Less than 5% of registered dietitians are African-American individuals. Little has been done to investigate reasons for the paucity of African-American professionals in the dietetics field. The specific aim of this study was, therefore, to explore facilitators and barriers to the selection of dietetics as a major by African-American students. Individual elicitation interviews and focus group discussions with African-American students currently enrolled as dietetics and non-dietetics majors at Virginia Tech were conducted. It was hypothesized that African-American students who chose to major in dietetics did so primarily for altruistic reasons, whereas African-American students who did not major in dietetics did so, in part, because of a lack of awareness of the major. Forty African-American students (mean ± SD age = 21.4 ± 1.4 years) participated in individual elicitation interviews and focus group discussions. Hypotheses were supported. In addition, personal interest was indicated by both dietetics and non-dietetics students as a factor in selection of major. Non-dietetics students believed that barriers to the selection of dietetics as a major included poor advertising and poor recruitment efforts. Directors of didactic programs in dietetics may need to create more visible recruitment and retention programs to increase the number of African-American students majoring in dietetics. / Master of Science

Several studies show that African-Americans are less likely than whites to use alcohol or drugs. However, if African-Americans use drugs then they are more likely to become heavy and persistent users. African-Americans are also more likely to have a current substance abuse disorder. There is not much in the literature to explain this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to examine the alcohol and drug abuse, use and dependence of blacks and whites in order to explain the differences in the course of the substance disorder, using data from the National Comorbidity Survey. There are many variables thought to contribute to the racial difference, such as socio-economic status (measured by income and education), religion, insurance, employment status, and marital status. The data in this literature indicate that the aforementioned variables do not explain the racial difference in substance disorders. However, after performing interaction analyses, it is clear that the effects of treatment are different for blacks and whites. Treatment is more effective for whites, and it may even cause the substance disorder to become worse for blacks. Several studies indicate that this may be the result of cultural differences between the treatment staff and the clients. / Master of Science

The unequal treatment of racial minorities by police is by no means a new concept. The debate over racial profiling centers on two questions. Does racial profiling actually occur? If so, is racial profiling being used and is profiling a legitimate tool of law enforcement? There are those who debate whether race is or is not a factor in police discretion and there are those who argue that race is a factor that is appropriate for use in profiling. The purpose of this research is to determine whether race is a significant factor in the likelihood of being involved in a traffic stop. In addition to race, other variables, such as gender and age, are explored as possible control variables. This is done by analyzing data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics' "Contact between Police and the Public" national survey. By examining several dependent variables that also may be associated with traffic stops, this study determines whether there is or is not a disparity in treatment by race, and whether this is consistent with the alleged purposes of using race in criminal profiles. / Master of Science

No description available.

Mental health disparity is an emerging national concern with evidence suggesting individuals from non-dominant populations are less likely to seek and persist in mental health services compared to their dominant culture peers. In particular, African Americans may underutilize professional counseling services due to factors such as stigma, healthy cultural mistrust, and cultural values. To date, researchers have paid limited attention to ways to break through barriers to mental health equity. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore African Americans’ experiences and decision-making seeking professional counseling services. I addressed the following questions: How do African Americans make meaning of their decision to seek counselor services? What considerations are involved in decision- making with African Americans who decide to seek professional counseling services? Participants included 10 African American women who had attended counseling with a licensed professional counselor (LPC) or LPC Intern in the past three years. I identified six emergent themes through adapted classic phenomenological analysis: feelings prior to attending counseling, coping mechanisms utilized prior to counseling, barriers to treatment, motivation to attend counseling, characteristics of counselor, and post counseling experiences. Participants reported increased personal growth, insight, and desire to recommend counseling to others. Findings inform communities about what counseling is (and is not) as well as different types of support that can be obtained from a professional counselor. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

The fields of psychology and education have a tumultuous history with regard to equity, social justice and compassion for marginalized populations, specifically for Black Americans. Access to quality education in the U.S. remains a barrier for many Black Americans while resources for high quality, culturally competent mental health services are also relatively limited (Anderson, Scrimshaw, Fullilove, Fielding & Normand, 2003; Hayes-Bautista, 2003). Fortunately, scholars and practitioners in education and psychology have sought to increase access to high quality, culturally competent education and psychology and have made important contributions to research and practice. Culturally competent pedagogy has been an area of research and practice for over 20 years leading to practical changes in teaching and education in support of the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Similarly, multicultural and culturally competent counseling and psychotherapy has been of intensive focus by scholars and mental health practitioners, particularly counseling psychologist for many years (American Psychological Association, 2003; American Psychological Association, Association, 1993; Constatine & Sue, 2005; DeAngelis, 2015; Sue, Arredondo & McDavis, 1992; Sue, 1998). Psychologists and educators have been responsible for the development of racial-identity development models and the introduction and study of racial and ethnic socialization processes (Cross, 1978; Helms, 1984; Hughes, Stevenson, Cameron, Herrero-Taylor & Davis, 2002; Peters & Massey, 1983; Rodriguez, Smith, Johnson, Stevenson & Spicer, 2006; Tatum, 1987;). Preparation for bias, cultural pride reinforcement, promotion of mistrust, and egalitarianism or silence about race and racism are some of the most common forms of racial socialization practices employed by Black American parents. These practices are used in effort to prepare Black children to navigate and thrive in a society in which they are discriminated against on the basis of race. Racial socialization messages also serve to counteract negative messages from the larger society from various sectors and institutions including education and health systems (Gaskin, 2015). As such, the purpose of this study was to explore Black American parents’ racial socialization practices and the impact of the experiences and educational outcomes of their children who attend private, independent schools. Data was collected through 12 semi-structured interviews with Black American parents whose children attend private, independent schools. Participants’ narratives were transcribed and then analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). Results illustrated the participants’ experiences in school themselves, messages from family members on race, ethnicity and education. Participants also discussed their own parenting practices including racial socialization practices, messages and beliefs about education and schooling. Implications of the findings, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University. / The purpose and procedure. This dissertation has sought to determine some of the characteristics of the leadership role of the Protestant Negro minister in the light of the urbanization of the Negro community. The study uses the characteristics, role conceptions and role expectations of Chicago Negro Baptist ministers and laymen as illustrative content and Ideal-type sociological theory as an interpretative framework. The hypotheses. The dissertation examines five hypotheses: (1) The ministerial leadership role will in its early stages be more closely related to Gemeinschaft characteristics because the urbanization involved takes place in a transplanted folk culture. (2) The role images and role expectations will reflect this urban-folk conflict and in doing so will lack role clarity. (3) The impact of urbanization upon the social characteristics of the Negro community will create a situation in which the needs for trained leadership become acute. (4) The institutional structure of the Negro church in becoming urbanized will have gained independence but needs a type of organization compatible with institutionalized ecumenical Christianity. (5) An analysis of the Negro churches in Chicago reflects this fourfold sociological condition. [TRUNCATED]

Scholars of the literary depictions of lynching have given the majority of their attention to the emasculation of the black male, but the representation of the black female lynch victim has been overlooked. My thesis examines the deaths of black women that had the same effect as lynching practices used against men. This specific literary form of lynching will concentrate on two plays: Mary P. Burrill's They That Sit in Darkness (1919) and Marita Bonner's Exit: An Illusion (1929) and two novels by Toni Morrison, Beloved and Sula. Considering the contours of these black female deaths we can expand the traditional definition of lynching to include the black female lynch victim. The aspects that make her death a lynching are encased in more subtleties than a traditional definition of lynching allows for, and less visible. / by Tinea Williams. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In the first half of the twentieth century in the segregated South, Black laboratory schools began as "model," "practice," or "demonstration" schools that were at the heart of teacher training institutions at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Central to the core program, they were originally designed to develop college-ready students, demonstrate effective teaching practices, and provide practical application for student teachers. As part of a higher educational institution and under the supervision of a college or university president, a number of these schools evolved to "laboratory" high schools, playing a role in the development of African American education beyond their own local communities. As laboratories for learning, experimentation, and research, they participated in major cooperative studies and hosted workshops. They not only educated the pupils of the lab school and the student teachers from the institution, but also welcomed visitors from other high schools and colleges with a charge to influence Black education A case study of Alabama State College Laboratory School, 1920-1960, demonstrates the evolution of a lab high school as part of the core program at an HBCU and its distinctive characteristics of high graduation and college enrollment rates, well-educated teaching staff, and a comprehensive liberal arts curriculum. The collected oral histories from former graduates testify to the perception that a laboratory high school education was considered a privilege. The history of Alabama State College Laboratory High School provides evidence that Lab High offered a "Class A" education to Black youth in Alabama despite the oppressive White social policies and practices in the South and contrary to the plentiful historical accounts of inferior secondary education during legalized segregation. As a progressive laboratory for learning, Alabama State College Lab High played a role in the development of education for African Americans in Alabama and throughout the South.

“Sovereignty in the City” contributes to the historiography of African-American and African Diasporic life an account of how twentieth century black migrant communities’ practices and politics around place shaped the social geography of Philadelphia—a primary testing ground for urban policies, sociological and historical inquiry, and social experiments of reform up through the twenty-first century. The manuscript charts a history of alternative land stewardship and governance in Philadelphia’s black working class communities from 1941 to 1991, which I set in contrast with the urbicidal practices of reformers who worked to enhance the profitability of the region at the expense of black and working class neighborhoods and communities. I name these two very different visions of social affiliation and obligation sanitized citizenship and black vitality respectively. Building on methods and practices that Progressive social reformers, eugenicists, and sociologists co-produced, local housing reformers sought to enforce the normative patriarchal family as the ideal of health and order. This in turn, shaped their assessment of black migrants as potential vectors of biological and social contagion and justified segregation before federal policy insured it. On the other hand, from the margins black working class communities articulated new modes of sociality from within cordoned-off communities, which they refitted to the metropolis from their collective history in the agrarian and mill town South. Although otherworldliness and the tendency to participate in non-normative or queer social affiliations outside the home, often marked working class black migrant communities as criminal or odd, being out of time with the logics of patriarchy and racial capitalism also represented an important, if underappreciated, basis for envisioning a different city and world. In place of dominant conceptions of the normative family as an anchor of orderly governance and investment, black migrant communities re-imagined human belonging and practiced new modes of radical inclusivity in the city. I make the case for a landscape approach to black history, there and in the wider diaspora, in order to bring the methods developed by social, environmental, and architectural historians as well as geographers, to bear in excavating histories of black social activism, in turn, elaborating an idiom of urban ecology in which practices of place and belonging, which are often dismissed or invisible, call into question the notions of urban life and health organized around the individual and the normative patriarchal family.