African American Studies | Open Access Articles

Una Lectura De La Vulnerabilidad Social Y De Las Políticas Para Su Atención Desde El Enfoque Interseccional En El Contexto Cubano Actual, Maria Del Carmen Zabala Arguelles

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

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(Anti-)Racismo Y Republicanismo Negro En Cuba. Compilado Por Yulexis Almeida Junco, Jos Antonio Figueroa, Jochen Kemner, Pedro Alexander Cubas Hernández

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

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Afrofeminismos: Pensamiento, Ciencia Y Acción. Coordinado Por Yulexis Almeida Junco, Leidys Raisa Castro Silva, Maydi Estrada Bayona

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

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Lourdes Casal Y La Perspectiva Interseccional En Su Sociología. Una Puerta Hacia Los Estudios Cubanos, Ana Niria Albo Díaz

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Lourdes Casal es bastante conocida en el campo de las letras cubanas como una poeta excepcional. En el marco de las relaciones internacionales su nombre también es relevante por su consabida participación tendiendo puentes entre la Cuba revolucionaria y las comunidades de cubanos y cubanas en los Estados Unidos. La creación de la revista Areito y de la Brigada Antonio Maceo son ejemplos contundentes de su labor. Sin embargo, es mucho menos conocida su labor como investigadora social y fundadora de los Estudios Cubanos en los Estados Unidos. De esa labor sobresale el entendimiento de una Cuba diversa cuando mucha …

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Interseccionalidad, Equidad Y Políticas Sociales. Segunda Edición. Coordinado Por María Del Carmen Zabala Argüelles, Geydis Elena Fundora Nevot, Ana Isabel Peñate Leiva, Leidys Raisa Castro Silva

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

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El Campo Regla De Osha-Ifá O Santería: Desigualdad Social, Religión Y Redes De Relacionamientos, Naile Braffo Conde

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

El desarrollo de las prácticas de la Santería en una sociedad compleja y heterogénea, como la cubana; apunta como cada vez más, resulta necesario analizar, desde el enfoque interseccional, las formas de conducirse dentro del referido campo religioso, el uso de las prácticas del mismo y las redes de relaciones que se estructuran para ello. Esta propuesta es parte de los resultados alcanzados, desde un enfoque multimétodos, por una investigación doctoral y tiene como objetivo analizar procesos de diferenciación/desigualdad social que se generan como efecto de las lógicas de funcionamiento de la religión y a partir de la estructuración de …

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Emprendimientos Femeninos: Revalorizando La Afro Estética, Susel Abad Fis

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

El empoderamiento económico de las mujeres significa ser dueñas de sus propios negocios, lograr crecimiento y sostenibilidad, y ocupar los espacios de participación y toma de decisiones en ese ámbito. Sin embargo, el acceso a los recursos y oportunidades de las mujeres para emprender sus iniciativas en la esfera económica siempre ha resultado difícil en Cuba. En el presente artículo tiene como objetivo revelar las experiencias de tres mujeres negras como emprendedoras. Ellas coinciden en el diseño y comercialización de productos cosméticos y estéticos, con un gran impacto sobre todo para las mujeres negras y mestizas cubanas. Esto ha permitido …

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Author Bios, Palara Guest Editors

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

No abstract provided.

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Time And Wages In Coerced Labor: Black Women’S Legal Agency In Late-19th Century Havana (1880-1886), Elena Barattini

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

The critical juncture of slavery abolition in Cuba was marked by independency uprisings, and imperial re-articulations. Within this context, thousands of formerly enslaved men and women coped with renewed forms of coercion, inscribed in the intersection of race and gender. This article focuses on the resourceful use of the law by formerly enslaved women (renamed patrocinadas in 1880) to liberate themselves from the forced apprenticeship known as patronato, enforced alongside the abolition law. An in-depth examination of two files from the Miscelánea de Expedientes fund held at the Cuban National Archive underscores how Black women struggled to secure wages, …

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Visibly Invisible: Reclaiming Atlanta Black Architecture Through Black Expression, Sean M. Spencer

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture has long grappled with questions of self, community, and cultural identity. While the number of Black architects is growing, architecture that genuinely reflects Black identity remains rare. This lack of representation has contributed to a sense of invisibility for Black communities within the built environment—whether by design or neglect. There is an urgent need to define and celebrate Blackness and Black space in ways that reflect the cultural richness of Black communities. As George Will points out, broad labels like African American or African often obscure the unique cultural experiences within Black communities. Historically, the lack of economic and …

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How Do African American Women In Halfway Housing Perceive Their Experiences With Mental And Emotional Rehabilitation, Eiyana Middleton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After reviewing the literature, Black women living in halfway housing needed more culturally accommodative and responsive access to mental health care. Despite recent efforts to improve the access and quality of mental health services for Black Americans, some of the most common barriers that continued to exist include and were not limited to the following: stigma associated with mental illness and distrust of the health care system. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand Black women’s perceptions of their mental and emotional rehabilitation while living in halfway housing. The hermeneutic phenomenology theory was most appropriate as it …

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Deflecting Voyeurism: Elizabeth Keckley’S Indictment Of Capitalism And Rejection Of The Exploitative White Gaze, Laura Steel

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the ex-slave narrative Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley through a Marxist and Romantic lens as a means to explore the impact of capitalism on Keckley while enslaved, as well as post-slavery. Through the paper, the author argues that Keckley successfully deflects the white voyeuristic gaze by replacing her physical form with clothing that she creates, as a means to both indict capitalism and reclaim ownership over her body. Further, the paper argues that Keckley employs Romanticism to highlight the unnatural capitalist roots and subsequent …

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“Take This Job And Shove It”: How Black Women’S Fight For Economic Rights Informed Their Participation In The Broader Social Movements Of The Twentieth Century, Kyndle Diane Lee

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the vital role of Black women in the American labor movement during the twentieth century, emphasizing how their leadership and union participation were central to both labor organizing and the broader fight for human rights. Black women workers navigated and resisted the effects of racism, sexism, and class exploitation in a century marked by industrial expansion, economic upheaval, and major civil rights struggles. Far from passive participants, they emerged as key organizers, negotiators, and strategists in their communities, labor unions, and national movements. Additionally, their work extended beyond their demands for better wages and safer working conditions. …

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Womanist Pedagogy And Teaching Preaching: Black Women Preachers As Sources For Pedagogical Reflection, Courtney Buggs

Sermon Studies

The preaching classroom is a place of exploration, interrogation, and reflection. For Black preaching women, it is also a place for deep introspection and wrestling with questions of self-identity, religious authority, and theological (un)certainty. In this essay I show how womanist pedagogy functions to intervene and disrupt harmful assumptions in the preaching classroom, such as who can preach, who should preach, and how preachers engage with Scripture. Using Black women preaching students as sources for reflection, I explore political clarity, risk taking, teaching with tenderness, active listening, and instructional agility, to aid womanist-informed pedagogues in attending to the range of …

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“True Disciple”: Minister Louis Farrakhan's Eulogy Of Pastor Clay Evans And The Emergence Of The Son Of Abraham Rhetoric, Eugene L. Gibson Jr.

Sermon Studies

In this essay, I examine Louis Farrakhan's eulogy for Pastor Clay Evans on December 7, 2019. Drawing from the work of Andre E. Johnson, the eulogy is an example of prophetic rhetoric that showcases the powerful emotional and spiritual connection that aligns with the tradition of prophetic speech. I argue, however, that Farrakhan, in producing this rhetoric, adopted a prophetic persona I call “Son of Abraham”– an African American prophetic rhetoric that is firmly grounded in the sacred teachings, beliefs, and subscriptions of one of the Abrahamic religions, that contains a bold truth of love and healing, that when intentionally …

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Rhetoric Of Freedom: The Black Church And Jamal Bryant’S Sermon “Am I Ever Going To Get Out Of This?”, Konysha Wade

Sermon Studies

Homiletics is a branch of rhetoric and religion that is defined as the art of preaching. All too common in fields of academia, including Homiletics, is a lack of inclusivity of African Americans. This paper will extend research that integrates and further centralizes African American homiletics, focusing on the notion of freedom in Dr. Jamal Bryant’s sermon “Am I Ever Going to Get Out of This?”

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A Case For Homiletical Aesthetics: The Adorned Rhetoric Of Martin Luther King Jr., Timothy Y. Rhee

Sermon Studies

Despite the growing support of aesthetics within the field of homiletics, undercurrents of suspicion remain, particularly in Western evangelical settings. The reasons for this suspicion are far-reaching, ranging from theological concerns to unmerited fears regarding the handling of Scripture. Given this background, the adorned rhetoric of Martin Luther King Jr. provides a compelling case study for the indispensability of homiletical aesthetics. This study briefly overviews King’s use of artful rhetoric, exploring its origins and sociotheological factors that compelled beauty and adornment in the pulpit. This paper will argue that aesthetics in Christian preaching should be considered essential, especially when addressing …

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From Decay To Redemption: Exploring The Theological And Rhetorical Dimensions Of C.A.W. Clark’S “The Worms Got Him”, Daylan Woodall

Sermon Studies

The essay explores Reverend Caesar Arthur Ward Clark's sermon, "The Worms Got Him," as a remarkable representation of the black preaching tradition and a nuanced rhetorical masterpiece. Clark's vivid description of the Herod family graveyard, intricately woven with historical and biblical references, engages the audience in a nearly physical and moral journey. Through deft use of honed rhetorical techniques, Clark immerses the listeners in a journey through history and the Herodian graveyard, allowing them to witness the Herodian dynasty's moral decay personally.

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Black Preaching As A Public Address To Cultural Trauma: The Eulogy Of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nicole D. Mcdonald

Sermon Studies

The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays delivered the final eulogy of his student and friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 9, 1968 at Morehouse College. This rhetorical speech addresses the cultural trauma of King’s assassination by persuading the audience to continue King’s legacy, the nonviolent Civil Rights movement for all of humanity. Also, Mays’ eulogy engages the communal grief of the African American community mourning the loss of their leader. As such, Mays models the Black preaching response to cultural trauma, which derives from Jeffery Alexander’s Social Theory of Trauma. The Black preaching response consists of the following …

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“Jesus Is Integrated”: The Black Sermon As Rhetorical Exercise In Radical Worldmaking, Theon E. Hill, Tyran Laws

Sermon Studies

This essay analyzes Benjamin Mays' 1954 sermon to the World Council of Churches to argue that Black preaching offers a radical response to perspectives that portray racial justice advocacy as antithetical to the Christian Gospel. Through a close reading of Mays' sermon, the authors contend that Mays employs an implicit ontological metaphor, “Jesus is integrated,” to position racial integration and justice not only as civic responsibilities but as Christian duties. The sermon disrupts hegemonic ideologies that marginalize others, mobilizes the organizing power of the church, and positions churches as spaces for radical worldmaking around race. By drawing on metaphor theory, …

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Introduction: Black Preaching And The Black Sermon As A Rhetorical Artifact, Andre E. Johnson

Sermon Studies

In this introductory essay for this special issue, I encourage scholars in the fields of homiletics and rhetoric to expand our understanding of homiletical and rhetorical theory by specifically concentrating on the unique rhetoric present in Black sermons. By examining the sermon as a rich rhetorical artifact, we can explore the nuanced elements of persuasion embedded within these messages. This analysis would highlight speakers' persuasive techniques and enhance the broader discourse on preaching and communication across various religious contexts. Engaging deeply with the rhetoric of Black sermons provides valuable insights that can improve our understanding of the dynamic interaction between …

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Jacksonville Community Chest Drive Receipt Book

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

Document: Receipt coupon book for donations to the Jacksonville Community Chest Drive. Undated.

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From Slaveship To Championship: Pan-Africanism, The Black Atlantic, And Reframing The Rumble In The Jungle., Garret S. Mccorkle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The “Rumble in the Jungle” is often remembered as Muhammad Ali’s triumphant return to boxing glory, yet its deeper historical and cultural context remains understudied. This thesis reframes the 1974 heavyweight championship in Zaire as a global spectacle shaped by Pan-Africanism and Paul Gilroy’s theory of the Black Atlantic. More than a fight, it was a performance of Black identity, unity, and cultural return. However, this work argues that these themes—though deeply meaningful to many—were also strategically deployed by figures like Don King and Mobutu Sese Seko for promotional and financial gain. Through an analysis of marketing materials, fighter personas, …

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A Black Sherlock Holmes: An Exploration Of Nonconforming Characterization., Faith Janaye Artis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of diversity initiatives in the greater American theatre landscape, we are now including more Black actors than ever. Whether that be through the inclusion of diverse playwrights or implementing new casting protocols, we now have Black people in the room. However, when portraying the Black “version” of a character (i.e. Black Annie, Black Ariel, Black Juliet) a question still plagues the Black Actor’s mind: how am I meant to fit here? I evaluate my process of portraying Sherlock Holmes as my thesis role. By challenging the implied white perspective in this “universal” story (despite its feminist retelling), …

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Black Women During The Great Migration: Transitions From Sharecropping To Black Metropolis, Ryan Daye

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The origin of the dissertation came about as me being the only southerner within the group of individuals completing the MALS Program. While studying Cultural studies, I began to take a focus on the Great Migration of black Americans migrating from the South to other regions of the United States. As a southerner, I was aware of the migration patterns but never went in-depth on the subject because I felt no connection. While studying, I noticed the perception of black women who were being used as subjects. Women who were being forced out of their southern situations because of segregation, …

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Querying The Ecological Sublime: Colonial Aesthetics, Anticolonial Thought, And The ‘Double Fracture’, Tacuma Peters

Publications and Research

This article examines the ecological sublime in its relationship to the history of colonial aesthetics, anticolonial thought, and contemporary colonialism. It argues that, while Edmund Burke utilized the sublime in support of colonialism (including settler colonialism) in North America and colonial slavery, Samson Occom and Ottobah Cugoano developed versions of the sublime to contest British colonialism in the Americas. The history of this aesthetic contestation has not been represented in scholarship on the ecological sublime, which, this article shows, has a vexed relationship with historical and contemporary colonialism. The article argues that the ecological sublime exhibits the “double fracture” of …

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Displacement And Dreams: The Loss Of Home In A New South Town, Dora Helen Impson

All Theses

Despite much research regarding the experience of white city dwellers of Greenville, South Carolina, in the twentieth century, telling the stories of the city’s Black neighborhoods still remains to be done. This thesis chronicles the Black neighborhood of Little Texas, which was found northeast of the city’s central business district from its inception in the 1870s to its demise in the 1970s. By situating the city’s efforts to restrict and limit Black spaces within the historical framework of nationwide efforts of residential segregation ordinances, racially restrictive covenants, and city planning, this thesis argues that Greenville followed many other cities in …

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Heartbeat Of The Heartland: Sonic Engagement With Hip-Hop In The American Midwest, Lauren R. Millhorn

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This project analyzes Hip-Hop artists from the American Midwest through the context of the Midwest’s construction as a nostalgic, peaceful area where conflict seems nonexistent. This study applies Adam Ochonicky’s concept of nostalgic spatiality, or “instances in which nostalgia is projected onto a physical environment, thereby altering the perception, understanding, and/or experience of that space and its accompanying cultural sphere” (Ochonicky 29) to close readings on Midwest Hip-Hop texts. In the case of the Midwest, projected nostalgia is rooted in whiteness and propels the narrative that the Midwest is predominantly occupied by white people who maintain its peace and serenity …

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Moving The Goalposts: American Sports Coverage In Newspapers And The Construction Of Gender, Race And Sexuality In The Olympics In 1928, 1932, 1936., Jacob Havers

All Theses

This thesis takes an in-depth look at the media coverage of women in the Olympics in 1928, 1932 and 1936. Specifically following the track athletes Kinue Hitomi, Louise Stokes, Tidye Pickett and Mildred “Babe” Didrikson the thesis explores how by being athletic women they had their identities as feminine figures heavily questioned and scrutinized in newspapers at the global level. The harshest of these critics was often the American media, who held strict standards of race, gender and sexuality in the late 1920s-mid 1930s. They sought to uphold these standards at the global scale, and the American media’s interrogation of …

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The Sound Of Young America/The Soul Of Young America: A Sonic Rhetoric Inquiry Into 1965 And The Music Defining A Generation In Crisis, Jessica Dyche

All Dissertations

The Sound of Young America/The Soul of Young America: A Sonic Rhetoric Inquiry into 1965 and the Music Defining a Generation In Crisis builds a case for sonic rhetoric theory that sees sonic rhetoric move outside of pedagogy, becoming a valuable tool for rhetorical analysis outside the classroom. To this end, The Sound of Young America/The Soul of Young America employs sonic rhetoric concepts and methodology grounded in cultural rhetorics, social history, and sociomusicology to inquire into the cultural and social relevancy of rock music, specifically to this project, in 1965. Sonic rhetoric sees sound and music as underexplored, but …

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Full-Text Articles in African American Studies

Una Lectura De La Vulnerabilidad Social Y De Las Políticas Para Su Atención Desde El Enfoque Interseccional En El Contexto Cubano Actual, Maria Del Carmen Zabala Arguelles

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

(Anti-)Racismo Y Republicanismo Negro En Cuba. Compilado Por Yulexis Almeida Junco, Jos Antonio Figueroa, Jochen Kemner, Pedro Alexander Cubas Hernández

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Afrofeminismos: Pensamiento, Ciencia Y Acción. Coordinado Por Yulexis Almeida Junco, Leidys Raisa Castro Silva, Maydi Estrada Bayona

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Lourdes Casal Y La Perspectiva Interseccional En Su Sociología. Una Puerta Hacia Los Estudios Cubanos, Ana Niria Albo Díaz

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Interseccionalidad, Equidad Y Políticas Sociales. Segunda Edición. Coordinado Por María Del Carmen Zabala Argüelles, Geydis Elena Fundora Nevot, Ana Isabel Peñate Leiva, Leidys Raisa Castro Silva

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

El Campo Regla De Osha-Ifá O Santería: Desigualdad Social, Religión Y Redes De Relacionamientos, Naile Braffo Conde

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Emprendimientos Femeninos: Revalorizando La Afro Estética, Susel Abad Fis

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Author Bios, Palara Guest Editors

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Time And Wages In Coerced Labor: Black Women’S Legal Agency In Late-19th Century Havana (1880-1886), Elena Barattini

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Visibly Invisible: Reclaiming Atlanta Black Architecture Through Black Expression, Sean M. Spencer

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

How Do African American Women In Halfway Housing Perceive Their Experiences With Mental And Emotional Rehabilitation, Eiyana Middleton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deflecting Voyeurism: Elizabeth Keckley’S Indictment Of Capitalism And Rejection Of The Exploitative White Gaze, Laura Steel

Theses and Dissertations

“Take This Job And Shove It”: How Black Women’S Fight For Economic Rights Informed Their Participation In The Broader Social Movements Of The Twentieth Century, Kyndle Diane Lee

Honors Theses

Womanist Pedagogy And Teaching Preaching: Black Women Preachers As Sources For Pedagogical Reflection, Courtney Buggs

Sermon Studies

“True Disciple”: Minister Louis Farrakhan's Eulogy Of Pastor Clay Evans And The Emergence Of The Son Of Abraham Rhetoric, Eugene L. Gibson Jr.

Sermon Studies

Rhetoric Of Freedom: The Black Church And Jamal Bryant’S Sermon “Am I Ever Going To Get Out Of This?”, Konysha Wade

Sermon Studies

A Case For Homiletical Aesthetics: The Adorned Rhetoric Of Martin Luther King Jr., Timothy Y. Rhee

Sermon Studies

From Decay To Redemption: Exploring The Theological And Rhetorical Dimensions Of C.A.W. Clark’S “The Worms Got Him”, Daylan Woodall

Sermon Studies

Black Preaching As A Public Address To Cultural Trauma: The Eulogy Of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nicole D. Mcdonald

Sermon Studies

“Jesus Is Integrated”: The Black Sermon As Rhetorical Exercise In Radical Worldmaking, Theon E. Hill, Tyran Laws

Sermon Studies

Introduction: Black Preaching And The Black Sermon As A Rhetorical Artifact, Andre E. Johnson

Sermon Studies

Jacksonville Community Chest Drive Receipt Book

Eartha M. M. White Textual Material

From Slaveship To Championship: Pan-Africanism, The Black Atlantic, And Reframing The Rumble In The Jungle., Garret S. Mccorkle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Black Sherlock Holmes: An Exploration Of Nonconforming Characterization., Faith Janaye Artis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black Women During The Great Migration: Transitions From Sharecropping To Black Metropolis, Ryan Daye

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Querying The Ecological Sublime: Colonial Aesthetics, Anticolonial Thought, And The ‘Double Fracture’, Tacuma Peters

Publications and Research

Displacement And Dreams: The Loss Of Home In A New South Town, Dora Helen Impson

All Theses

Heartbeat Of The Heartland: Sonic Engagement With Hip-Hop In The American Midwest, Lauren R. Millhorn

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Moving The Goalposts: American Sports Coverage In Newspapers And The Construction Of Gender, Race And Sexuality In The Olympics In 1928, 1932, 1936., Jacob Havers

All Theses

The Sound Of Young America/The Soul Of Young America: A Sonic Rhetoric Inquiry Into 1965 And The Music Defining A Generation In Crisis, Jessica Dyche

All Dissertations