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This paper seeks to examine the ancient Kemetic science known today as astrology and discern its usefulness in benefiting people of African descent in the contemporary era. Based upon documented historical evidence, research material, and theorization apprehended from an Afrocentric standpoint the author is attempting to succinctly present a body of scientific knowledge that can develop and advance the idea of astrology as a wholistic human endeavor conceived in ancient Africa which can be and has been useful to Africa and her people. Astrology has helped humanity to make sense of life, nature, seasons, movements of times, powers and is included within the discipline of astronomy, one the seven liberal arts, including, grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, logic, geometry, mathematics and the arts. These ancient disciplines are a necessary part of each other and are studied holistically, even today. However, Europeanization has created a problem in translating these ancient African ideas, castigating its intrinsic feminine elements, separating its mythological aspects from its astronomical parts, and despiritualizing the science. Using Cheikh Anta Diop’s Two Cradle Theory, that cultures distinguish humans and behavior, it will be argued that cultural orientation is a fundamental reason why Europeans have struggled from antiquity to the present to understand astrology, a science birthed from African culture. Moreover, it is argued that owing to the deep structure of culture, people of African descent can study ancient African episteme to awaken cultural memory to understand values and beliefs and potentially (re)turn (Sankofa) to the past and comprehend and appreciate a science culturally grounded in African episteme. Ultimately, it is hoped that in this translation of astrology, which embraces the significance of Ma’at in all life and existence, it is possible through viewing astrology in its ancient light, to restore Ma’at or balance, harmony, order, righteousness, and truth in the lives of people of African descent. The ultimate goal would be to foster peace, Ma’at among humanity. / African American Studies

This research utilizes an Afrocentric, mixed method content analysis to examine the depiction of gender ideology and Black relationships in 21st century Black female lead television dramas. In doing so, this research will determine the prevalence of what this author theorizes as feminist propaganda. All institutions, including media, reflect the cultural orientation of the dominant culture, which in the United States is European. This important factor, coupled with various propaganda techniques, defines how the popularity of feminism has increased exponentially on television, specifically in televised dramas starring Black women. Feminism, at its root, is ideologically antithetical to African culture due to its Euro-western cultural underpinnings, anti-Blackness, and imperialistic behavior. With this understanding, the utilization of the discipline of Africology will emphasize and highlight the significance of culture in defining the nature of gender ideology on television. The author will provide an Afrocentric analysis of these cultural distinctions, questioning whether it is in the best interests of Black women, and humanity in general, to maintain white supremacist beliefs and values under the auspices of feminist propaganda. Utilizing Marquita Gammage’s Africana Womanist methodology, as constructed from Clenora Hudson-Weems’s theory of Africana Womanism, and functionalizing Valethia Watkins’ theory of compulsory feminism, this research interrogates the Eurocentric ideology perpetuated in Black female-lead television shows from an africological perspective. Research questions that will be explored in this study are: a) what is feminist propaganda and is it observable in Black female lead television shows? b) Are the relationships between Black women and men in Black female lead television shows overwhelmingly negative based on Afrocentric values and beliefs? and c) Are the platonic relationships of Black female leads in Black female lead television shows primarily non-African? While recent day Hollywood initiatives have claimed to push diverse representation in media, the increased portrayal of feminism on television still reflects the monopoly feminism has over preferred Western gender ideology. This research opens a dialogue for more culturally centered representations of gender ideology and interrogations of the portrayal of Black relationships in media. / African American Studies

As the direct descendants of the first human beings, African people are the supreme witnesses of Creation itself, and senior authorities regarding the earthly Creations. African people bear supreme witness to humanity, and the most effective methods of being human: the biology and chemistry of life, the physiological and metaphysical aspects of earthly existence, and the science of the cosmic Creations--observing all that is above and what exists there, beyond the sky. By definition humanity is African: the first human beings were African and the first defining innovations of humanity were birthed in Africa. Since history is necessarily a study of the origins of humanity, and the first humans were African, history then must initiate at the emergence of humankind, which took place in Africa. The records left and maintained by the oldest humans on earth--written, memorized, or otherwise--provide amazing clues as to the initial Creation and subsequent development of humankind. As each successive generation works to strengthen the collective memory of their own people's past before conquer, the struggle to remember memories and to keep traditions intact becomes even more evident. As with every epic turn of events, the conquered are forced to decide if they will remain as such or not. This paper explores the ways in which the African worldview provides a critical and otherwise impossible analysis of human history, by exploring the oldest contributions of the first human beings--who were African. I argue that the ancient Kemetic worldview--Mdw Ntr--provides a prototypical blueprint for every African's self-liberation, creating a context through which contemporary freedom struggles can ultimately be assessed and achieved. In particular, this paper examines how the ancient Kemetic worldview has, since its inception, presented a working method of thinking and doing--seeing with Sia--which not only inspired successive African generations, but also the freedom struggles of contemporary African communities. Mdw Ntr is both a theory and a methodology: it encompasses a way of seeing reality, while also providing exact methods for how to go about this process. I propose that the notion of Sia--or "exceptional clarity"--is an actionable blueprint exemplified in the Shabaka Text and The Great Hymn to Aten. Both texts provide a methodology for achieving Sia; both texts speak to the fundamental processes of Mdw Ntr; and both texts exhibit a working model for self-liberation through the ancient Kemetic worldview. In order for human beings to manifest power--to be empowered--they must ultimately think with "exceptional clarity" and speak their intentions into existence. To be effective, one cannot speak without thinking, or do without first thinking and speaking. According to the ancient Kemites, thinking is the first step in speaking and also doing. Thinking initiates all actions: the more exceptional the clarity, the better. Hence, self-liberation emerges and subsequently, the collective liberation of African people. / African American Studies

Drexel University, a private university in Philadelphia, is expanding its campus to attract more students, faculty, and researchers. The current President, John Fry, envisions transforming West Philadelphia into an innovation district. The university is working with real estate developers on a $3.5 billion real estate project at Schuylkill Yards, in addition to mixed-use student housing and projects. The development goals of the university will impact the social conditions of the long-term residents of the two neighboring communities, Mantua and Powelton Village. In addition to the larger developers who are working with Drexel, numerous small-scale developers are developing market-rate student housing around the periphery of the two communities. In the process, the developers are disrupting the character of the neighborhoods and changing the racial demographics of the Mantua community from a predominantly African American community into one that reflects predominantly White and Asian demographics of the university. The combination of Drexel University and the developers is threatening to “studentify” the Mantua community. In the process Mantua, is at risk of losing the cultural elements that have defined the neighborhood for decades, in addition to their sense of belonging in the neighborhoods where the residents have lived for generations. This research is a qualitative assessment of the social changes to the two communities as a result of Drexel’s expansion activities. A social sustainability framework was developed based on the results of a cultural landscape assessment and structured and semistructured interviews of long-term residents, business owners, community leaders, and university officials. / Geography

In the early 1900s, African Americans died at higher rates, got sick more often, and had worse health outcomes for almost all diseases when compared to whites. This disparity was due to a combination of racism, discrimination, and segregation. Most blacks could only afford to live in unhealthy conditions and had little or no access to medical professionals. Problematically, poor black health led many whites to think of blacks as being inherently diseased, promoting the segregation and discrimination that contributed to black ill health in the first place. This project examines Negro Health Week (NNHW), which became National Negro Health Week (NNHW), a public health campaign designed by African Americans as a systematic effort to improve their health that lasted between 1915 and 1950. The dissertation reveals the strategies African Americans used to empower themselves to combat ill health and the ways medical ideas became accessible to blacks. The racism of the white medical establishment limited the ability of African Americans to enter the medical profession. The small number of black doctors and nurses meant that NHW had to rely on non-medical professionals to teach health practices. Originally begun as a local campaign in Savannah, Booker T. Washington adopted Negro Health Week as a program to teach formerly enslaved blacks in Tuskegee, Alabama how to live. Working as sharecroppers and living in the small cabins they had inhabited as enslaved people, the majority of blacks lived in squalor. Margaret Murray Washington, who co-founded the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, laid the groundwork for NHW at Tuskegee. During her tenure as Lady Principal of Tuskegee, she created the Tuskegee Woman’s Club and brought together local organizations and women’s clubs to work with women in improving their homes by providing advice on basic hygiene and sanitation that they could implement with little cost. Booker T. Washington coopted the TWC program and brought Monroe Work from Savannah to Tuskegee to head up a more ambitious program which he envisioned expanding throughout the rural South. In 1900 Washington founded the National Negro Business League (NNBL) which included key black business men from throughout the nation, especially the South. The NNBL was instrumental in helping Washington to expand and publicize Negro Health Week. Under the leadership of Booker T. Washington and his successor, Robert Moton, NHW continued to focus on providing advice on basic hygiene and sanitation in one’s home and neighborhood. The emphasis on low-cost individual health practices, such as basic privy sanitation or proper whitewash technique, gave African Americans the ability to take ownership of their health. The Week explained how blacks could improve their health and that of the community even without medical professionals. After Booker T. Washington’s death in 1915, Moton succeeded in getting the support of the national Public Health Service (PHS) and National Negro Health Week came into existence in 1921. The Service’s vast network of health professionals and connections with state and local health departments allowed the campaign to expand out of the South. However, with the involvement of the PHS, the Week began to change. As hygiene practices became more accepted, the Service reframed NNHW to focus on vaccinations and regular physician and dentist visits. As medical professionals became NNHW leaders, the campaign’s message transformed from emphasizing how individuals could improve health on their own to describing how much people needed physicians to obtain good health. Under the PHS, lay people could do little to improve their health. Instead, they had to rely on the medical profession. The PHS used NNHW to reposition the medical establishment as the ultimate arbiter of African American health. Today, there is still a wide racial disparity in participation in, and access to, public health, and indeed in health outcomes in the United States. Understanding the Week can better position scholars and public health officials to understand how race and health intersect and the ramifications of health policies on race relations. / History