Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-158). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

ix, 70 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The lack of minority head coaches at the Division I-A level is not a new trend, nor one that is improving. In a sport where less than 10% of head coaches are minorities, a survey was randomly sent out to several head and assistant coaches at the collegiate level. The survey showed most coaches believe there are discrepancies in the hiring process that impair minorities, there tends to be unfair favoritism towards nonminority coaches after a termination and minority coaches are less likely to be recommended for a head coaching position. To encourage the diversity among head coaches, recommendations should include diversifying the hiring search committee, adding a rule similar to the National Football League's Rooney Rule and adding additional graduate assistant positions. / Committee in Charge: Dr. James R. Terborg, Business Administration; Dr. Philip Collis McCullum, Educational Leadership; Dr. Renee A. Irvin, Planning, Public Policy and Management

<p> According to the disciplinary section of State of Ohio Department of Education&rsquo;s annual Ohio State Report Card (OSRC), African-American students have continuously led the student population in exclusions (suspensions and expulsions), particularly regarding ambiguous, subjective offenses. The disproportionate exclusion of these students has been an obstacle to receiving valuable education time, and opportunities to learn to navigate and thrive within the educational system. The over-exclusion of these students has also created a population of youth with decreased psychological, emotional, and community supports. The purpose of this study was to examine trends of school disciplinary exclusions following a state-wide change in the behavioral system used to discipline students (shifting from Zero Tolerance policies [ZT] to Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports [PBIS]). A cross-sequential study design was used to evaluate secondary data from the OSRC. Implementing PBIS produced a trend of lowered exclusions for African-American students, but no statistically significant differences were found. Statistically significant differences were discovered when examining the rates of the overall (total) exclusions and objective exclusions for Caucasian students. A trend of lowered rates, but no statistically significant differences were found for students with additional risk factors (disability status, male sex, low Socioeconomic Status [SES] and poor academic performance) for exclusion. A correlation analysis identified that both African-American and Caucasian students who were identified as low SES tended to be associated with more risk factors; thus, a stronger likelihood of being excluded.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

During the late 1960's in America, Black people began to realize the failures of the Civil Rights Movement. Their previous desire for non-violent integration, -which had sparked behavior in the white community ranging from violent opposition to benign neglect—had radicalized to embrace a notion of separatism and liberation from America. Black Cultural Nationalism called for Black Power and an affirmation of the currency of Black culture that required representation. The Black Arts Movement attempted to meet these needs by attempting to establish a Black Aesthetic. Qualities of Black art and the Black aesthetic were hotly debated in the media as both black and white writers argued the relevancy of black art. The Black aesthetic advocated a return to figuration and social realism, deemed essential to communicate with the black masses, as well as an espousal of the political responsibility of the artist. The critique of a black art was based on the argument that the category ghettoized and essentialized black artists. Instead a Greenbergian modernist aesthetic was embraced that favored abstraction over figuration, perceiving figurative art as low art. This was the dilemma faced by the politically minded artist in Franti's lyric. How can an artist make aesthetically valid art and maintain its access—and relevancy to Black people. An articulation of these black cultural problems needed a specific visual vocabulary. In my paper I will examine the art coalition called Africobra—The African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists- as they attempted to negotiate the fine line between socially relevant and aesthetically viable art. Formed in Chicago in the wake of the 1968 Democratic Convention Riots, Africobra wanted to produce and exhibit art specifically for Black people without their art being dismissed as protest art. By merging their figurative art with African color schemes and textile patterns, Africobra aspired to create their own type of African-influenced social commentary. They chose Africa as a source of pride as the 'dark continent' had recently shed its colonial ties to emerge as a free land for Black people. Africa thus represented ties to a forgotten past, and hope for an independent future for American Blacks. My thesis will focus on an event that galvanized the Black Arts Movement, and brought together the artists that would later form Africobra. That event was the 1967 creation of the Wall of Respect, a public mural on the south side of Chicago that depicted images of Black heroes and contemporary politics. Using the mural as well as Africobra prints and paintings, I will argue that their work questioned conventional aesthetics and endeavored to create a space for a new black aesthetic. This merging of social realism and African color was made more poignant by the inclusion of African notions of the functional communal object. By returning to their African roots, Africobra was critiquing the Western art world while glorifying their own heritage. By doing this they believed that they could inject some much needed color into White America. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This study examines the term flight, as both motif and as consciousness in the legend of the flying Africans, and the cosmological differences as represented in four texts: Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, Paula Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow, Ralph Ellison's Flying Home, and Octavia Butler's Kindred. Flight is measured in terms of recurring patterns found within the texts and their meanings given by the authors. The problem of this research stems from the issue that the Gullah, direct descendents of the flying Africans (Igbos) along the Coastal Sea Islands of the United States, have upheld an age hierarchy of secrecy such that there is limited research in the area of flight, allowing this group to maintain a unique African identity for over 200 years. This study was based on the premise that the Igbos' concept of flight was not only a survival mechanism but also a way to form community and identity and to keep the memories of their ancestors alive. This idea is called epic memory, that which has to be pieced together in order for the person to be made whole. An intertextual historiography analysis approach was utilized as the methodology to better understand the life and culture of the Gullah and Igbos. Karla F. C. Holloway argues that revision, (re)membrance, and recursion are always present when analyzing "speakerly texts." The researcher found that numerous recurring patterns within the selected texts began to form meaning around beliefs and myth within culture remembered during epic events. The patterns were often obscure with hidden codes that were revealed after the understanding or gist of the plot came to view. The conclusion drawn from the findings suggest that the flying Africans were able to fly home at will because of epic memory, and that all African descended peoples are able to recall the fragmented pieces regardless of geographical location.

This study investigated the productiveness of the legacy of Edward Wilmot Blyden as an educator, Pan-Negro Patriot, politician, and missionary from 1821 to 1912. The study was based on the premise that Blyden contributed to the re-Africanization of freed blacks who emigrated to Sierra Leone and Liberia. Historical analysis was used as a methodology for the investigation of Blyden's effectiveness on the various roles he fulfilled toward helping freed blacks in their struggles to become African. The researcher found that freed blacks who had emigrated to Liberia and Sierra Leone, in West Africa, were able to adapt and to improve their lives intellectually; they were also able to improve their political and social status through the teachings of Edward Wilmot Blyden's philosophy of re-Africanization. The conclusion drawn from the findings reveals that Blyden was successful in each activity undertaken— especially in the re-Africanization of the emigrants.

No description available.