<p> The Mount Gilead AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church, perched on a mountain in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, has been a focal point of African American heritage in the area for over a hundred and seventy-five years. Though the second church building, dated to 1852, is still standing with its cemetery beside it, very little about its history has been thoroughly explored. Oral histories link the church with the Underground Railroad, a highly clandestine operation&mdash;yet the church itself was built of stone and advertized its location during the height of the movement of self-emancipated people out of the South. While it is said that this rural church community was made up of a hundred families who settled across the hillside, the cemetery itself only has 243 currently marked graves. The antebellum church hosted hundreds of people, black and white, at events held within walking distance of the rumored hideouts of those on the run from slavery. In order to determine the extent of this seemingly paradoxical relationship between secrecy and prominence, and to achieve a fuller understanding of the community during the 19^th century, the church's history is approached from several angles simultaneously. The cemetery itself is identified as a critical location where much can be learned about the composition, achievements, and struggles of the community. Combining archival research (primarily in the US Census, newspapers, and farm account books) with geographic information systems (GIS) and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a sense of the size, occupations, and personal histories of the community are achieved, yielding a composite view of the general church population and its history between the 1820s and 1900.</p>

<p> In this dissertation, I analyzing the invagination of slavery and madness as constitutive of the political, medical, economic, legal and literary institutions of the United States. In my introduction, I discuss my previous project concerning all black mental institutions that emerged in the American South after Reconstruction. My first chapter, "Haunting Asylums: Madness, Slavery and the Archive," addresses my difficulties with the fragmented records of the racially segregated mental asylums and how figurations of the ghost or the inhuman failed to provide me with a salvific moment. In Chapter 2, "Compounds of Madness and Race: Governing Species, Disease and Sexuality in the Early Republic," I map the epistemic ground of race, mind and nation in the Revolutionary-era United States. My third chapter, "Worse than Useless, Too Much Sense: Enslaved Insanity in Plantations, Courtrooms and Asylums" is the culmination of previous two, where I trace the admission and treatment records of a sixteen-year-old slave interned in a mental asylum to the discourses and institutions surrounding the internal slave trade. I conclude by discussing two deaths separated by two centuries but connected by the violent conjunction of antiblackness and madness.</p>

<p> This dissertation challenges the traditional histories of rhetoric in early America by examining how Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric affected those outside of the white, male-dominated social hierarchy of the early eighteenth century through an examination of works by white women, Native Americans, and African Americans that confluence around national calls for Native American removal and African colonization. Scholars have shown the influence of Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric on the early Republic, specifically the rhetoric of George Campbell and Hugh Blair, and historians have shown the relationships between abolitionists, Native Americans, and African Americans during the nineteenth century. However, these scholars have not shown how writers deployed Scottish Enlightenment rhetoric in these debates. By examining writings by Lydia Maria Child and Catharine Maria Sedgwick, I show how both women incorporated the ideas of sympathy in their works about Native Americans and African Americans. I also explore how activists such as William Apess, David Walker, and Hosea Easton all implemented Campbell's rhetorical ideas into their arguments and discuss how their rhetorical practices can be seen in relationship to one another. Drawing on Blair's thoughts on taste, I explore how newspaper editors John Russwurm and Elias Boudinot viewed taste and how they presented their views to their African American and Cherokee readers respectively. Looking forward, I conclude with a brief examination of the poet Albery Allson Whitman who wrote epic poems centered on the confluence of Native American and African American experiences. Overall, this dissertation works to show how those outside of the social hierarchy wielded rhetorical principles taught in the hallowed halls of the university, and it also explores the understudied links between activists who fought for Native American and African American rights during the early nineteenth century.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was examine a construct, relationship perceptions of the prot&eacute;g&eacute; by comparing t score means of the mentoring relationship and other proximal relationships-mother, father, peers, and teachers. The study targeted (a) Black adolescent males, (b) ages 12 to 17 years old, (c) enrolled in grades seven through 11 in school, and (d) involved a community-based mentoring program in suburban Washington, DC, which includes parts of Maryland. A nonintervention cross-sectional quantitative study design was used to examine the construct of perceived relationships of the prot&eacute;g&eacute; by comparing <i>t</i> score means from data collected using the Clinical Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (a context-dependent, Likert-type, scale composed of five relationship scales of 35 items each). Three research questions guiding the study were: How does the prot&eacute;g&eacute; rate the mentoring relationship compared with either parental relationship? How does the prot&eacute;g&eacute; rate the mentoring relationship compared with the peers&rsquo; relationship? and How does the prot&eacute;g&eacute; rate the mentoring relationship compared with the teachers&rsquo; relationship? The sample consisted of 13 Black adolescent males (<i>n</i> = 13). The mentoring relationship received significantly higher ratings than the proximal relationships with the exception of the father relationship. Adolescents 12 to 15 years old rated the mentoring relationship higher than the proximal relationships but shifted higher ratings to the parental relationship during ages 16 to17 years old. It was recommended that mentors be instructed regarding (a) role relationships, (b) proper boundaries, (c) collaborating with prot&eacute;g&eacute; in planning the mentoring experience, and (d) the importance of mutual respect. </p>

<p> The primary purpose of the study was to examine secondary data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman and College Senior Surveys to investigate factors shaping degree aspirations for African American female undergraduates partaking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the data and identify relationships between independent variables in relation to the dependent variable. The findings of the study reveal four key variables that were predictive of degree completion for African American females in STEM. Father's education, SAT composite, highest degree planned, and self-perception were positive predictors for females; while independent variable overall sense of community among students remained a negative predictor. Lastly implications for education and recommendations for future research were discussed.</p>

<p> This study examines a cultural pedagogy relating to race, culture, and improving student achievement, as well as the extent to which teachers' critical and reflective practices influence how they deliver classroom instructions. When teachers' practices are critical and reflective they can re-assess their current teaching practices while attempting to improve their teaching pedagogy (Morton, 2009; Hatzipanagos &amp; Lygo-Baker, 2006). This study seeks to determine the relationship between student achievement and teachers' use of a cultural pedagogy. Research for this study considers three styles of pedagogy: culturally responsive pedagogy, culturally relevant pedagogy, and critical pedagogy. This study is intended to contribute to the body of research that focuses on student achievement in school districts with a predominantly African American student population. Information gained from this study should be of interest to most education administrators, practitioners, and counselors. </p>

<p> In this paper I will present an introduction to the life and work of Bill T. Jones. I will then discuss the process and performance of the dance piece Still/Here. I will consider the controversy around Arlene Croce's response to Still/Here claiming it was "victim art". I will set up the theoretical framework of white supremacist and imperialistic cultures to illustrate how through that lens, Arlene Croce's article reflects white supremacist values. </p>

<p> Whether in slavery or in freedom, African Americans understood the important role education played in their quest towards citizenship. As enslaved people, they risked their lives to learn to read and write so they would be prepared when freedom came their way. As free people, they continued to strive for an education that would move them beyond their prescribed station in life. Throughout the history of African Americans, they actively pursued their educational aspirations instead of patiently waiting for them to be granted. </p><p> The research associated with educational agency before and after the Civil War provides some insight into the ways African Americans worked towards liberation. From paying for their own teachers to building their own schools, African Americans are primary players in the narrative of educational advancements in the South. These stories of agency are in direct contrast to the stories of Northern philanthropists being responsible for African American education in the Southern states. Many of these narratives of African American agency are relatively new to the field and don't take into account border states such as Missouri. </p><p> This dissertation looks at African American educational agency in St. Louis, Missouri, a city in a state that was North enough to be in the Union, but South enough to permit slavery. Because of this dichotomy of ideology, Missouri is usually left out of discussions on issues of race and education because it did not neatly fit into a geographical region. Instead of asking how and why Missouri fit into the national narrative of African American education, such questions were merely a footnote, if they were mentioned at all. </p><p> Instead of viewing the duality of Missouri's state identity as something to be ignored, this dissertation views it as a challenge to propel the story of African American educational agency in St. Louis to center stage. Starting with the creation of an African American school board in the 1860s through the construction of Vashon High School in 1927, the story of African American agency is told through the lens of the citizens' councils that were organized to advocate for educational advancement. The men who comprised the citizens' councils worked tirelessly to insure that the educational dreams of former enslaved people were realized generation after generation.</p>

<p> This critical ethnographic study investigated the outlook of the African American community in New Orleans on inherent resources for supporting the youth of the community in achieving successful educational and personal development under the oppressive conditions that they are subjected to in privatized public schools. The objective was to identify what the community envisioned as protective support for youth against typical disciplinary practices in schools that include physical and psychological abuse, suspensions for minor offenses that set youth en route to prison, and State laws have been enacted to support those practices. </p><p> The research was guided by the following questions: What resources are available within the community to support the survival and thriving of African descendant youth who are threatened by State condoned aggression in public schools? What change do parents, students, and members of the community want in public schools? What action do parents, students, and members of the community see as necessary to making that change? </p><p> Data was collected through the ethnography methods of participating in residents' everyday lives by attending meetings and community events related to the school situation; observing social action; taking reflective notes; and video recording one-on-one conversations arranged as follow up to conversational exchanges or overheard commentary. </p><p> The findings of the study consist of three themes consistently identified as elements necessary to a program of support for African descendant youth's psychological balance, motivation, and self-actualization. The three themes of self-knowledge, self-reflection, and self-reliance were consistent articulated in the outlook data of members of the community. Resistance in action centered on building education institutions founded on African centered values and curriculum, taught by African America teachers. African centered values were viewed as a basis for actualizing self-sufficiency and positive personal development for African descendant youth. </p><p> Differences in outlook were found regarding educational institutions best suited to deliver the required support and the corrective value of mainstream politics. Independent African centered schools were seen as necessary to supporting the optimal development of African American youth, and free public education with access by all was seen as needed for educating the masses of African American youth given the financially depressed conditions of African American communities. Participation in mainstream politics as a means of gaining leverage for the community was viewed as highly valuable in some sectors of the community and as less valuable in others.</p>

<p> Rooted in Freirean pedagogy and using the Life Story Interview as a methodological tool, this dissertation research provides insight into the preparation, performance, and resilience of urban high school teachers and explores the viability of the Life Story Approach to reveal an alternative means of researching a teacher's approach to instructional pedagogy. This dissertation examines how a White female teacher's life story has informed her liberatory approach to teaching writing as an act of freedom in her urban high school classroom in Oakland, California. Observations of how the formation of a teacher's identity and instructional approach were influenced by her experiences in the world are explored in her story. This dissertation argues that if liberatory approaches and a critical literacy framework were considered within the context of seminal research on secondary writing instruction, teacher preparation programs and instructional pedagogy in urban classrooms would be compelled to change. These approaches are necessary to raise the critical consciousness of urban educators committed to serving low- income students of color in our nation's public schools and to inform instructional pedagogy and transform urban students' experiences in school and society. Implications for teacher preparation and approaches to curriculum development are considered.</p>