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

The utilization of race as a proxy for evaluating different characteristics of others contains risk because it results in stereotyping and potential alienation of individuals from negatively judged groups. This concept motivated me to uncover the extent to which race affects intimate relationships amongst the historically opposed groups of blacks and whites in the United States. I am studying the historic racially-driven marginalization of blacks and the resulting relationship to recent dating and marriage patterns between black-white interracial pairs. I want to find out why the socioeconomic advantage held by whites is transmutated into dating culture, in order to understand …

Abjection And Vision, Brianna Perry

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

I am currently researching medieval Christian mysticism and Black Hoodoo. Both traditions are founded upon a more involved relationship with the body and spirit. The herbalism, magic and superstition involved in the Black Hoodoo tradition have served as means of resistance among Black Americans. In light of the Tuskegee Airman incident, Black Americans’ doubt of the white medical establishment has increased. In a world dominated by reason and logic, magic makes less and less sense. The role of mystics provided new opportunities and fulfillment for medieval women, who found their voices through articulating and illustrating their visions. Visions primarily served …

The Resonance And Residue Of The First African American Newspaper: How Freedom's Journal Created Space In The Early 19th Century, Valerie Kasper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The first African American newspaper, Freedom's Journal, has a historical, rhetorical, and spatial purpose. It not only showed the impact made by African Americans in the fight for their civil rights in the early 19th century, but as an artifact it illustrated and preserved that history allowing it to be studied centuries after the newspaper ceased printing. The purpose of The Resonance and Residue of the First African American Newspaper: How Freedom's Journal Created Space in the Early 19th Century is to provide an interdisciplinary approach to historical newspapers that illustrates an alternative history in this country — a history …

In-Terracial Conversation, Cheryl Dunye, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Imprint Of Racism: A Phenomenological Study On White Adult Males' Exposure To Racial Antipathy, Historical Stereotypes, And Polarization Towards African Americans And Their Transformational Journey Towards Racial Reconciliation, Wynona Yvonne James

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Since the election of the first African American president in 2008, race relations have deteriorated in the United States. In May 2017, the emergence of the “alt-right” movement advocating for white nationalism caused further polarization between the races. This transcendental phenomenological research examined how white adult males’ exposure to racist ideologies influenced their perceptions towards African Americans, and how they emancipated from environments that promoted racist tenets. The study was guided by three research questions: How have white males been impacted by their exposure to racial antipathy and discrimination? What events or circumstances have white males experienced that led them …

Radical Black Drama-As-Theory: The Black Feminist Dramatic On The Protracted Event-Horizon, Jaye Austin Williams

Faculty Journal Articles

In this essay, I elaborate my present project, grounded in what I call drama theory, the critical theoretical dimensions of dramatic writing, and address the deeply troubling intramural tensions across Black Studies, between those who read blackness, and black cultural production, through largely futurist, celebratory lenses; and those who apply a structural analysis to blackness as the site against, upon, and through which the world coheres its soci(et)al apparatuses and machinations. I situate myself within the latter constellation, and sample here two plays by Suzan-Lori Parks to demonstrate how I translate the analyses of antiblack violence by black feminist …

A Paut Neteru Journey: An Autoethnographic Study Of A Black Female Charter School Leader Using An Africentric Approach, Patricia Linn Williams

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to examine the obstacles and experiences of a Black female charter school leader using an Africentric approach to educating Black children, and ways in which social and material inequalities may have shaped her journey. A conceptual framework that blends African-centered pedagogy, African womanism, and transformational leadership is used to guide this qualitative autoethnographic study. Use of the autoethnographic method provides an opportunity to examine the relational dynamics of the experiences of this Black female charter school leader in the cultural context of the Black community and neoliberal education. Data analysis is captured from autobiographical storytelling within three …

Transforming The Classroom At Traditionally White Institutions To Make Black Lives Matter, Frank Truitt, Chayla Haynes, Saran Stewart

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In recent years, many college campuses across the United States witnessed a significant increase in campus activism regarding the range of experiences and conditions facing racially minoritized communities in higher education. As critical and inclusive pedagogues and scholars, we embrace the belief that a focus on making Black Lives Matter in the classrooms of traditionally White institutions (TWIs) provides educators with the best chance to improve the educational outcomes of all students. In this essay, we examine seven principles of critical and inclusive pedagogies that have the potential to make Black Lives Matter in TWI classrooms and identify several implications …

The Systemic Multigenerational Implications Of Education: Second-Generation Haitian- American College Graduates’ Perspectives, Daphney Farah Lundi

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Similar to other immigrant populations in the United States, Haitians have a migratory history of escaping from political turmoil, natural disasters, and extreme poverty (Zephir, 2004). However, Haitian Americans remain one of the underserved populations in the United States. Marginalized yet resilient, Haitian families in the U.S. continue to display strength in the face of adversity. Second-generation Haitian-American college graduates are the evidence of such strengths. There is very little research focused on second-generation Haitian-American college graduates’ perspective on the possible familial influences pertaining to education. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) design and Bowen’s Family Systems Theory as a …

Protest Of Controversial Art In New York City Museums In 2017-2018: Reactions, Responses, And Legal/Ethical Obligations Of Museums In The Age Of #Metoo, #Blacklivesmatter, And Activism On The Internet., Isabel Telonis

MA Theses

Over the last two years, museums in New York City have experienced a rise in protest and backlash against the display of works of art, particularly those that are perceived as offensive, controversial, and relevant to current sociopolitical issues.

This thesis explores three case studies of controversy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all of which faced protest and public criticism over particular works of art and responded in a unique way to their respective scandal. This study is comprised of an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusion. …

Breaking Chains Of Oppression: Popular Culture And The Plundering Of Blackness, Corina Sacajawea Ambrose

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis focuses on the ways in which white supremacy created mass incarceration, specifically mass incarceration of black individuals, and how this continues to perpetuate a racial caste system in the United States. First, I examine contemporary novelist Colson Whitehead‘s The Underground Railroad to provide a historical background of white supremacy and slavery. Then, I argue that pop culture is one area in which artists are focused on the abolition of the prison-industrial complex and ending mass incarceration. Finally, I focus on JAY-Z‘s music video “The Story of O.J.“ and Beyoncé‘s visual album Lemonade and her 2018 Coachella performance to …

African-American Poetry, Music, And Politics, Tyler H. Macdonald

Honors Theses

The 2016 decision to award songwriter and musician Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature sparked a worldwide debate on the relationship between music and poetry and raised many questions about music’s place in literary canon. However, this debate is nothing new. Questions about the relationship between music and poetry have long been debated. Some scholars believe the two disciplines should be studied separately, while others prefer to consider the connections between the two.

My project begins with a question: if Bob Dylan’s songs can be considered poetry, what other forms of music might also be considered poetry? Rap implements …

Race, Identity, And Communication: Experiences Of College Students From Underrepresented Groups, Raya D. Petty

Masters Theses

There is a significant difference of the completion of college between minority students and white students. The achievement gap is influenced by race and socioeconomic status of the students. The purpose of my study was to examine the relationship between academic performance and achievement and sociocultural factors including race and socioeconomic status. My thesis will affirm previous research that recognizes a need for resources specifically dedicated to assist marginalized groups in higher education. It will bring attention to minority students, first-generation college students and students with a low socioeconomic status. The project includes a literature review that explores identity, intersectionality, …

Re-Presenting Black People Through Ott Television, Bradley C. Chatman

Masters Theses

Dynamic and diverse representation of black men and women in traditional television has been suppressed through the lens of many problematic ideologies since their introduction to television. Over-the-top video streaming platforms have created new avenues for making televisual content for mass audiences with less censorship and restrictions. This opens a door of opportunity for studying black representation. Focusing on original television written by black men and women for over-the-top platforms, I perform a textual analysis on Luke Cage, Dear White People, and Broke as the population of black-written television on OTT to find the character types and roles …

Ua1c6/7 Entertainment Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images of entertainment events.

Ua1c6/5 Conferences / Workshops Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images of conferences and workshops.

Ua1c11/101 Wku Spirit Masters Photo Collection, Wku Archives, Lauren Bond

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs removed from Spirit Master scrapbooks.

Hymnody Of Change: A Study Of Classical African Orature In A Social Justice Context, Keith L. Royal

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Communal music has been and is still a prominent method of cultural expression for generations, in particular for the generations of displaced Africans on American soil. The roots of this music, an amalgam of African tradition and a forced Christianity, have remained a constant companion to African American cultural response to inequity. Thus, it is imperative that communication tools be developed that allow analysis of this music, collections of communally sung works that communicate the destruction and continual reconstruction of a colonized culture. The purpose of this study is to explicate communally sung hymns, those sung in a social justice …

“It Is Time For Artists To Be Heard”: Artists And Writers For Freedom, 1963–1964, Judith E. Smith

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

In The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s, James Smethurst writes that “Black arts cultural nationalism draws on a long history.” He describes the cultural nationalist stance we associate with Black Arts as involving a concept of liberation and self-determination that entails some notion of the development or recovery of a “true” national culture,” conveying “an already existing folk or popular culture,” often relying on recognizable African elements. Black arts cultural nationalism expressed the linkages between Black Arts and Black Power even before they were specifically named and identified. In particular, Black arts cultural nationalism …

Kendrick Lamar’S Collapsing Of Hip Hop Realness And Christian Identity, Matthew Linder

Journal of Hip Hop Studies

In Danielle S. Macon’s "To Pimp a Caterpillar: Hip Hop as Vehicle to Spiritual Liberation through the Decolonization of European Ideology" about Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, she identifies Kendrick’s three-step process of liberation for African-Americans through spirituality: exhibition, revelation, and community orientation. I seek to place her analysis of Kendrick’s music within the context of Daniel White Hodge’s exploration of the neo-sacred secular in Hip Hop, a theological concept containing three elements: a belief that God is in all things, viewing life as having good and bad elements, and a rejection of religionism as the only way to …

Music Icons Commemorative Stamps: Marvin Gaye, United States Postal Service

Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr. Stamp Collection

Marvin Gaye commemorative stamps, Music Icon series. Date: 2018

Neutral Ground Or Battleground? Hidden History, Tourism, And Spatial (In)Justice In The New Orleans French Quarter, Lynnell L. Thomas

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

In 2017, the city of New Orleans removed four monuments that paid homage to the city’s Confederate past. The removal came after contentious public debate and decades of intermittent grassroots protests. Despite the public process, details about the removal were closely guarded in the wake of death threats, vandalism, lawsuits, and organized resistance by monument supporters. Workers hired to dismantle the monuments did so surreptitiously under the cloak of darkness, protected by a heavy police presence, with their faces covered to conceal their identities. The divisiveness of this debate and the removal lay bare the contestation over public space, historical …

The Rape Of Recy Taylor [Film Review], Judith E. Smith

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

Nancy Buirksi’s documentary The Rape of Recy Taylor centers on a brutal sexual assault in Abbeville, Alabama in 1944. A 24-year-old African American wife and mother, coming home from a sanctified church service with a friend and her son, was forced into a car at gunpoint, and gang raped by six young white men. The beating heart of the film is the on-screen testimony of Taylor’s younger brother, Robert Corbitt, and her younger sister, Alma Daniels, who convey the unspeakably cruel and vicious character of the attack: Corbitt repeats the perpetrators’ directions to Recy: “They said they wanted her to …

The Making Of A Raisin In The Sun, Judith E. Smith

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun premiered on the Broadway stage in January 1959 just as the edifice of national segregation was cracking open. Response to the momentous 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Bd. of Education included both the important early challenges to long-accepted practices of white supremacy and the intensified mobilization of widespread white defiance to the ruling. Black Bus boycotters in Montgomery, Alabama, and their young minister leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Black high school students attempting to attend Little Rock’s Central High and their families faced organized harassment and dangerous forms …