<p> The Great Dismal swamp straddles the North Carolina and Virginia state lines. From the seventeenth century until the Civil War this remote landscape became home to thousands of Maroons. These Maroon communities were comprised of runaway slaves, Native Americans and disenfranchised Europeans. The swamp was not only part of the passage for the Underground Rail Road (UGRR) but it was also a destination for individuals who lived on high ground and islands throughout the swamp. These self emancipated individuals developed complex modes of communitization. This dissertation uses a variety of theoretical perspectives, including agency theory, diaspora, and marronage to aluminate and understand the conditions and cultural transformations that took place over the course of several centuries and generations. The examination of these different communal groups will show that the each possessed and left behind different archaeological assemblages. Towards the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the outside world began to view the swamp as an exploitable resource and commodity. This led to increased forays by the outside world into the swamp and increased the possibility of contact with remote communities living on mesic islands deep in the swamp&rsquo;s interior. As the outside world penetrated the interior of the Great Dismal Swamp it required the communities to adapt and transform. This dissertation will examine the cultural and communal transformations of a community that resisted contact with the outside world in response to loggers and canal laborers arriving in the deep interior of the swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study excavated The Crest of the nameless site during the 2009-2013 field seasons. These excavations ran in conjunction with American University&rsquo;s Archaeological Field School. The excavations revealed a new architectural feature and artifact assemblage that represent a cultural transformation and the emergence of a new mode of communitization. These features and artifacts will be examined using a lens of agentive action to shed new insights into the Maroons who occupied a mesic island deep in the Great Dismal Swamp.</p>

<p> This quantitative survey questionnaires study compared the teacher-student interactions (TSI) and academic achievement of African-American and African immigrant undergraduate males. The academic achievement gap between different population groups provided the impetus for the study. While African Americans have been described as under-achievers in the literature, their African immigrant counterparts have at times been dubbed a model minority. However, studies on differences in TSI between the two groups are scant. Students&rsquo; perceptions of TSI were assessed using two existing instruments, the <i>Experience with Faculty Scale and Student-Professor Interaction Scale.</i> Grade Point Average (GPA) was used as proxy for academic achievement. Traditional (ages 18-24) undergraduate Black male students at an Upper-Midwestern university constituted the population for the study. With a sample size of sixty (n1=30, n2=30), hypothesis testing was done using Chi-Square, the Fisher Exact test with Freeman-Halton extension, and Ordered Logistic Regression. Although the study did not show statistically significant differences in TSI as well as academic achievement between the two groups, it revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in how often students discussed their career plans and academic ambitions with faculty. Moreover, contrary to prior literature; African immigrants in this study did not significantly outperform African Americans on self-reported GPA&mdash;casting doubt on the depiction of African immigrants as a monolithic group and a hyper successful model minority. Two incidental and yet important findings also emerged from the study. First, among students reporting having positive TSI, African immigrants were twice as likely as African Americans to describe it as very strong. Second, only one-fourth of the participants hailed from non-college-educated households. The meaning of the findings and implications for higher education are discussed. </p>

<p> Self-worth is commonly used as a barometer for psychological well-being in adolescence. As low-income urban African American youth are often exposed to contexts that may undervalue their worth (e.g., racial discrimination), positive self-perception may be especially crucial for their well-being. The current study focused on the development of global self-worth and two self-concept domains (i.e., social acceptance and physical appearance) within a large sample of African American adolescents. Analyses sought to: (a) identify classes of adolescents who demonstrate different trajectory classes of self-worth and domain-specific self-concept; (b) examine if gender predicts class membership; and (c) examine links between class membership and depression. </p><p> Participants were a community sample of 610 urban and predominantly low income African American adolescents who reported their global self-worth, perceived social acceptance and physical appearance from grade 6 through 12. Depressive symptoms were reported in the year following grade 12. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify latent classes of children who showed different patterns of change in global self-worth and domain-specific self-concepts from grade 6 through 12. Additional analyses explored whether gender predicted class membership, and if class membership predicted depressive symptoms in the year following grade 12.</p><p> Analyses indicated that a one-class solution fit best for global self-worth: overall, this sample showed <i>high and increasing</i> development of global self-worth. However, there was heterogeneity in the development of self-concept related to social acceptance and physical appearance, each demonstrating a two-class solution. For both domains, the majority of adolescents placed in a high and increasing trajectory class. A second group of adolescents demonstrated <i>moderate</i> and <i>stable</i> growth of social acceptance and physical appearance. Youth placed in the <i> high and increasing</i> physical appearance trajectory class were more likely to be male. Symptoms of depression were significantly higher in the year following grade 12 in the trajectory class of social acceptance marked by lower self-perception ratings. Results shed light on specific patterns amongst African American adolescents that may require intervention, and provide a foundation for examination of determinants and outcomes of domain-specific self-perceived competence.</p>

<p> The percentage of African American women in leadership roles has not increased as significantly as women in general. This exploratory qualitative study examined African American leaders&rsquo; perceptions of their common challenges as they advance to executive leadership and their personal capabilities required to attain leadership. The intent was to understand the factors that contribute to their rise to executive leadership. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.) </p>

<p> This critical analysis of the literature explores the potential of African-centered psychology to address the sequelae of historical trauma in the 21st century persons of African ancestry in the United States. African American face significant health and wellness challenges including socioeconomic disparities, interpersonal violence, substance abuse, psycho-spiritual distress, and physical health issues. The literature questions the validity of mainstream psychological science to effectively conceptualize and treat persons of African ancestry, and calls for the identification of specific, culturally relevant interventions to increase physical and psychological wellness. The concept of historical trauma helps to explain the psycho-spiritual distress experienced by many persons of African ancestry in the United States, including internalized oppression, as the sequelae of unhealed wounds relates to enslavement and colonization, through the destruction of culture, language and religion, and imposition of non-inclusive systems of education, government and law. An African-centered psychology approach may alleviate suffering related to historical trauma. This dissertation further integrates the literature on the historical trauma response with the literature on African-centered psychology. Wellness goals for persons of African ancestry are identified in the literature of scholars, researchers, practitioners, activists, and community members. Concepts and strategies from an African-centered psychology framework are then explored for their potential to help illuminate challenges, address needs, and support goals, in alignment with cultural values and work currently being done in this field. Implications in the areas of epistemology, research, clinical practice, practitioner training, and public acknowledgement are explored in depth, and recommendations for incorporating African centered strategies in therapeutic interventions are made. This dissertation also identifies its own theoretical and methodological limitations, and proposes areas for future investigation. Emerging hypotheses suggest that incorporating African centered practices in therapeutic work with persons of African ancestry and their communities may offer a congruent and compatible pathway to promote psychological well-being in persons and communities of African ancestry.</p>

<p> Literary scholars have been examining and recreating the experiences of &ldquo;bonded&rdquo; female characters within Toni Morrison&rsquo;s novels for decades. However, the distinct experiences of these enslaved women, that are also mothers have not been astutely examined by scholars and deserves more attention. My thesis fleshes out the characterization of several of Morrison&rsquo;s bonded-mothers and identifies them as a part of a developing controlling image and theory, called the bondmother. Situating these characters within this category allows readers to trace their journeys towards freedom and personal redemption. This character tracing will occur by examining the following Toni Morrison novels: <i>Beloved</i> (1987) and <i> Paradise</i> (1997). In order to fully examine the experiences of these characters it will be necessary for me to expand the definition of bondage and mother.</p>

<p> The level of encouragement provided to female African American breast cancer survivors post-diagnosis by their medical providers to engage in physical activity and the amount of their current physical activity levels was investigated. Six female San Francisco Bay Area breast cancer survivors were interviewed to determine their levels of physical activity pre and post diagnosis and the level of encouragement they received from their medical providers to engage in physical activity.</p>

<p> This study examines the national criminal justice system&rsquo;s and the state of Tennessee criminal justice system&rsquo;s policies in terms of how they influence citizens&rsquo; need for prisons with the private sector's desire for profits and their effects on the incarceration rate of African American males in the state of Tennessee. There is an important, often neglected correlation among prison sentencing, felony disenfranchisement, voting and the continuing problematic issues of race in America, particularly in Tennessee. Tennessee serves as a representative case study for which to examine local, state, and national criminal justice system, disparate outcomes and social inequality. The research therefore investigates ethically questionable public-private business relationships and arrangements that contribute to socially-constructed economic policy instruments used to fulfill Conservatives and Whites supremacists&rsquo; objectives for White domination in the State. Through mass incarceration and felony disenfranchisement, African Americans&mdash;in particular, African American males, have been discriminated against and systematically excluded from political participation, employment, housing, education and other social programs. This dissertation utilizes the Racial Contract Theory and Racial Group Threat Theory (Racial Threat Theory or Group Threat Theory) to investigate the issue. The Racial Contract Theory suggests that racism itself is an intentionally devised institutionalized political arrangement, of official and unofficial rule, of official and unofficial policy, socioeconomic benefit, and norms for the preferential distribution of material wealth and opportunities. The Racial Group Threat Theory suggests that growth in the comparative size of a subordinate group increases that group&rsquo;s capacity to use democratic political and economic institutions for its benefit at the expense of the dominant group.</p><p> This dissertation therefore first hypothesizes that race, mass incarceration and felony disenfranchisement are employed to influence election outcomes in Tennessee. The second hypothesis that profit-seeking motive or other forms of economic incentives contribute to racist policy in the criminal justice system of Tennessee. The secondary data for this study were collected from books, scholarly articles, and online sources using the document analysis technique. The primary data were collected using national, state, local government reports and expert testimonials already conducted.</p>

<p> Saint Frances Orphan Asylum and Saint Elizabeth Home were institutions in post-bellum Baltimore for African American orphans. Saint Frances Orphan Asylum was founded and managed by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first community of women religious of African origin. The Franciscan Sisters, whose order originated in England, directed Saint Elizabeth&rsquo;s Home. As Catholic institutions, the orphanages received support, albeit in differing levels, from the Archdiocese of Baltimore. This study investigated the two institutions and their place in the Catholic Church. Primary source documents from the Oblate Sisters of Providence Archive and the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore Archive form the basis for this dissertation. An analysis of those documents, and others, reveals that race and gender were critical factors in Catholic support of the two institutions. Saint Elizabeth Home, run by a white order of nuns, received a great deal more backing, both financial and political, than did Saint Frances Orphan Asylum. Support for the Oblates and their institution varied depending upon the leadership of the church at a particular time and the personal beliefs.</p>

<p> In the past four decades, women and African Americans have made great strides in the labor market, breaking the proverbial glass ceiling as well as climbing the corporate ladder. Despite scholarly studies revealing those strides across work domains, the influences of race and gender that continue to exist for African American women in the workplace&mdash;particularly when it comes to the law enforcement field&mdash;have not been studied extensively. </p><p> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the influence of ethnicity and gender in African American women who were working as criminal investigators in federal law enforcement through the theoretical lens of identity theory and career decision-making. This study employed a phenomenological approach to capture the rich, thick descriptive summaries of participants&rsquo; experiences and convert those findings into emergent themes that accurately described the participants&rsquo; interpretation of those events. Moreover, the researcher used a modified version of Seidman&rsquo;s (2006) three-interview structure for this study.</p><p> There were six findings in this study. First, perceptions of identity, in terms of race and gender or the combination of the two, did not hinder the participants in succeeding in their role as a criminal investigator. Second, participants experienced a variety of issues and challenges as a result of a combination of race and gender in regards to lack of respect, lack of support, and lack of guidance relevant to completing their duties and responsibilities. Third, five factors influenced participants&rsquo; choice of a career as a criminal investigator. Fourth, participants had a difficult time separating their identity as an African American and as a woman. Fifth, many participants perceived that training was a tool that better equipped them for doing the job. Sixth, and lastly, participants made decisions based on following the rules, regulations, and orders that governed the agency.</p><p> This study contributes to the body of research on African American female criminal investigators (and women as a whole) in federal law enforcement. Furthermore, the findings in this study have given these participants a voice. </p>