"Journey Toward A Black Aesthetic" is a study of the activist and cultural work of Hoyt W. Fuller and the formation of the Black intellectual community in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. It fills a major gap in Black Arts Movement Studies by exploring the public work of Fuller and the (inter)national sensibilities he helped to arouse among Black intellectuals, artists and activists. Much like the position granted to Alain Locke by scholars of the Harlem Renaissance, this study situates Hoyt Fuller as the "midwife" or "dean" of the Black Arts Movement. One of the central aspects of "Journey Toward A Black Aesthetic" is the way the project explores the various networks Fuller developed at the local, national and international levels. The project traces Fuller's role as editor of Negro Digest (Black World) and First World. It also examines the key part he played as a founder of the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC) in Chicago, and unpacks his position as an unofficial ambassador in several African festivals. The project is based upon extensive archival research, oral history interviews, local periodicals and Black Arts literature. It is an attempt to lobby for an altered view of the movement from the perspective of Hoyt Fuller. As a gay black man, respected elder, engaged activist, leading editor, and passionate advocate for Black writers, Fuller's public work offers us a unique perspective on the 1960s. In sum, this study of his activism will help complement, contradict, and in some instances, transform our understanding of the Black Arts Movement, and the Black intellectual community that was formed in its wake.

For approximately the last 20 years, researchers have studied the “environment” for students who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual. However, there has been little empirical research on the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, or gay students at historically Black colleges and universities. Most of the literature to date has focused on students at predominantly White institutions and students who are male. Further, HBCUs have longbeen lauded for the unique educational experience they have created for African American students in general as evidenced by reports of greater satisfaction, faculty and social support, positive self-images, strong racial pride, and better psychosocial adjustment (Allen, Epps, & Haniff, 1991; Berger & Milem, 2000; Fleming, 1984; Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002; Terenzini, Bohr, Pascarella, & Nora, 1997). However, little research has been conducted on within-group differences among African American students at HBCUs to explore whether and how other social identities such as sexual orientation or socioeconomic class impact an African American student’s experience of an HBCU. This is an exploratory study that examines the experiences of seven lesbian and bisexual female students at an historically Black college and inquires into the relationship between the culture of HBCUs and the students’ perceptions of campus climate. Drawing from a focus group interview, a survey, institutional artifacts, and historical data, I explore three research questions. The questions are (1) what can be characterized as the culture at historically Black colleges and universities; (2) what is the lesbian and bisexual female student perception of the campus climate for lesbian and female bisexual students at HBCUs and; (3) how, if at all does the HBCU culture impact the campus climate? The culture was characterized by adherence to traditional gender norms of dress and behavior, affirming racial identity but not sexual identity, the dominance and prevalence of Christian values and beliefs, and a system of rewards and punishments for conforming or not conforming to gender norms. The climate was characterized by students feeling afraid; being harassed; feeling as though they are not wanted at the institution; restricting themselves from participating in activities; facing threats of expulsion; and having little to no social or institutional support.

In his 1962 essay "The Creative Process," James Baldwin begins by stating, "Perhaps the primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone." By the 1960s, Baldwin knew all-too-well the state of black male subjectivity in an America fraught with social disharmony. His musings highlight that while the struggles of black manhood can be reduced to discussions of race, class, and/or sexuality, its fate is primarily governed by a subtler phenomenon, namely—this "state of being alone." Baldwin's consideration is a sort of self-dichotomization, as he is at once both artist and man, and while suggesting that the artist must cultivate "loneliness," he also recognizes the necessity for its avoidance. In this regard, James Baldwin as writer emerges as a critical recourse for James Baldwin as man, becomes the medium through which he, through himself and for himself, reaches a particular end. This project examines the male emotion and vulnerability in the novels of James Baldwin. Within his novels, from Go Tell it on the Mountain to Just Above My Head, James Baldwin foregrounds male relationships in a way that exposes fraternal crises. This fraternal crisis, in one vein, points to this project as a theory of space, as it denotes an absence of male intimacy, a state of being where distance, disconnect, unwillingness and fear shape a symbolic space-in-between men. In another sense, it reflects how Baldwin's preoccupation with the state of being alone leads to his fictional pursuit of the fraternal, a metaphysical construction of spatial manhood detectable by intimacy: the vulnerable, emotional and physical closeness of men. Essentially, the search for the fraternal in Baldwin's fiction captures black manhood's cry for male intimacy in a world of isolation, rejection, and oppression while marking the redemptive power of male love through the emergence of salvific manhood.

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This dissertation examines the strategic practice of virtual racial embodiment, as a case study of African Americans attempting to complicate current constructions of race and social justice in new media. I suggest that dominant racial constructions online teeter between racial stereotypes and the absence of race. Virtual racial classification and racial stereotypes of criminality and limited interaction with communication technologies prevalent in the digital divide literature frame the dominant online culture, which purports a Universalist ideal that avoids race through which racial hierarchy is nevertheless articulated. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses—fieldwork, interviews with Black website founders, and an online survey—this case study provides an analytical framework that situates African Americans’ negotiations of race within everyday online discourse. I suggest that the strategy of racial embodiment has a sociohistorical and cultural basis in the racial and political strategies of offline African American communities. This study approaches these matters by locating political message board members’ agency in creating a safe space for daily critical discussions of race. Virtual safe spaces allow users to address social injustices, parse popular constructions of race, project respectability, and explore complex definitions of blackness. Ethnographic material drawn from the observation of four mainstream Black websites’ political message boards within the time frame of 2007–2008 provides information to discuss the unofficial message board practices I identify as safe house practices. I introduce the conceptual metaphor of safe house based on the physical and symbolic safe house of enslaved Africans of the antebellum era and their twentieth- and twenty-first-century successors—neighborhood meeting places, barbershops, and book stores. As a result of the analysis of the ethnographic material, I suggest racial embodiment is the transference of offline practices steeped in historic political and cultural practices of the Black community into online interactions. I use the Bourdieuan concept of the habitus to conceptualize the historical significance of the African American community’s virtual racial embodiment. I propose that this racial embodiment evidenced in the safe house practices exemplifies a dynamic Black habitus wherein black people exercise the ability to redefine black identity and community.

Black representation in American animated short films circularly evolved between 1928 and 1954. Blackface minstrelsy at first figured heavily in black representation. The increasing prominence of African-American movie stars and technological improvements in animation led to extremely diverse animated black images in the late 1930s and early 1940s. With the decline of African-American film roles in the 1950s, however, animators fell back to minstrelsy-derived black images. Animated black characterization emerged as blackface changed in the first sound cartoons from a generic cartoon design to an image restricted to black characters. In the early 1930s, cartoon studios began to significantly differentiate black characters from animal characters. Studios focused upon developing characters with strong personalities in the mid-1930s, but black characterizations were mostly derivative of blackface minstrels and black actors. African-American artistic expressions influenced animation during World War II but did not affect the studios' black images. From 1946 to 1954, studios ignored African-American artistry and reverted to past styles of black imaging.

Limited attention has been given to Black teachers' attitudes toward school-based diversity initiatives. This study focuses on African American educators' responses to strategies to promote academic achievement and anti-racist education in predominantly White schools. Their perceptions are offered about racism's educational ramifications for African American students and families. This inquiry has significance for in-service staff development and pre-service teacher trainers because it illustrates a setting where educators of different races explicitly address racism and factors of student achievement. This study examines African American educators' experiences in an extended professional development course funded by a multi-district consortium created to support Black student achievement. The study focused on Black perceptions of curriculum investigating racial identity development theory, White privilege and the influence of racism in classroom practices. The methodology included ethnographic data, in-depth interviews and analysis of documents from a 52 hour, year long course. The analysis examines Black educators' attitudes on what facilitates or obstructs schools' capacity to provide equitable and anti-racist education. This study finds that Black educators want staff development that provides comprehensive and reflective approaches to address racism. This type of experience is supported by a curriculum that explicitly addresses White privilege, racial identity theory, and social dynamics that perpetuate racism. To carry out this experience instructors need to be experienced in facilitating anti-racist training and indicators of individual and institutional commitment to anti-racist staff development goals must be recognized. This research recommends staff development planners and facilitators working in predominantly White settings recognize distinctive professional conflicts African American educators experience and the significance of having a critical mass of Black participants present in the training experience. It further recommends support for on-going communication for Black and other racial minority members via affinity groups. Finally, this study supports organizational analysis that informs strategic interventions promoting student achievement and active anti-racist programming. From inception to conclusion this study asserts the need to solicit the perceptions of African American and other educators of color regarding institutional commitment to inclusion and educational equity.

Higher education institutions have a responsibility to educate all. Yet, significant proportions of blacks are not being successfully reached. This, coupled with changing demographics, is forcing educators to be concerned about the future. Under-representation exists in faculty and administrative ranks as well as with students. The hostile climate for black students on predominantly white campuses has been cited as a major concern and barrier to success. Black student alienation has been attributed to a number of variables, but the root of the problem is often traced to the campus climate. It is clear that the environment has a substantial impact on a student's level of satisfaction and can make a difference in whether a student leaves or persists. As the shapers of the climate and the experts on students, student affairs administrators play a key role in campus climate. With this major responsibility, one must ask how much of an understanding of black students' problems and experiences do these administrators have? Through the process of in-depth interviewing, the study examined the perception and the level of understanding of student affairs administrators of the campus climate for black students at Easton College, a predominantly white institution. Administrators are grouped into three groups for comparative purposes: those who are knowledgeable about black students, those who know little about black students, and those who are black. It also includes the perceptions of black students who attend the college. Results of the study indicate that the climate at Easton College is hostile and unwelcoming to its black students. While all the administrators are aware of the hostile climate, the level of knowledge and specificity differed among the three groups. Easton College is doing little to create a learning environment that promotes appreciation. Social and cultural isolation is prevalent. Care and support is limited because of insufficient knowledge and inadequate exposure to black culture. To improve the climate for black students, a number of recommendations are made.

The focus of this inquiry is on the forces that influence and underpin persistence to college degree completion as revealed through the experiences of sixteen African American male graduates of four year traditionally white colleges and universities. This descriptive, exploratory inquiry utilized a multi-method, in-depth, qualitative approach. Because the persistence perspective invites difficult methodological choices, this inquiry met this challenge with a perspective that mirrors persistence itself. An effort was made to gain a new perspective concerning degree completion from the narratives of the experiences of African American male college graduates. The inquiry looked to their life experiences in order to identify shared factors which influenced their success. Therefore, the choices made by this study were guided by the question: what are the basic, but essential requirements for African American male students to persist in completing a four-year college degree program on traditionally white campuses? The data revealed the complexity of the persistence perspective with special emphasis on factors that influenced successful degree completion. Early positive experiences in the family and the community, positive self-identity, self reliance, early recognition of discouragement and harm, techniques for managing potential harm and discouragement, and building a support network were identified as factors that influenced persistence in college degree completion. Recommendations for further research and practice are offered to contribute to understanding the persistence perspective, and fertile areas for improving the persistence rates of African American males attending traditionally white colleges and universities.

African-American students commonly experience many personal difficulties while attending predominantly Caucasian universities. According to the literature, these students often report feelings of isolation and alienation, and have comparatively high attrition rates, even when compared with members of other minority groups. Researchers have found that for African-American students, the experience of affiliation counters feelings of isolation. Participation in athletics is one way for students to feel that they are important members of the university community. This study was a qualitative investigation of small samples of African-American and Caucasian athletes and nonathletes at a large, public, predominantly Caucasian university. Particular attention was paid to African-American students and the relationship between athletic participation and feelings of affiliation within the university community. Students participated in a semi-structured interview, completed The Participation Motivation Questionnaire, The Collective Self-Esteem Survey, and the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, and responded to selected stimuli from the T.A.T and R.A.T.C. For all of the athletically involved individuals in this study, regardless of race, athletic participation has been important throughout life. These students view their childhood athletic involvement as having provided a valuable and enjoyable learning experience in which they increased their self-awareness and self-confidence, and in which they developed and used skills in cooperation and competition. At the university, students of both races acquired valuable skills and insight that they believed would be useful in their lives after college. For African-American students who experienced feelings of alienation at the university, athletics gave them a peer group in which they could feel safe and accepted. Several of the African-American students spoke about negative experiences before college associated with their being visibly distinct from the majority. Athletic participation gave these students a way to be visible in a positive way, and to feel like important members of the larger university community.