This thesis focuses on three groups of people: Virginia superintendents, leaders of Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute and Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, and teachers of Virginia public schools. On their own terms, each of these groups represents a different facet of state level policies of standardization and segregation. The annual and biennial reports published by the office of the Virginia superintendent of public instruction during the early twentieth century constitute the basis of analysis for this thesis. The first chapter of this thesis analyzes introductory letters from the superintendent of public instruction. Within these letters, the superintendent wrote often about public school facility renovations and improvements. The second chapter uncovers how leaders of black institutions of higher education represented their institutions to the superintendent by documenting the success of their graduates and the disciplinary atmosphere of their campuses. Chapter three explores standardization and professionalization measures that the superintendents recommended for Virginia teachers. This thesis adds to our understanding of education in the early twentieth century by looking at every day, bureaucratic decisions in relation to concepts of standardization and race in Virginia. In all, this thesis uncovers three standards of education that developed during the early twentieth century. Putting these three chapters together reveals a complex story about standardization and segregation, a story that, I argue, uncovers how race and power were embedded within everyday decisions and actions at the state level. / Master of Arts / During the early twentieth century, leaders of Virginia public education grappled with concepts of standardization and segregation. Through a close reading of annual and biennial reports published by the office of the Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, this research explores how decisions about public education were embedded in race and power. The first chapter of this thesis analyzes introductory letters from the superintendent of public instruction. Within these letters, the superintendent wrote often about public school facility renovations and improvements. The second chapter uncovers how leaders of black institutions of higher education represented their institutions to the superintendent by documenting the success of their graduates and the disciplinary atmosphere of their campuses. Chapter three explores standardization and professionalization measures that the superintendents recommended for Virginia teachers. This thesis adds to our understanding of education in the early twentieth century by looking at every day, bureaucratic decisions in relation to concepts of standardization and race in Virginia. In all, this thesis uncovers three standards of education that developed during the early twentieth century. Putting these three chapters together reveals a complex story about standardization and segregation, a story that, I argue, uncovers how race and power were embedded within everyday decisions and actions at the state level.

This thesis evaluates the relationship between race science and eugenics, statistical epidemiology and Southern public health thought, African American health, and the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic. Historians have neglected the flu as an important epidemiological event in Southern history and historiography. To demonstrate the significance of the flu, this thesis makes several arguments based on research from new qualitative and quantitative evidence. The chief argument is that African Americans suffered disproportionately compared to whites in the South, challenging the consensus that the flu affected both races equally. Segregation did not protect African Americans from the flu. In some cases, African Americans died in higher numbers than whites. In more cases, African Americans suffered higher mortality rates than whites. In virtually all cases, African Americans suffered higher case fatality than whites. This thesis also makes several sub-arguments to support the argument that African Americans suffered disparities to the flu. First, the transatlantic movement of eugenics and its statistical logic influenced public health thought and the development of epidemiology in the Progressive era South; second, the rise of the state health security apparatus in the South through statistical epidemiology reinforced biological explanations for racial difference through the identification of racial disparities to disease; third, officials used racial explanations for disparities to justify segregation; fourth, eugenicists and Southern officials used biological explanations for racial difference to interpret flu distribution patterns between races after the pandemic, extending late nineteenth century racial scientific logic.

Employment supports have traditionally been available to help reduce barriers to employment, promote workforce participation, and empower individuals to achieve their career goals. However, there is very limited knowledge regarding the intersection of race and disability and how it can impact the delivery of employment supports for racialized disabled job seekers and workers. To address this gap, this thesis includes a scoping review and a qualitative study to understand the impact of race and disability in employment support systems. The scoping review consists of 73 studies and a grey literature search on vocational rehabilitation (VR). Data was extracted and thematically analyzed to synthesize the existing knowledge about VR services currently in place for racialized disabled job seekers and workers. The findings highlight the disparities in accessing VR and its delivery in the United States. The included studies reported lower acceptance rates to enter VR programs, and lower probabilities of a successful exit. These findings suggest the importance of service providers conducting comprehensive assessments to determine the unique requirements of each job seeker and worker to customize their supports accordingly. To capture the varied lived experiences and perspectives while navigating the Canadian employment support systems, a qualitative interpretive descriptive study was conducted. In-depth semi-structured interviews were performed with racialized disabled job seekers and workers, service providers, and employers. Interviews were thematically analyzed to identify common themes and patterns about the impact of race and disability in employment supports. The employment support process, as reported by the participants in this study, was identified to be inflexible and bounded by multifaceted structural, organizational, and attitudinal challenges that intersect across race, disability, and employment. Overall, an intersectional approach that is targeted, flexible and inclusive of changes and strategies is needed to create a more equitable employment landscape that better supports racialized disabled workers. / Thesis / Master of Science Rehabilitation Science (MSc) / This thesis examines the impact of race and disability in employment support systems. The first paper is a scoping review examining the existing literature to understand the process of accessing employment services for racialized disabled workers. The findings of the review highlighted that racialized disabled workers face disparities in accessing employment supports and require personalized supports that cater towards their intersecting identities. The second paper is a qualitative study drawing on interviews with racialized disabled workers, service providers, and employers to understand their experiences navigating the Canadian employment support systems. The findings show that several participants reflected on the lack of development regarding employer education, government policy and programs, service provider training and capacity to better serve disabled workers with multiple intersecting identities. This thesis expands our understanding of how social constructs such as race and disability can impact experiences of accessing employment supports and consequently affect employment outcomes.

Pulling from past research on cross-race identifications, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of both mixed race participants and perpetrators on eyewitness accuracy and confidence levels. In the study, participants will be shown a randomly assigned photograph of an individual from one of three racial categories: Asian, Mixed (some part Asian), and non-Asian. They will then be asked to read a fictional convenience store robbery vignette and identify the perpetrator from a 9 person simultaneous photo lineup, rate their confidence, and answer a series of questions regarding the diversity of their neighborhood, past or present school or workplace, and friend group. There are no predicted main effects. However, there are three expected interactions: the first between participant race and perpetrator race, such that the perpetrator race will not influence the accuracy for Asian and non-Asian participants. The second proposed interaction is between exposure and race, such that high exposure will cause race to be irrelevant with regard to identification accuracy. The third expected interaction is between participant race and perpetrator race, such that perpetrator race will not influence the confidence levels for mixed race participants, but will influence the accuracy for Asian and non-Asian participants.

This study investigated the level of trust of whites and self-esteem as a function of reported exposure to racial discrimination. It was hypothesized that participants reporting high levels of racial discrimination would be less trusting of whites and have lower self concepts than those reporting low levels of exposure to racism. A total of 84 undergraduates were administered three measures designed to assess the amount of exposure to racial discrimination, self-esteem and cultural mistrust. No relationship was found between extent of exposure to racial discrimination and level of self concept. However, mistrust of whites among blacks was found to be related to frequency of exposure to racial discrimination.

There has been considerable progress in women's sport participation opportunities since the enactment of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. These opportunities have allowed women and girls to participate in sports at the primary and secondary school level, as well as at the collegiate level in considerable numbers. Institutions have been adding new, emerging, or growth sports to their sports lineup. Despite this progress, much remains to be done to achieve true equity in women's access to sports. Indeed, recent evidence suggests that women of color may not have benefited from the array of new sports and athletic opportunities as much as white women. To examine this issue, we compare Post-Title IX trends in black and white females' sports participation and directly examine the effect of race on participation opportunities. Quantitative analysis based on multiple national data sets, including the National Longitudinal Study (NLS), the High School and Beyond Survey (HSB), the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS), and the Educational Longitudinal Survey (ELS), reveal that compared to white females, black females have indeed lost ground since Title IX, and that public schools attended by black females offer fewer sport participation opportunities to girls. Qualitative analysis is presented through a detailed, critical examination of the history of white and black women and sports, followed by an assessment of the legal challenges to gender inequality involving Title IX. Although Title IX is supposed to provide greater sports participation and athletic opportunities for women, oftentimes, women of color are disproportionately excluded from participation. As a policy, Title IX is designed to promote gender equity and equality in education, including sports. However, interscholastic athletic access and participation opportunities for females are unevenly distributed along racial lines. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

This study explores how Turkish Cypriot identity is defined by Turkish Cypriot opinion leaders and Turkish Cypriot media in view of the longstanding interethnic dispute prevailing in the island. After a short historical review of the problem with reference to interethnic conflict and theoretical considerations pertinent to identity formation, short theoretical account of media and opinion formation, the state of the press in TRNC is displayed. This is followed by the analysis of the indepth interviews conducted within a sample of opinion leaders in TRNC and the press content in the Northern Cyprus at times which can be considered as turning points in the course of the unification negotiations. As for a conclusion, in the light of the findings, the question of whether or not the controversy around the national identity is self reproducing is tried to be answered.

Like many West Indians, mixed-race Jamaican immigrants enter the United States with fluid notions about race and racial identifications that reflect socio-political events in their home country and that conflict with the more rigid constructions of race they encounter in the U.S. This dissertation explores the experiences of racially mixed Jamaicans in South Florida and the impact of those experiences on their racial self-characterizations through the boundary-work theoretical framework. Specifically, the study examines the impact of participants’ exposure to the one-drop rule in the U.S., by which racial identification has been historically determined by the existence or non-existence of black forebears. Employing qualitative data collected through both focus group and face-to-face semi-structured interviews, the study analyzes mixed-race Jamaicans’ encounters in the U.S. with racial boundaries, and the boundary-work that reinforces them, as well their response to these encounters. Through their stories, the dissertation examines participants’ efforts to navigate racial boundaries through choices of various racial identifications. Further, it discusses the ways in which structural forces and individual agency have interacted in the formation of these identifications. The study finds that in spite of participants’ expressed preference for non-racialism, and despite their objections to rigid racial categories, in seeking to carve out alternative identities, they are participating in the boundary-making of which they are so critical.

Racial Contract fait partie de ces livres pionniers qui ont permis aux théories critiques de la race de faire leur entrée en philosophie politique. Dans cette analyse libérale des inégalités raciales, Charles W. Mills propose de prendre la suprématie blanche comme outil conceptuel pour décrire et expliquer les problèmes liés à la race aux États-Unis. Le potentiel émancipatoire de cette approche subversive chez les personnes racisées noires n’a pas été étudié. Dans ce mémoire, après avoir comparé diverses conceptions de la notion de « race », nous examinons la façon dont Mills articule les concepts de « suprématie blanche » et d’« épistémologie de l’ignorance » afin d’expliquer les injustices raciales. Finalement, nous explorons la théorie de la résistance de Shannon Sullivan afin d’évaluer sa compatibilité avec la théorie descriptive de Mills. En fin d’analyse, nous estimons qu’une philosophie de la résistance aurait avantage à se tourner vers des théories critiques de la race autres que celle de Mills, telles que celle de W.E.B. Du Bois afin d’avoir un concept de l’individu racisé noir qui rend compte de son agentivité et donc de sa capacité à résister. Nous soutenons aussi que le concept de « suprématie blanche », tel que développé par Mills, est un outil théorique cohérent, valide et potentiellement utile à l’élaboration d’une philosophie de la résistance noire. Enfin, même si sa portée est plutôt restreinte, nous considérons que l’apport des « traîtres de la race » tel que Shannon Sullivan dans une philosophie de la résistance peut potentiellement être positif. / Racial Contract is one of the pioneering books that brought critical race theories into political philosophy. In this liberal analysis of racial inequalities, Charles W. Mills proposes to use white supremacy as a conceptual tool to describe and explain race-related problems in the United States. However, the emancipatory potential of this subversive approach among "black" people has not been studied. In this master thesis, after comparing various conceptions of "race", we examine how Mills articulates the concepts of "white supremacy" and "epistemology of ignorance" to explain racial injustices. Finally, we explore Shannon Sullivan's theory of resistance to assess its compatibility with Mills' descriptive theory. In the end, we believe that a philosophy of resistance would benefit from turning to critical theories of race other than that of Mills, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, in order to have a concept of the "black" individual that accounts for his or her agentivity and thus his or her capacity to resist. We also argue that the concept of "white supremacy", as developed by Mills, is a coherent, valid and potentially useful theoretical tool for the development of a philosophy of black resistance. Finally, even if its scope is rather limited, we consider that the contribution of "race traitors" such as Shannon Sullivan to a philosophy of resistance can potentially be positive.

This study argues that the interfaith symbolism present in the works of American author Jean Toomer undermines dominant Christian justifications for racism in the United States. It also discusses the ways in which Toomer's interfaith symbolism promotes the establishment of a race Toomer called the "American" race, a group of interracial, interreligious people whom Toomer hoped would change the way race was viewed in the United States. The multireligious references in Toomer's works challenge constricted definitions of both religion and race by highlighting interchangeable religious ideals from several world religions. / by Laura Gayle Fallon. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.