Upon its release, Black Panther became a symbol of Afrofuturism and how the Black imagination could redefine Blackness and one's interpretation of Black People. Many asserted that African Americans had no "Wakanda" to call their own, but it was merely a fictional land from a comic book. This dissertation examines the Black imagination as a tool of Black resistance and liberation through the film Black Panther. It looks to see how the Black imagination has been used to redefine Black people, reinterpret the Black past, and place Black people in the future. This dissertation also asserts that Wakanda is not some mythical place only found in the pages of a comic book but exists throughout the Africana diaspora. Using the theory of Afrofuturism and Afrocentricity, this research will analyze how there are spaces of Black excellence that appear lackluster to the outside (White) world but, in reality, are hidden jewels of thriving Black spaces that encourage Black survival, creativity, brilliance, and innovation. These "Wakanda's" are African American institutions, neighborhoods, schools, barbershops, beauty salons, and churches. By demonstrating the Wakandan-ness of these spaces, Black Americans do more than struggle against oppression or subversion but use them to build advanced Black futures away from the world and seek to preserve them. Finally, this research examines the factors that led up to the cultural phenomenon of Black Panther, its lasting impact, and what did this moment say about the Black Imagination and what Black people want to see. / Africology and African American Studies

In 1994, during construction at the Kontos Medical Science Building on the campus of the Medical College of Virginia (now VCU Health), a well was discovered containing a commingled deposit of at least 44 adults and nine children dating to the antebellum industrial period of Richmond, Virginia. Dubbed the “East Marshall Street Well” (EMSW), a descendant-led ethical clientage model (Blakey, 2020) was put into effect between Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), The Institute for Historical Biology (IHB), and the local black Richmond community. Following research recommendations developed by the Family Representative Council, this study entails biogeochemical profiling to construct lived experiences from Ancestral Human Remains recovered at the EMSW. Research goals include: understanding how can isotope data help us identify discrete individuals from a commingled assemblage of human remains for reburial and memorialization? Furthermore, what does dental analysis contribute to a broader understanding of diet, geographic origin, and migration for EMSW ancestors?A novel, minimally destructive dental sampling methodology allows for a small sample of dental enamel to be analyzed via laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to render elemental concentration data along a chronological axis. The dental data is compared to EMSW bone data previously collected by researchers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where the Ancestral Remains were curated until recently to reveal the diet of enslaved urban industrialized workers. This study looks at four isotopes associated with diet (δ13Ccollagen, δ13Ccarbonate, δ18Ocarbonate, and δ15Ncollagen) that were sampled from bone. Smithsonian researchers took samples from one African site and 11 sites across the Mid-Atlantic region. Isotope data samples, differentiated by ethnic group, were placed on a scatter plot to reveal the EMSW Ancestors samples had a similar regional origin to the other Mid-Atlantic samples; they relied heavily on maize but little on marine resources. Using LA-ICP-MS analysis, the elemental concentrations 88Sr and 128Ba were compared in ratio to 43Ca to construct the trophic level of EMSW ancestors. Until a larger sample size is collected nothing concrete can be deduced, until then this thesis acts as a pilot study for my future dissertation providing clues where further research is necessary.

In the last several decades, many excellent historic narratives surrounding the Williamsburg Bray School have been written. However, only a few academic works center the voices of those who daily experienced the classroom. This thesis attempts to recenter the voices of Black students who have long been silenced within the archive of the Associates of Dr. Bray. In this work, I expand upon a methodological approach to studying primary sources that pushes against silences in the records of the Bray Associates. I also use the work of historical theorists such as Saidiya Hartman, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Antonio T. Bly, and Marisa J. Fuentes to address how scholars might reckon with both archival silence and historical imagining connected to the Williamsburg Bray School.

This thesis is a portfolio containing two essays about private Christian church schools with an introductory essay to connect both projects. The first essay, “A Convergence of Purpose: Segregation and White Supremacy in Contemporary Church Schools,” is a comprehensive examination of the development and creation of church schools that first looks at the distinction between church schools and segregation academies, and then assesses the relevance that the distinction, or the lack thereof, plays in maintaining white supremacy in contemporary church schools. The second essay, “The Trauma of Tokenism: Desegregation, Memory, and White Supremacy in Contemporary Church Schools,” considers the modern impact that church schools have on their Black students, using memory to extend Kanter’s theory of tokenism.

The purpose of this study is to examine rural black middle school students’ sense of belonging in looping and teaming settings. This research is based on prior research that school offers an essential source of support for adolescent students as they come to an all-important crossroad in their life journey: the merging of school culture, home culture, and the transition to adulthood. The literature on adolescent psychology confirms that sense of belonging is important during adolescence. The importance of this study lies in its ability to examine how the constructs of teaming and looping contribute to rural black middle school students’ feelings of belongingness in school. Data for this qualitative study were drawn from interviews, focus groups, observations, and document analysis of seven middle school students over the course of an academic year. This study offers insight for educators and policymakers that make decisions for adolescents into how alternative school structures can affect rural black students.

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