The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between early familial racial/ethnic socialization and the self-efficacy and academic achievement of African American children during the elementary years, and across the transition to middle school. In particular, the mediatory effects of self-efficacy were examined longitudinally. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten class of 1998 - 1999 (ECLS-K) was used to examine the impact of kindergarteners' at-home exposure to racial/ethnic socialization on levels of school-related self-efficacy and academic achievement of the same children in fifth and eighth grades. African American students (N = 3224) from this nationally representative dataset were a part of this study. Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (also referred to as the Social Learning Theory) with particular focus on his conceptualization of Self-Efficacy, was used as a guiding framework for this study. Analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between early childhood racial/ethnic socialization and the later academic achievement of pre-adolescent and adolescent African American school children in both fifth and eighth grades. However, the results also indicated that that self-efficacy had only minimal and insignificant mediating effects on the relationship between racial/ethnic socialization and academic achievement. The implications from these findings include impetus for marriage and family therapists and other practitioners and educators to include more family-centered and ethnically/racially relevant strategies and interventions to support families faced with school-based difficulties. Additional implications for therapists, educators, and researchers, were discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2014. / October 22, 2014. / Academic Achievement, African American, Ethnic Socialization, Racial Socialization, Self-Efficacy / Includes bibliographical references. / Lenore McWey, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ming Cui, Committee Member; Wayne Denton, Committee Member.

This dissertation examines the historical and cultural context of lynching and lynching trends in scholarship and places Claude Neal's lynching within that context. The dissertation provides a detailed account of the Neal lynching by comparing previous accounts of his lynching supplemented with an analysis of primary documents. Further, the dissertation examines how NAACP secretary Walter White staged a rhetorical campaign that situated Claude Neal at the center of their renewed push for Antilynching legislation. White worked with Senator Edward Costigan of Colorado and Senator Robert Wagner of New York to reintroduce the Costigan-Wagner Antilynching bill in the 1935 Congressional proceedings. This dissertation examines the ways in which Claude Neal's lynching has been interpreted and used by White and the NAACP in their push for Federal antilynching legislation through the 1935 Costigan-Wagner bill. Finally, the dissertation ends with a look at how lynching has become the root of systemic racism in America that manifests today in police brutality, criminalization of black men, unequal medical care, housing, education for black people. Through a discussion on Equal Justice Initiative's new memorial, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in Montgomery, Alabama, it examines how public memory and efforts to memorialize lynching aid in the reconciliation process. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / November 7, 2018. / Antilynching legislation, Claude Neal, Costigan-Wagner Bill, Lynching, Public memory, Rubin Stacey / Includes bibliographical references. / Davis Houck, Professor Directing Dissertation; Maxine Jones, University Representative; Brian Graves, Committee Member; Steve McDowell, Committee Member.

This thesis explores the politics of Black Power leader H. Rap Brown through a genealogical materialist lens. I argue that by addressing class and race as inextricably-bound systems of oppression, Brown synthesized competing ideological strains, the existence of which had long divided black radicals. His anti-capitalist, anti-racist vision located the key ingredients of revolutionary ideology in the experiential knowledge of dispossessed people (of whom he considered black Americans to be the vanguard). As chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, he honed his analysis in a heated political environment characterized by factionalism, violence, paranoia, and state repression. Such factors are taken into account as I seek to contextualize and historicize Brown’s views. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the Master of Arts. / Fall Semester 2016. / October 3, 2016. / Black Marxism, Black Power, H. Rap Brown, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Nonviolent Action Group, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine D. Jones, Professor Directing Thesis; Katherine C. Mooney, Committee Member; Robinson Herrera, Committee Member.

A growing impulse in American black female fiction is the reclamation of black female sexuality due to slavery's proliferation of sexual stereotypes about black women. Because of slave law's silencing of rape culture, issues of consent, will, and agency become problematized in a larger dilemma surrounding black humanity and the repression of black female sexuality. Since the enslaved female was always assumed to be willing, because she is legally unable to give consent or resist, locating black female desire within the confines of slavery becomes largely impossible. Yet, contemporary re-imaginings of desire in this context becomes an important point of departure for re-membering contemporary black female subjectivity. "What's Love Got to Do With It?" is an alternative look at master-slave relationships, particularly those between white men and black women, featured in contemporary slave narratives by black women writers. Although black feminist critics have long considered love an unavailable, if not, unthinkable construct within the context of interracial relationships during slavery, this project locates this unexpected emotion within four neo-slave narratives. Finding moments of love and desire from, both, slaveholders and slaves, this study nuances monolithic historical players we are usually quick to adjudicate. Drawing on black feminist criticism, history, and critical race theory, this study outlines the importance of exhuming these historic relationships from silence, acknowledging the legacies they left for heterosexual love and race relations, and exploring what lessons we can take away from them today. Recognizing the ongoing tension between remembering and forgetting and the inherent value in both, this study bridges the gap by delineating the importance of perspective and the stories we choose to tell. Rather than being forever haunted by traumatic memories of the past and proliferating stories of violence and abuse, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Octavia Butler, Gayle Jones, and Gloria Naylor's novels reveal that there are ways to negotiate the past, use what you need, and come to a more holistic place where love is available. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 10, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine L. Montgomery, Professor Directing Dissertation; Maxine Jones, University Representative; Dennis Moore, Committee Member; Susan Candace Ward, Committee Member.

Black feminist scholars such as Lisa Anderson describe the most common stereotypes as that of the mammy, the mulatta, and the mistress. My research analyzes how each of these negative stereotypes are articulated or challenged in contemporary plays and films by bringing together scholarship that critiques dramatic representation, mass media that disseminates those representations, and social media that reveals popular perceptions of race. I utilize Black feminism to critique the stereotypical representation of Black women in dramatic works, and critical race theory to consider the social and political environment that allows these representations to proliferate. After setting up the historical context of stereotypes from the slavery era to the present day in chapter two, each of the following chapters explore one specific stereotype, beginning with the mammy in chapter three, moving to the mulatta in chapter four, and ending with the mistress in chapter five. Each of these chapters focuses on two case studies include one successful play and one film with a nation-wide release that features Black female characters and plays on mainstream networks. With theatrical case studies ranging from Lydia Diamond's Voyeurs de Venus (2006) to Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2013), films from The Help (2011) to Dear White People (2014), my work questions how these stereotypes persist and create meaning in popular culture. The work addresses the following questions: How have the mammy, mulatto, and mistress stereotypes functioned and persisted in dramatic works and popular culture in the contemporary era? How do contemporary works adapt, challenge, reinterpret, and reimagine these stereotypes? What does this suggest about shifts in representations of Black women in the contemporary United States? / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Theatre in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / August 9, 2018. / Black Feminism, Critical Race Theory, Mammy, Mistress, Mulatta, Stereotypes / Includes bibliographical references. / Elizabeth Osborne, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tamara Bertrand Jones, University Representative; Jerrilyn McGregory, Committee Member; Kris Salata, Committee Member.

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This work employs historical memory as a theoretical framework in which to explore racial violence in Florida in the 1920s. Focusing on Baker County and Taylor County, I explore the ways in which white memory was (and is) commemorated in public spaces while black memory is often relegated to a more private sphere. Because black memory is underrepresented in archives and public spaces, black citizens and their experiences have been, in many ways, left out of the historical record. In both communities, violent atrocities were committed against African Americans who lived there. I explore the long-term effects of these incidents and how local residents continue to contend with or commemorate their past. This work also examines how memories concerning racial violence and southern identity are created and maintained. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2018. / November 14, 2018. / florida, lynching, memorialization, memory, race, violence / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine D. Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Maxine L. Montgomery, University Representative; Jonathan A. Grant, Committee Member; Jennifer L. Koslow, Committee Member; Katherine C. Mooney, Committee Member.

The overall focus of this study is the wellbeing of African descent bisexual women (ABW), within three interrelated main areas of inquiry: social support, health care, and resources for resilience. Due to the history of the dispersal of African people, compounded by marginalization of African descent bisexual women, this united cross-national research strategy was intended to transcend historical divides and bring more attention to these women's concerns. The cross-national design was also intended to highlight similarities and contrast differences in countries with different health care systems, toward increasing understandings of the women's experiences. The qualitative research method of grounded analysis guided this study. The researcher completed individual face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with six self-identified ABW in the US in 2013, and with eight women in the UK in 2014. The researcher's original intention was to implement a study inclusive of women living with HIV (WLWHA). However, without WLWHA participants, information on their life experiences was not able to be gathered during this study. The researcher gathered and analyzed information about ABW life experiences related to resources and quality of social support and health care when bisexual identity is and is not disclosed. The women were also asked about resources that sustain them and support resiliency. Eleven subthemes emerged from the data, related to four main themes. The participants spoke of their intersectional identities, and needs for affirming social support and culturally competent health care. The participants made recommendations toward creating more inclusive and supportive environments for delivery of health and social care. The women's needs include: Access to quality physical and mental health care; Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) inclusive nondiscrimination policies posted in agency settings; more LGBTQI-identified providers; universal HIV and STD screening; information about healthy relationships, especially on how to communicate assertively about sexual health with a female partner; and inclusive social services that acknowledge the families of sexual minority women. Participants also shared about activities of resilience, including their writing and activism for socioeconomic justice. The findings are intended to increase diversity awareness and sensitivity among health and social care providers. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2015. / April 20, 2015. / African, bisexual, Black, queer, woman, women / Includes bibliographical references. / Neil Abell, Professor Directing Dissertation; Koji Ueno, University Representative; Jean Munn, Committee Member; James Whyte, IV, Committee Member.

With tourism serving as its principal industry by the end of WWII, Florida had solidified itself as the preeminent leisure paradise among America's mainstream destinations. Dubbed the "Magic City," Miami was the most popular retreat for the financially affluent and social elite. But Florida was neither magical nor paradise for thousands of colored residents who lived in the country's southernmost state, nor its Negro tourists whose desires to vacation on the warm Peninsula were overcast by segregation and discrimination that touched every facet of black life. The Miami Times, a black-owned and operated newspaper established in 1923, used its editorial and publishing power to expose the façade of Florida's "Magic City" as a welcoming tropical haven. Founded by Bahamian-born H.E.S. Reeves who ran the newspaper with his son Garth C. Reeves Sr., the Miami Times financially and editorially supported efforts to desegregate Miami schools, beaches, residential communities, public transportation systems and sports complexes. In 1948, Miami Times' management took a strategic role in the effort to destroy the racially discriminating policy that governed the city's municipal golf course. This dissertation helps inject the Miami Times into the historical narrative of the civil rights movement in Florida. This case study illuminates its activism between 1948 and 1958 by highlighting the weekly's effort to help abolish the "Monday-only" policy that restricted black golfers to a singular day of access to the Miami Springs municipal golf course. Support of the legal challenge is but one example that demonstrates how the newspaper, as an agent of change, worked with other Miami community leaders to improve conditions for the city's black population. The newspaper's support of the fight to integrate the city's golf course is evidence of its value as a conduit of social and political change in Miami and the state of Florida. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2014. / September 22, 2014. / African-American Press, Black Press, desegregation, Florida black newspapers, golf course, Miami Times / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine D. Jones, Professor Directing Dissertation; Maxine L. Montgomery, University Representative; Joseph M. Richardson, Committee Member; Jim P. Jones, Committee Member.

This study followed eight Black teachers and highlighted their battles with interpersonal and institutional racism in China. Individual interviews were held with eight co-researchers and five high level administrators. Data was also gathered in two focus groups. The data was then analyzed using phenomenological reduction. Once methods were identified we asked our co-researchers their opinion on the methods, specifically if they found it effective or not. The study found that Black teachers utilized four methods for dealing with racism in China; 1. Retaliate, 2. Ignore, 3. Educate, 4. Assimilate. The most successful strategy for dealing with racism and discrimination was ignoring it because all of the co-researchers shared the same goal of either trying to gain employment or keeping their job. The least successful was retaliation because it added to the co-researchers sense of helplessness. Furthermore, the study proposed five steps that Black teachers and all foreigners can follow to better prepare themselves for the workplace in China: 1) Brace yourself for discrimination and understand the system that you will be living and working in. 2) Appearance matters in China. 3) Have a Chinese advocate. 4) Network with foreigners already in China. 5) Have the proper credentials. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. / Spring Semester 2016. / March 30, 2016. / Black, Black in China, China, co-cultural theory, critical race theory, English teachers / Includes bibliographical references. / Patrice Iatarola, Professor Directing Dissertation; Betsey Becker, University Representative; Peter Easton, Committee Member; Jeffrey Milligan, Committee Member.