Because African American architecture has not been recognized as culturally significant within academia, this thesis is an attempt to expand the architectural discourse. I will do this by answering the question: what is black architecture? To answer this question, we will examine the history of six houses specific to African American architecture: the barrack, the slave cabin, the shotgun house, public housing, the black suburban house, and the gentrified house. I will discuss the repercussions of each style, societal goals in establishing each style, and the policies or laws passed that instigated their creations. Importantly, I will explore how these styles are connected and how each style changed overtime. This historical narrative is not written to produce a survey report on the history of black architecture, but to be a basis to propose a design solution that could be implemented on Wells Avenue in Memphis, TN.

My research aims to highlight the way in which Black political mobilization in the Southeastern United States specifically is linked to the movement for decolonization throughout Africa and the Caribbean in this time period. This project will include an examination of the thoughts and writings of many of the aforementioned key figures of the Pan African movement on the question of race and coloniality of Black people in the United States. I will organize this examination around the question of Black labor at this time period and the way in which it was (re) organized leading up to the Second World War leading to the “success” of development projects throughout the rural Southeast, mainly the Tennessee Valley Authority. This will lead to an analysis of the way in which Black southern communities specifically understood their positionality in connection to that of colonized subjects throughout the Black Atlantic.

The overarching objective of this thesis outlines the preliminary rationale for the development of a comprehensive review of the sources that seek to understand disciplinarity, Africana Studies, and Africana intellectual histories. It is the conceptual overlay for an extended work that will eventually offer a (re)conceptualization of Africana Studies intellectual genealogies. / African American Studies

This work traces the relationship of Jews to African-Americans in the process of Jews attaining whiteness in the 20th century. Specific attention is paid to blackface performance in The Jazz Singer and the process of identification with suffering. Theoretically this work brings together psychoanalytic theories of projection, repression and masochism with afro-pessimist notions of the libidinal economy of white supremacy. Ultimately, I argue that in its enjoyment and its masochism, The Jazz Singer empathizes with blackness both as a way to assimilate into white America and express doubt at this very act.

MOTIVATION In Richmond, there are 1.21 times as many African Americans as any other ethnic group. Yet 63.4% of African Americans live in poverty (Richmond, VA). African Americans face greater exposure to stress due to low socioeconomic status and poverty. In these communities, “discrimination and deprivation undermine individuals’ ability to accumulate the social and material resources to mitigate the effects of stress” (Brondolo, 2018). In this city’s African American community, where stress levels are high and consequential health concerns are prevalent, dance can be a remedy for managing stress and improving health (Hanna, 2006). DESIGN PROBLEM How can an intentionally designed interior environment support dance as a remedy for stress and its negative health effects? How can the design of this environment celebrate the culture of the African American community? METHODS Literature reviews on the relationship between space and dance will help inform design decisions. Studies of programmatic precedents will focus on spaces involving dance, healing, community engagement and cultural specificity. Studies of conceptual precedents that involve movement, rhythm and the body will take place. Rudolf Laban’s notation system for studying movement in dance will be utilized to analyze the movements required of African dance, resulting in a more targeted design approach. A dancer with a background in African dance will serve as a research advisor. Interviews of African American dancers will be conducted to gain insight into the practice of dance and the needs of a dance space. PRELIMINARY RESULTS Research shows that dance reduces stress levels. Specifically, African dance, significantly decreases perceived stress and repeated practice can lead to overall stress reduction (West, J. et al). African dance’s main purpose is to serve as an expression of the physical and psychological states of individuals, allowing for emotional release.(Welsh-Asante, 1996). Dance can be used to cope with stress by discharging repressed aggression, improving self-esteem and allowing for self expression . Dance also prevents stress through physical exercise (Hanna, 2006). Additionally, research from Steven Holl, Santiago Calatrava and other architectural masters discuss the relationships between dance and architecture. CONCLUSION The research will inform the design of a cultural dance center for the city’s historically African American neighborhood. The interior design of this center will support African dance and culture, foster creativity, and encourage stress reduction. The design will also support the secondary programs of dance movement therapy, seminars, celebrations, community outreach, educational programs, and exhibitions.

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

Women on Wednesdays presentation.

This project will expand and extend the current concept of homeplace, as offered by cultural critic and scholar bell hooks. In doing so, it will assess the various ways that home has been constructed by persons of African descent, and suggests that homeplace is a form of maroonage that is manifested both physically and psychologically. In addition to conceptually theorizing on homeplace, this project will also introduce Homeplace Theory, a theoretical prescriptive to the issue of diminished and erased cultural consciousness amongst persons of African descent. Additionally, this project will explain the historical and socio-cultural role the Africana woman plays in the creation and maintenance of homeplace. By privileging Afrocentricity as the primary theoretical thrust, Homeplace Theory finds an intellectual home within the Afrocentric Paradigm with the addition of Afrocentric principles in the creation and explanation of Homeplace Theory. Afrocentricity also validates the subjective inquiry of African derived phenomena. In this regard, this project fortifies the intellectual subjective investigation of the Afrocentric enterprise within the discipline of Africology/Africana Studies/African American Studies. / African American Studies

The purpose of this project is to investigate the often neglected research concerning the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his scholar-activism. This project is intended to look for evidence of intellectual leadership within King's writings in an effort to classify King within the Scholar-Activist paradigm in Africana Studies. Further, the aim is to examine Martin Luther King, Jr. from the critical and centered Scholar-Activist paradigm of Africana Studies based on an analysis of his writings to determine whether his works should be included in or excluded from the canon of Africana Studies. Molefi Asante, Maulana Karenga, and Terry Kershaw, three of the most respected scholars in the field of Africana Studies, seemingly ascribe differing levels of status to King's accomplishments and value within African American history (Asante, 1990; Karenga, 2002). Such a debate grounds this project. Does King measure up to the Scholar-Activist paradigm? Whether he does or does not, should the paradigm be expanded and redefined to include King, or is it acceptable as is? King's six book length writings demonstrate a consistency of themes, which include eight major foci: (1) Economic Justice; (2) Racial Equality/Integration; (3) Existentialism; (4) Social Activism/Service; (5) Theology/Activism; (6) Revolution/Leadership; (7) Black Ideology/Liberation/Black Theology; and (8) Anti-Militarism/Anti-Poverty. This author concludes that diversity of methodological approaches within Africana Studies is normal and that King's writings should be considered for inclusion into its canons. King meets all of Terry Kershaw's requirements for inclusion in the scholar-activist paradigm. / Master of Science

This purpose of this dissertation is to utilize womanism and ratchetness to determine how the actions of Tyler Perry’s Madea and Christianee Porter’s Miss Shirleen characters represent Black women’s agency through their ratchet actions. This dissertation analyzed two Tyler Perry films and five Miss Shirleen videos to determine whether their actions conveyed cultural and liberative significance beyond entertainment. This research discovered that both characters engaged in resistance to disempowering narratives through actions that embraced a radical subjectivity and subsequent dismissal of respectability politics that embraced the strengths of Black womanhood in affirming, creative, and audacious ways. This dissertation also found that ratchetness and womanism as liberative agency leave room for Black women to redefine themselves and evolve based on their own indigenous knowledge and create a language that is familiar and uplifting for themselves. Moreover, Black women can be ratchet, womanist, and respectable simultaneously regardless of class status thereby rejecting a pathologized Black womanhood.