Theorizing and Performing Socio-political Representation: Harriet Wilson, Harriet Jacobs, and Pauline Hopkins" focuses on the performance of gender and sexuality in works by three African American women writers who were also public figures. In this study, I examine what I have named the "politics of representation" in these texts, whereby their authors articulate the benefits and drawbacks of capitalizing on the dual socio-political positions of subject and object in American culture. I argue that Wilson, Jacobs, and Hopkins critique and theorize the public demonstration or performance of gendered and sexually categorized African American bodies to achieve political ends. In particular, they challenge the conflation by whites and by black male leaders of masculinity and political recognition. Contrary to what many scholars have argued, these writers envision a political authority for black women not circumscribed by normative concepts of femininity, masculinity, and sexuality popularized by the dominant culture. / English

The current study examined the effectiveness of GTREM, a group treatment for urban Black adolescent females exposed to violence on their symptoms of aggression, anger, and depression. Aggression was measured using the Aggression Questionnaire- AQ (Buss and Warren, 2000). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale-2-RADS-2 (Reynolds, 2002). Participants consisted of 110 urban Black adolescent females selected from six DC Public and Public Charter Schools. Results confirmed that the G-TREM group treatment significantly decreased the externalizing behaviors of aggression and anger and the internalizing symptoms of depressive symptoms for urban black females exposed to violence. The results indicated that the differences in decrease of symptoms experienced by the G-TREM participants were meaningful. One final result showed that treatment was more effective as participants' grade level increased. / Counseling Psychology

Amidst the racial animosity that characterized the nineteenth century, Katharine Drexel, the Philadelphia heiress, believed that education would be the equalizer between white and black America. Grounded in a strong sense of Catholic social justice, Drexel committed her fortune to providing educational opportunities that frequently eluded African Americans. She established a community of Roman Catholics nuns for that specific purpose. By combining their efforts to address the deficiencies in African American education, Drexel's religious congregation reflected the efforts of other nineteenth century groups of women who pooled their efforts to address social concerns of the larger American society. / History

While examining the theology of Black Liberation and its contemporary relevance there are several questions that must be explained. Is there still a need for Black Liberation Theology within Christianity? What makes Black Liberation theology different from other Christian theologies? In recent years Christianity has had to dispute the notion that it is the "White Man's religion" and that Black People cannot benefit from the faith. How is this so if the majority of Black people in the United States identify Christianity as their faith? How have Black people benefited from this religion in the past and present? My research is two-fold. The first part of my research will focus on the history of Black Liberation Theology, its concepts and the historical and contemporary relevance. Black Liberation Theology, as an intellectual enterprise began in the late 1960's. Many credit James Cone with bringing a theology of Black Liberation into the forefront of intellectual discussions at educational institutions. Black Liberation theology seeks to answer the question "What does it mean to be Black and Christian in America?" James Cone posed the question and attempted to answer it in his first two books, Black Theology and Black Power, (1969), and A Black Theology of Liberation, (1970). Although Cone is often times seen as one of the pioneers of the Black Theology of Liberation, in actuality this movement has a very long history and its beginnings can be found in the freedom acts of Black people and the Black Religious experience in America from the time of enslavement (David Walker, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser to name a few), through the abolitionist movements (James Forten, Henry Highland Garnett, William Wells Brown, Harriet Tubman, Richard Allen, Absalom Jones), continuing through the early to mid 1900's (Noble Drew Ali of the Moorish Science Temple, Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X of the Muslim Mosque Incorporated), the Civil Rights Era (Martin Luther King, Vernon Jones, Fred Shuttlesworth, Pastors of Baptist Churches in the American South), the Black Power/Black Arts Movements (Albert Cleage, Jr. of the Shrine of the Black Madonna). It stills functions in contemporary times with the recent resurgence of interest in the subject matter through the media's emphasis on the rhetoric of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ in the south side of Chicago, whose remarks were seen as controversial and almost jeopardized the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama to the Presidency. Black Liberation Theology holds the position that one's faith should encourage one to fight injustice and oppression on behalf of those who are oppressed and downtrodden. Christianity must be examined holistically which means that the religion carries a socio-political component as well as a spiritual one. Black Liberation Theologians believe that one cannot be concerned with reaching a "heavenly ever after" if he/she has not worked to heal his/her society from the social ills that exist. Working toward freedom and liberation is Christian work. These two must be seen as one and the same; you can't have one without the other. The second part of this study aims to examine a church that has made claims to preaching and putting Black Liberation Theology into practice. The Pan African Orthodox Christian Church (PAOCC) is a Christian denomination that seeks to utilize its religious institution as a tool to implement social change. Followers of this denomination believe the Black Church must utilize its resources and take advantage of its independent position, in order to bring forth freedom and liberation for people of African descent, and they attempt to do this within their place of worship. Dr. Martin Luther King best summarized the mission of the PAOCC best when he stated: [A]ny religion that professes concern for the souls of men and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried. It well has been said: "A religion that ends with the individual ends (Clayborne, 18). My research aims to indicate that there is still a need for a theology of Black Liberation in the United States. Through careful analysis of Black Liberation Theology and the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church (PAOCC) this research will demonstrate how Black Liberation Theology has been the way that most men and women of African descent have traditionally accepted Christianity on those terms until two important events in African American history occurred: the end of the institution of enslavement; and the end of the Civil Rights Era. My research demonstrates how the PAOCC exemplifies a Black Liberation Theology. Lastly my research will also show that it is possible to be Christian and Afrocentric, which goes against the prevailing dictation of Afrocentric thought. There are Afrocentric scholars who make the claim that one cannot be both Afrocentric and Christian. My research ultimately intends to state that Afrocentricity should not antagonize the faith, but the Western practice of Christianity and its dominant theology as well as its practice. / African American Studies

The central aim of this study is to explore what I term urban ethnic subjectivity, that is, the subjectivity of ethnic urbanites. Of all the ethnic groups in the United States, the majority of African Americans had their origins in the rural countryside, but they later migrated to cities. Although urban living had its advantages, it was soon realized that it did not resolve the matters of institutional racism, discrimination and poverty. As a result, the subjectivity of urban African Americans is uniquely influenced by their cosmopolitan identities. New York City's ethnic community of Harlem continues to function as the geographic center of African-American urban culture. This study examines how six post-World War II novels --Sapphire's PUSH, Julian Mayfield's The Hit, Brian Keith Jackson's The Queen of Harlem, Charles Wright's The Wig, Toni Morrison's Jazz and Louise Meriwether's Daddy Was a Number Runner-- address the issues of race, identity, individuality and community within Harlem and the megalopolis of New York City. Further, this study investigates concepts of urbanism, blackness, ethnicity and subjectivity as they relate to the characters' identities and self-perceptions. This study is original in its attempt to ascertain the connections between megalopolitan urbanism, ethnicity, subjectivity and African-American fiction. / English

This dissertation is a fundamental critique of the Western discourse using an Afrocentric critical reading of major Western constructions of knowledge. As such the study examines both the origins and dehumanizing consequences of the European project of Modernity. The study departs from the thesis that Afrocentricity, a philosophical paradigm conceptually rooted in African cultures and values, brings renewed ethical and social significance to a sustained project of human agency, liberation, and equality. Thus the dissertation explores how each major Western idea is understood within the context of the revolutionary philosophical paradigm and epistemological theory of social change. Concepts like individualism, domination, colonialism, race and ethnicity, universalism, progress and supremacy that Molefi Kete Asante calls the “infrastructures of dominance and privilege” are reviewed against the backdrop of agency, community, commonality, cultural centeredness, and ma’at. Indeed, employing critical ideas from the works of Afrocentrists this study highlights the inadequacy of Westernity in overcoming the various forms of oppression. Modernism, Marxism, Existentialism, Feminism, Post-modernism, and Post-colonialism, are addressed in dialogue with Afrocentricity as an exploratory part of a two-way relationship between theoretical understanding and practice which challenges established and hegemonic approaches to knowledge. In fact, the study argues for a rational approach to conceptual “rupture” that would allow the scholar to navigate the shattered ideologies of Western thought, and to contribute to the exposure of the imperialistic ambitions that worked at the backstage of the political and economic philosophies of Europe since the early fifteen century. In effect, the dissertation can be viewed as an intellectual journey moving from an epistemological location in Western epistemology towards an Afrocentric paradigm and theory of knowledge in the quest to defeat the inhuman. Ultimately, the aim is the search for a more humanistic and ideologically less polluted mind and for a more human humanity. / African American Studies

'Post-colonial Dislocation and Amnesia: A Cure from Molefi Kete Asante's An Afrocentric Manifesto' aims at investigating the epistemological problems and theoretical inconsistencies in contemporary post-colonial studies. Capitalizing Molefi Kete Asante's theorizations on agency, location, identity, and history this project applies an Afrocentric approach in its reading of the post-colonial authors and theorists. While current postcolonial theory seems to be at stake with operationalizing many of its terms and concepts, the application of Afrocentric methods can help answering severe allegations raised by a number of critics against this discourse. Issues concerning spatial and temporal location of the term post-colonial, commodity status of post-colonialism, and crises in the post-colonial pedagogy can be addressed from an Afrocentric perspective based on a new historiography. To support the proposed arguments, the paper provides an extensive reading of two post-colonial writers from the Caribbean, and shows how they manipulate their apparent power in perpetuating the misrepresentations of the colonized people initiated by the colonial discourses. With a detailed discussion of the principles of Afrocentricity based on Asante's ground-breaking book An Afrocentric Manifesto, the paper proposes possible ways in which Afrocentric theory could be applied in addressing such misrepresentations and developing a true sense of identity for the oppressed people. / African American Studies

'They Saw Themselves as Workers' explores the development of black membership in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) in the wake of the "Uprising of the 30,000" garment strike of 1933-34, as well as the establishment of independent black labor or labor-related organizations during the mid-late 1930s. The locus for the growth of black ILGWU membership was Harlem, where there were branches of Local 22, one of the largest and the most diverse ILGWU local. Harlem was also where the Negro Labor Committee (NLC) was established by Frank Crosswaith, a leading black socialist and ILGWU organizer. I provide some background, but concentrate on the aftermath of the marked increase in black membership in the ILGWU during the 1933-34 garment uprising and end in 1940, when blacks confirmed their support of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and when the labor-oriented National Negro Congress (NNC) was irrevocably split by struggles over communist influence. By that time, the NLC was also struggling, due to both a lack of support from trade unions and friendly organizations, as well as the fact that the Committee was constrained by the political views and personal grudges of its founder. Yet, during the period examined in "They Saw Themselves as Workers," the ILGWU and its Local 22 thrived. Using primary sources including the records of the ILGWU and various locals, the NLC, and the NNC, I argue that educational programming was largely responsible for the ILGWU's success during the 1930s, not political ideology, as others have argued. In fact, I assert that political ideology was often detrimental to organizations like the NLC and NNC, alienating many blacks during a period when they increasingly shifted their allegiance to the Democratic Party. Conversely, through educational programming that brought unionists of various racial and ethnic backgrounds together and celebrated their differences, the ILGWU assimilated new African American members and strengthened interracial working-class solidarity. That programming included such ostensibly apolitical activities as classes, dances, musical and theatrical performances, sporting events, and trips to resorts and places of cultural interest. Yet, by attracting workers who wanted to expand their minds and enjoy their lives outside of work to combat the misery of the Depression, the ILGWU cemented their devotion to the union and its agenda. Thus, through activities that were not overtly political, the ILGWU drew workers into the labor movement, and ultimately into the New Deal coalition in support of President Roosevelt and the Democratic Party. As the union flourished, part of an increasingly influential labor movement, it offered African American workers a better path to political power than the Negro Labor Committee or the National Negro Congress during the mid-late 1930s. / History

Utilizing an Afrocentric methodological framework, this dissertation research seeks to examine the general public perceptions of African American women as reflected in rap music videos, and to determine how African American females perceive the images that are presented of them in rap music videos. This study explores Black women's representation through analyses of top ten rap music videos from January to September 2010 and conceptualizes the effects of these representations on Black female viewers. This study also explores the reception of Black women's images in rap music videos as they are potentially exported to other cultures. This project is a multi-method examination including questionnaires and focus group sessions, exploring the effect of rap music video content on the representation of African American women, society's perceptions of African American females, and how when given an opportunity to construct their own media image, how would African women be represented. / African American Studies

This dissertation investigates aesthetics of African design and decoration in the work of major contemporary artists of African descent who address heritage, history, and life experience. My project focuses on the work of three representative contemporary artists, African American artists Kehinde Wiley and Nick Cave, and Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. Their work represents practices and tendencies among a much broader group of painters and sculptors who employ elaborate textures and designs to express drama and emotion throughout the Black Atlantic world. I argue that extensive patterning, embellishment, and ornamentation are employed by many contemporary artists of African descent as a strategy for reinterpreting the art historical canon and addressing critical social issues, such as war, devastation of the earth's environment, and lack of essential resources for survival in many parts of the world. Many artworks also present historical revisions that reflect the experience of Black peoples who were brought to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade, lived under colonial rule, or witnessed aspects of post-colonial struggle. The disorderliness of intersecting designs could also symbolize gaps in memory and traumas that will not heal. They reflect the manner in which Black Atlantic peoples have pieced together ancestral histories from a patchwork of sources. Polyrhythmic decoration enables their work to act as vessels of experience, allowing viewers to bring together multiple histories and social references. / Art History