<p> This dissertation research examines the perceptions held by African Africans as they pertain to the environment and nature and the factors influencing those perceptions. The research covers the ecopsycological elements, historical narratives, and current social dynamics of African American culture in order to understand their frame of reference in connection to the environment. Two populations of African American adults in Michigan and South Carolina were used to study the perceptions and behaviors exhibited by the culture. The research study used interview sessions and questionnaires in order to generate qualitative and quantitative data. The data focused on outdoor childhood activities, adult involvement, concerns about the environment, perceptions of individuals and mainstream organizations associated with the environment, current and potential environmental behaviors, and factors contributing to the participants&rsquo; environmental actions and decisions. With unanimous responses indicating that research participants have engaged in some form of outdoor activity during childhood, as well as a majority of these individuals expressing time spent outdoors or in nature as positive, there is indication the environment plays an integral part in the lives of African Americans. Additionally, participants acknowledged discussions about the environment and nature rarely occurred between themselves and their parents or other adults during their childhood, especially in regards to conservation, preservation, and pollution prevention measures. What they did experience, however, was language through demonstration; any specific actions about managing or taking care of the earth was learned through hands-on approaches rather than verbal communication. Lastly participants in this study overwhelmingly cited Caucasians and elements oftentimes associated with Caucasians as the frame of reference for environmentalism. In contrast, African Americans are just as interested in and concerned about the environment, yet they do not perceive themselves as environmentalists. The study results indicate there are significant correlations between some environmental and social aspects exhibited by the participants and overall, African Americans are interested in the environment and some of the components associated with it.</p>

No description available.

<p> For decades, there has been a concern with the negative framing of black women in the media. Historically, black women are placed into four stereotypical frames: The Mammy, The Jezebel, The Sapphire and The Matriarch. However, in 2008, a new image of black women arose through Michelle Obama. She was well rounded &mdash; beautiful, intelligent, insightful, humorous, strong, yet soft all at the same time. This study seeks to understand the changes in the framing of black women since Michelle Obama&rsquo;s time as First Lady.</p><p> More specifically, this study focuses on the medium of magazine journalism, which seems to be largely ignored in the realm of media studies. Thirty articles from a mainstream (<i>Glamour</i>) and a black women&rsquo;s magazine (<i>Essence</i>) were analyzed for the presence of historical frames along with the emergence of new ones. The study employs the qualitative method of textual analysis as a way to determine frames and their meanings through a grounded theory approach.</p><p> The primary outcomes of this study are a greater understanding of how historical frames still affect how magazines, mainstream and black, frame black women, and the revealing of new frames that depart from those historical representations. Furthermore, this study will be used as a foundation for editors, writers, educators and students alike, to create more authentic and multifaceted stories about black women.</p><p>

<p> Abstract Culturally Relevant Instruction integrated with Responsiveness to Intervention is considered a framework for creating equitable learning environments that engage and educate all students within the classroom. Creating equitable learning environments has been a problem for American educators for over forty years. Historically, the curriculum and instruction methods employed in most American classrooms centered in cultural paradigms that appealed to European American students and ignored the cultural significance of African Americans and other culturally diverse student populations. As a result, most African American students experience academic challenges in the classroom. </p><p> The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed that since the 1970&rsquo;s, the academic achievement gap between African American and European American students&rsquo; averages between 20 to 30 points on standardized Math and Reading examinations. With such a significant gap in academic performance, professional development teacher training and schools of education programs have attempted dramatic changes in their approaches to curriculum and instruction. The purpose of this basic qualitative research study is to explore what twelve teacher participants consider the best practices for creating equitable learning environments in their classrooms. Data collection included interviews with teachers about what strategies are most effective for integrating Responsiveness to Intervention with Culturally Responsive Instruction and how to identify and implement evidence-based instruction that enhances learning. Future studies should focus on the impact of Re-normed tests on student performance and full implementation of all components of CRI.</p><p>

<p>This study examines the educational history of African Americans since their arrival in America in 1619. From milestones to major turning points in educational history, various Supreme Court decisions, and federal educational legislation, this study highlights the development of the African American system of education. This paper also examines the creation of the first legislation governing education of blacks in the 1700s and then evaluates the modern legislation pertaining to the education of blacks in America?s schools. Next, this paper examines the academic progress of African Americans by reviewing their performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics assessment. Lastly, this study offers remedies for the current state of academic affairs for African Americans.

<p> This dissertation examines how Israel's establishment affected the relationship between Black Americans and American Jews in the United States. It traces the efforts of a group of leading American Jews, in the ranks of Jewish advocacy organizations, academia, show business, and the American Jewish press, who attempted to leverage their personal, political and professional connections with various prominent Black Americans, in order to elicit Black American support for Israel after World War II. It asks in turn, how the targeted Black Americans responded to the pressure they faced from these prominent American Jews. </p><p> Relying primarily on previously unexamined archival material, this narrative of the changing relationship between Black Americans, American Jews and Israel, addresses the historical conundrum of why American Jews got involved with Black American civil rights to the extent that they did. In contrast to previous studies, this dissertation argues that American Jewish involvement in Black American civil rights constituted a practical quid pro quo. It thus contradicts past conceptions of American Jewish civil rights contributions as primarily a philanthropic undertaking. When prominent American Jews threw their support behind Black Americans, politically and professionally, in the 1950s and 1960s, they made it clear that in return they both wanted and expected Black American support for their interests, including Israel. </p><p> Prominent American Jews including American Jewish Congress's Will Maslow, leading American Rabbi and Zionist Stephen Wise, impresario Sol Hurok, and legendary performer Eddie Cantor, among many others attempted to pressure Black American civil rights leaders, like Walter White and Martin Luther King, the United Nations diplomat Ralph Bunche, and famed performers Lionel Hampton, Marian Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker and many more, to support Israel. In the instances when prominent Black Americans agreed to these terms, their fame, success and influence in their respective fields made them some of the most beneficial Israel supporters in the United States. More often than not, however, American Jewish efforts to leverage their relationships to demand support for Israel resulted in tensions and resentment from prominent Black Americans. This dissertation therefore, demonstrates that the late 1960s clashes between Blacks and Jews, which scholars have heretofore identified as the "death-knell of Black-Jewish relations" in the United States, actually reflected tensions that mounted, often over Israel, during the course of the two preceding decades. Ultimately, this dissertation argues, Black Americans' perspectives on Israel, between 1947 and 1970, reflected the changing nature, tone, and significance of their relationships with the American Jews, who sought to influence them.</p><p>

<p> In my study, I examined teacher perceptions of the factors that contribute to or work against the success of African American (Black) students in predominately White independent schools. I asked three questions and two subquestions:</p><p> 1. What do teachers observe across elementary, middle, and high school age groups that they perceive contributes to or works against the success of Black students?</p><p> 1a. How do teachers in a predominately White, independent school define success for their Black students?</p><p> 1b. Do teachers at different grade levels have different perceptions of Black student success?</p><p> 2. Is it possible to develop valid, reliable measure of teacher perceptions of independent school racial climate and Black student coping?</p><p> 3. Does a relationship exist between individual demographic factors of teachers and their perceptions of the success of Black students?</p><p> My study was conducted at three independent schools in New York City. Focus group interviews were conducted at each school with teachers and administrators who had 10 or more years of experience at their schools. Surveys with direct and open-ended questions were distributed to faculty, administrators, and staff of the three schools to explore perceptions of Black student success, racial climate, and Black student coping, and to determine whether a relationship existed among individual demographic factors and teacher perceptions of Black student success. I found four relationships:</p><p> 1. Participants perceived that, regardless of their grade level, Black students in their schools experienced similar forms of implicit and explicit racial bias that negatively affected their success; however, patterns emerged in the participants&rsquo; responses that demonstrated a higher level of concern for their elementary-age Black students compared to the students who entered in middle or high school.</p><p> 2. Participants identified <i>strong sense of self</i> and <i> sense of connection</i> as two core dimensions of success for all of their students, but identified knowing the &ldquo;rules of the private school game&rdquo; and having a strong support <i>network</i> early on as important success factors for Black students.</p><p> 3. It is possible to develop valid and reliable measures of teacher perceptions of racial climate and Black student coping.</p><p> 4. A significant relationship existed among teacher perceptions of Black student success and teachers&rsquo; race, years in current school, years in position, and school level taught.</p>

This dissertation recovers the life of Marie Justine Sirnir Couvent and the Atlantic World she inhabited. Born in Africa around 1757, she was enslaved as a child and shipped to Saint-Domingue through the Bight of Benin in the 1760s. In the tumult of the Haitian Revolution, Couvent fled the island, along with tens of thousands of Saint-Domingue inhabitants. She resettled in New Orleans where she eventually died a free and wealthy slaveholder in 1837. Although illiterate, Couvent left property to establish a free black school in her will. L'Institution Catholique des Orphelins Indigents was founded on her land in 1847 and a school operated on the site for over 150 years. This unique example of free black philanthropy in New Orleans demonstrates how the city's free people of color built a community through social ties, property, and collective institutions as the center of slavery shifted to the Deep South.;The dissertation traces both Couvent's geographic movement from the Slave Coast through the French Caribbean to New Orleans and her social mobility from slave to free and from property to property owner. I argue that Couvent utilized social networks and property ownership to rebuild her life in New Orleans and participate in the development of a free people of color community. Couvent formed important social connections at all stages of her life that aided her survival of slavery and her relocation to Louisiana. Reconstructing her social networks in New Orleans reveals a shift from relationships centered on multiracial, Saint-Dominguan ties to a network dominated by free people of color, as Couvent became integrated into the city's existing free black population. One way Couvent formed new relationships was through the acquisition and exchange of property. In addition to gaining economic security, Couvent bolstered her free status, created a family, and assisted in the creation of free black collective institutions through her property ownership. Taking into account her African birth and experience of enslavement in the Saint-Dominguan port city of Cap Francais, I analyze the different types of property Couvent owned separately to illustrate how property ownership facilitated as well as complicated the development of a free people of color community in New Orleans.;Her singular bequest and the remarkable endurance of the school have sustained Couvent's legacy in New Orleans as a patron of African American education. A final chapter traces the history of the school(s) and the emphasis its administrators placed on education as a tool to challenge racial prejudice and combat inequality. Couvent remains within New Orleans' public memory, but how she has been remembered varied over the twentieth century. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of the multiple interpretations of Couvent's legacy.

As one participant of my study said, "Yes, I was hazed, and following my induction, I hazed others. That's the way it is and that's the way it will always be." This is how he justified his involvement with hazing within his fraternity.;"For over seven hundred years in higher education, and over two hundred years in American higher education, some form of hazing has existed, a systematic means of indoctrinating new members of the university community through a rite of passage. It is within this culture that fraternities were started" (Kimbrough, 2003, p. 39), including African American organizations. From their beginning, "African American fraternities were created in an effort to provide Black students with the interpersonal, social, educational, and professional support denied to them in many American social and political structures; however, they did not autonomously create the process of violent initiation" (Ross, 2000, p. 6). Even still, hazing has become such a significant problem for African American fraternities that these destructive practices are raising questions regarding the continued existence of these Greek organizations. Individual students, their parents, local chapters, national organizations, legislatures and courts are all affected by the devastating results of hazing and the unwillingness amongst African American fraternity members to eliminate it from their practices.;Through an investigation of the membership intake process for African American fraternities, this research provides a better understanding of the meanings behind hazing activities that occur within that process or even after membership (post-pledging). The problem of this qualitative study was to explore the reasons that African American fraternity members engaged in or allowed themselves to be hazed during their initiation process. I wanted to create a better understanding of the role hazing continues to play within African American fraternities. to accomplish this, my study focused on members of one of the NPHC fraternities, dividing them into three distinct cohorts based from the year they became a member of their fraternity (1990-1995; 1996-2000; and 2001-2006).;Based on my analysis, distinct characteristics define each cohort in a general sense with each cohort having their own individual reasoning for hazing activities within their fraternity. Many similarities were apparent among all the men involved in the study; however, equally, extreme differences emerged as to why they allowed themselves to be hazed. Each cohort, although comprised of five individuals, shared some commonalities unique only to their cohort.;Within this dissertation, I discuss eight distinct areas discovered in my analysis, giving pertinent information relating to each cohort and the overall group as well. The eight areas are: (1) the significance of masculinity and manhood in the induction process; (2) the escalation of violence within hazing activities; (3) intra and inter-fraternity relationships; (4) the relevance of the shift from pledging to the membership intake program; (5) hegemonic versus Afro-centric interests in deciding to join the fraternity; (6) pledging versus hazing; (7) definitions of respect; and (8) attitudes toward hazing.

Learning How to Listen': Analyzing Style and Meaning in the Music of Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone and Cassandra Wilson examines the similarities of singing styles and core narrative traits in the original songs of three African American women vocalist-composers celebrated within the jazz idiom. Drawing on years of ethnographic research, including over 150 hours of personal interviews with musicians, attendance of jazz concerts and festivals both domestic and abroad, and a three-year listening journal (based on live performances and recordings), 'Learning How to Listen' is an Africana cultural studies product informed by vibrant multidisciplinary scholarship that bridges Jazz studies, Linguistics and African American history and literary studies. The latter especially extends the project's close relationship to twentieth-century black literary traditions found in poetry, prose, and as witnessed here, also song lyrics. The introduction highlights the significance of Lincoln (1930-2010), Simone (1933-2003) and Wilson (b. 1955) to the American music canon, and articulates the dissertation's distinctive contribution to the field of black music studies, addressing the work's methodology and the scope of primary chapters which provide an analysis of the: a) singing voice; b) philosophical authorial voice and c) performance style specifically in relation to 'Re-memory' songs which bear witness to an African heritage. Chapter Two engages two distinct modes of discourse generated on Lincoln, Simone and Wilson by jazz critics and jazz musicians. Chapter Three proves the applicability and efficacy of linguistics to the music of Lincoln, Simone and Wilson by examining the collective approach to melorhythm and tonal semantics and the phonological style markers employed by each: Lincoln's phonosemantics; Simone's microtonality; and Wilson's polytonality. Since a significant portion of the original songs by these artists engage a plethora of black women's socio-political issues, Chapter Four analyzes lyrics that demonstrate a gendered philosophical outlook I refer to as womanist autoethno-graphy. Chapters Five and Six examines the creative impulse shared by these artists to bear witness to their African heritage in 'Re-memory' (a term coined by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison) songs that both invoke and re-imagine an African past and celebrate an African present and future. It is my contention that the cultural study of black music is uniquely positioned to delineate the principles and mechanisms by which African diasporic music is connected by similar aesthetic philosophies. Thus, in the seventh and final chapter my project ultimately suggests a model for expanding discourses about black women's music. My term Afrodiasporic 'Voicing,' introduced in the conclusion, is shorthand for the aural and authorial cultural elements that uniquely characterize black women's music across genres and nations. It implies that black American women singer-songwriters and their musical sisters in the African diaspora share conceptual approaches to music-making processes in spite of geographic or linguistic differences.