Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to a number of adverse effects in adulthood including higher levels of depression, shame, guilt, self-blame, somatic concerns, anxiety, dissociation, repression, denial, relationship problems, and sexual problems. Little is known, however, about the influence CSA has on parenting, specifically among African American mothers, as previous researchers have primarily focused on the trauma experienced by survivors. Examining the impact of CSA on African American mothers' parenting is important as those children of survivors will often also experience the impact of the long-term sequelae associated with CSA. Guided by womanist theory, the purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative inquiry was to explore the lived experiences in relation to parenting of African American mothers who survived CSA. Experiential anecdotes of data collected from interviews with 7 participants were hand coded for emergent themes; analysis generated 4 essential themes and 10 subthemes of experience. Themes included impact of abuse, bonding, efforts to protect, spirituality, and desires. This study's implications for positive social change include contributing to the knowledge base about the process of parenting experienced by African American female survivors of CSA. Findings may add insight shedding light on cultural nuances in parenting and coping with trauma and inform culturally-competent practice. Using study findings, mental health providers may be able to develop tailored treatment interventions and better support services for the prevention of adverse long-term effects of CSA in African American women.

In 1971, Leon Sullivan, founder and chairman of the Board for the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, created the Career Intern Program. The purpose of the Program was to identify and help dropouts and potential dropouts from high school graduate and select and start a career. In order to accomplish these ambitious goals, Program leaders introduced a variety of educational innovations designed to help interns succeed where traditional educational methods had not. During the Career Intern Program's operational life, CIP leaders turned to the federal government for funding, and the National Institute of Education became CIP's primary funder from 1972 to 1976. This collaboration caused several programmatic changes that simultaneously challenged and improved the Program and its ability to fulfill its purposes. When the NIE period ended, the Department of Labor funded the CIP until 1981, after which the Program failed to find further funding and ceased operation. This thesis looks at the civil rights, urban, and economic roots of the Career Intern Program. By looking at these origins, this thesis seeks to derive the Program's original goals, and also by extension how the Program changed during its operational life, especially during the NIE period in Philadelphia. By looking at the Program, education will be identified as a part of the urban and civil rights historiographies, a topic which has largely been underdeveloped by historians of these topics. Also, the CIP-NIE period serves to shed light on private organization-federal agency collaboration during the post-War on Poverty era. Overall, this thesis hopes to contribute to an expanding historiography and help create a more comprehensive narrative of the post-World War II urban north.

The use of myth in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God has been touched on by a few critics, but the wealth of Hurston's knowledge of different cultures offers readers a number of stories and tales from which to draw possible analogues to her characters. In fact, readers can trace Greek, Roman, Norse, Babylonian, Egyptian, African and African-American mythic elements in her character Tea Cake Woods. Hurston uses these analogues to enrich the characterization and to posit her theories of love and happiness in the modern age.

This dissertation focuses on the African American Baptist church as a vital architect of black higher education in Kentucky. In keeping with the historiography of black education, my research focuses on the often-forgotten component of religion and its impact on the development of post-secondary education. More specifically, my work explores the dynamics of race, class and gender in shaping the origins of black higher learning institutions in the state. I contend that Kentucky was home to a growing and progressive African American middle class who sought racial uplift to solve the “negro problem" through education. I also reveal that African American religious leaders in Kentucky served as examples for other African Americans who were promoting black higher education during the period of segregation. As a border state, Kentucky offers a unique opportunity to examine the educational challenges and opportunities African Americans faced during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Kentucky was home to one of the few African American Baptist controlled institutions in the nation, Simmons College. Therefore, this study offers historians an expanded lens for analyzing African American agency in developing higher learning initiatives while combating racial inequality in a state with a reputation for poorly funding public education.

Stephen Foster is acknowledged as America’s first composer of popular music. His legacy can be seen in the number of songs that are embedded in our cultural heritage – “Oh! Susanna,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” and “My Old Kentucky Home,” are but a very few of his most popular works. Stephen Foster’s songs have been incorporated into every facet of American culture including both popular and classical musical culture, television, and film. However, his legacy is complicated as it is tainted by connections to blackface minstrelsy in some works. This document seeks to trace the threads of racial sensitivity and cultural appropriation in works arranged for choral ensembles based on Foster’s songs. The arrangements chosen for this document provide a glimpse into three distinct periods of American history – pre-Civil Rights, the Civil Rights Era, and post-Civil Rights. Using a process of comparative analysis of the music and text of the originals to that of the arrangements, this document traces expected and unexpected changes in music and text associated with each period. Perhaps through the continued study of one of America’s first purveyors of popular culture, we can begin to understand our national legacy of racism more clearly and find a path towards reconciliation.

In recent years, the public has seen a rise in recorded footage of violent encounters between police and Black American citizens, partially due to technology such as cell phones, dash-cameras, and body-cameras. This linguistic study examines how these encounters get escalated to the point of violence by asking 1) what kind of directives were used, 2) how were they responded to, 3) how the directives contributed to escalation, and 4) how might power and authority have played a role. I use two case studies to analyze directives and their responses. Findings reveal that repetition of directives on the part of the officers, as well as the rejections to those directives on the part of the motorists tend to aggravate the conversation. I conclude that a variety of directives may represent a variety of reasons the officer might have for a motorist to comply with their directives and that police authority might be better understood and agreed to by the motorist if a variety of linguistic resources were used.

Obesity is currently viewed as one of the most important health concerns in the United States. Researchers have minimally investigated perspectives surrounding obesity within the African-American female population. This lack of research presented a gap in knowledge concerning the perceived social, environmental, and cultural influences of obesity within this population. The research questions asked African-American females about their views toward these influences. This research was guided by tenets of the social cognitive theory and the transtheoretical model for behavioral change. Thirteen African-American females participated in the interviews. The data collected were reviewed and coded using word frequencies and themes. Findings included recurring themes of cultural influences, social disparities, and the lack of access to healthy food sources and health providers. Positive social change could result from this research to help enlighten public health professionals and community planners to understand the perspectives of African-American women's belief systems surrounding obesity. The information delivered by this research could possibly empower the participants to address the issues within their communities with civic leaders and policy makers to create and sustain needed change.

The overrepresentation of African American (AA) students in special education is a problem in the United States, with concerns about the lack of uniformity in AA students' referrals to special education, and whether the referral process is applied consistently for all students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions of teachers, school counselors, and school administrators concerning the special education referral process, and whether the process was applied consistently for all students. The 2 theories providing the theoretical foundation were critical race theory and zone of proximal development. Criterion sampling was used to select 6 participants for this qualitative case study. The sample included 2 teachers, 2 school counselors, and 2 school administrators. Face-to face interviews were conducted and transcripts were analyzed using open coding with topical analysis to see if any patterns emerged concerning teachers', school counselors', and school administrators' perceptions of the special education referral process. Member checking was used to improve trustworthiness of the interpretations. Findings revealed that all participants were unaware of the disproportionate number of AA students in special education, and reported that they followed the established rules and procedures within the school to guide their referral decisions. In addition, all respondents identified their distinct role in the referral process, and indicated that when placed properly, students can benefit from special education placement. Positive social change may result by exploring stakeholder perceptions of the special education referral processes among school staff, and ensuring that those involved in special education referrals are applying processes consistently for all students.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported workforce disparities in the representation of minority ethnic groups in leadership positions for more than 5 decades. In 2011, Executive Order 13583 initiated the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, directing federal agencies to recruit a diverse workforce, cultivate inclusion across occupations, and develop strategies to enable leading a diverse workforce. This plan is important considering other research studies show various approaches to understanding leadership behaviors; however, empirical studies have yet to explore if there is a relationship between ethnic identity and leadership style to inform diversity and inclusion efforts. The purpose of this nonexperimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was to examine the relationship between leadership style and ethnic identity through the nigrescence model pertaining to Black identity theory. The research questions in this study explored predictive relationships between leadership style and ethnic identity in the context of gender and age. Study participants were 185 African American leaders randomly selected from 9 organizations in the federal government, historically Black colleges and universities, and private companies. Data were collected through the Cross Racial Identity Scale, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and demographic surveys. Results of multiple regression analyses and multivariate analyses revealed significant predictive relationships amongst leadership style (transformational, transactional), ethnic identity, gender, and age (Millennial, Generation X, Baby Boomers). The increased understanding that diverse leadership styles exist across ethnic groups, gender, and generation could help to improve leader-follower relationships and promote positive social change that enables diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Obesity and overweight issues are nationally recognized crises for African American women. A noteworthy gap remains in the literature regarding this population's experiences with excessive weight, specifically, the role of culture and social support networks on their experience with being overweight. Without an understanding of the experience and meaning of being overweight for African American women, physicians and clinicians will not be able to fully support African American women in their weight loss journeys. Using the social learning theory as a framework, the purpose of this phenomenological research study was to explore experiences of obese or overweight middle-aged African American women while discovering the roles of culture and social support network in those experiences. Twelve women participated in individual, semi-structured interviews with the researcher. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and thematically analyzed. Findings showed that emotional eating and over-indulgence contributed to their obesity; social support networks supported their behaviors in attempts to be supportive and non-judgmental and eating was a primary feature of social interactions and cultural events. Their stories showed how important eating was to African American women's relationships and social interactions and how the social environment may be contributing to the crisis of obesity in this population. This study's results could be used to help promote positive social change in this population by helping African American women develop weight management programs that also support their lifestyle and cultural focus on food. Furthermore, examining how to engage socially and balance the social elements with proper eating should be the focus of future research.