This study exams the association between socioeconomic characteristics (SEC); Political Knowledge, Familiarity and Engagement (PKFE), Voting Attitudes (VA), History of Voting (VH), and Voting Participation (VP) among black women voters in Keysville and Atlanta, Georgia. A cluster sampling technique was employed for this study which produced a sample consisting of 218 black women in Keysville and 246 black women in Atlanta. The conceptual model of this study included a series of structural equations designed to inquire into recent voting participation. Data analysis was conducted at both descriptive and inferential levels. Results among black women in both locations indicate that select socioeconomic variables influenced familiarity with election processes. Voting attitudes is also influenced by familiarity with the process of elections. Voting history, specifically, registering to vote, influenced Political Knowledge, Familiarity and Engagement in both urban and rural areas. In Atlanta, being a registered voter influenced their voting participation and in Keysville, consistent voting at all electoral levels (local. stale, and federal) was influenced by voting in person as a replacement for use of an absentee ballot. In Atlanta, knowledge of Georgia politics influenced recent voting participation in the 2006 Presidential elections, while select engagement activities influence their voting participation in the last state elections. Among Keysville, knowledge of state and local level influenced their recent voting participation in both the last primary and local elections--their attendance in town hall meetings also influenced their participation in these elections. Findings suggest that the black church plays a significant role in engaging black women in political process; creating local black women caucuses can affect elections outcomes local, state, and national levels; organized efforts should be made to target unregistered black women: and political parties should include more black women into the party structure. Implications for future studies should consider larger samples size to add greater validity to study findings among broader black women voters.

This research examines whether or not the colonial statutes of South Carolina, created between 1600 and 1787, helped to shape the American Constitution regarding race and the institution of slavery. The research suggests that South Carolina’s persistence and insistence that the institution of racial slavery be protected by the Constitution was a major influence on the perception of slavery by its framers. The Constitution was the document that ultimately encompassed most of the political thoughts and issues found in colonial America. This research was based on the premise that the field of Black Studies was in need of an analysis and comparison of the similarities between the racism that existed in colonial America and racism after the adoption of the American Constitution and its amendments. The researcher found that South Carolina’s diligence and insistence during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, that racial slavery be protected by the Constitution, was the major influence on how the American Constitution would be worded, in reference to slavery as a means of representation and possible economical gains. The conclusions drawn from the findings suggest that, the American Constitution emerged as an inherently racist document supporting slavery as a means of furthering American economic needs. The colonists in all the British colonies (South Carolina included) passed a series of laws that helped maintain the structure of slavery and gave them control over their slave labor. However, colonial South Carolina statutes, more than other colonies, were developed to maintain slavery. These statutes were later supported by the American legal system.

This research was designed to create a model for African liberation by examining the concept of combat literature. It investigated the speakerly texts relationships between David Walker’s Appeal (1830), W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton’s Black Power (1967), and John McWhorter’s Authentically Black (2004). The purpose of this thesis was to find the common elements within each text that lead to a model for African liberation. This study defined liberation as freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity, or any arbitrary control of African people by European/Western institutions. Liberation is also defined as control of one’s own self and national destiny versus the modem neo-colonial, economic, and political control of African nations and peoples by Western nations and corporations. The concept of combat literature developed in this study determined if the four texts defined African/black people as a collective, both continental and throughout the Diaspora. Further, combat literature served to decipher if the texts functioned as a medium by which the greater population of Africans suffering under European aggression and exploitation had the ability to communicate a desire for redress. The utilization of combat literature found that three of the texts indicted the system of oppression for its cruelty, and educated African people about the tools or instruments of Western aggression, colonialism, and oppression. The concept of combat literature also assisted in unearthing the political tract, within two of the texts, that identified the natural human rights of oppressed African people rather than the civil liberties granted to them by Western/European institutions. This study bridged one-hundred and seventy-five years of argumentation for African liberation. It codified the divergent ideologies of four major texts produced by intriguing individuals into a single model for African liberation.

The purpose of this research was to investigate salient factors that contributed to the deficient levels of maternity care received by African-American women in Leake County, Mississippi. Utilizing Three Levels of Racism and Structural and Non-Structural Barriers to Care as the conceptual framework, this study examined rural African American women’s experiences with reproductive healthcare, revealing patterns and concerns related to the levels of care received by this community. Narrative Analysis and Grounded Theory were utilized in exposing the development of belief systems unique to this population of rural African-American women. The results of this study reveal several ideas and cultural patterns that respondents demonstrated during this study. Using Cultural Environmental Conditioning as part of theory development also exposed culturally specific themes. One such idiosyncratic theme is the Black Bottle Syndrome. This syndrome is prevalent as a means of explaining the level of care and suspicion that rural African-American women experienced in Leake County, Mississippi. This study provides a foundational background emphasizing the need for further research and model development relevant to specific minority populations. idiosyncratic theme is the Black Bottle Syndrome. This syndrome is prevalent as a means of explaining the level of care and suspicion that rural African-American women experienced in Leake County, Mississippi. This study provides a foundational background emphasizing the need for further research and model development relevant to specific minority populations.

Clara Muhammad’s auxiliary identity as the wife of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad often overshadowed her own important and pioneering accomplishments. As the lesser-known female half of the leadership of America’s largest and longest lasting. Black nationalist movement, Sister Clara, as she was best known, helped to pioneer and establish the role and identity of the African American Muslim woman, or Muslima. As such, she has arguably become a very important person in United States, African American, women’s, and religious history. This research argues that there are three major themes that emerge from an analysis of her life and work in helping to establish and expand the Nation of Islam. The first theme is her administration of the Nation of Islam while Elijah Muhammad was incarcerated from 1942-1946 for draft evasion. She was unique in her intermittent leadership of a male-dominated organization during its most critical period of existence. The second issue which emerges in a study of her life was her role in establishing University of Islam as the educational arm of the Nation, along with her leadership of the Muslim Girl Training and General Civilization Class (M.G.T.&G.C.C.). These classes were specifically set up for female training. In this role, Clara Muhammad was paradigmatic as a pioneer African American Muslima, establishing and modeling the role, form, and function of the Black Muslim female. Finally, an analysis of her work reflects her influence on Imam Warith Deen Muhammad, her seventh child and heir apparent, who began a religious reformation in American Muslim communities, both immigrant and indigenous. As head of the largest group of Muslims in the Western hemisphere, Imam Muhammad’s influence is felt worldwide. Clara Muhammad was very influential in her son’s life and his work is a part of her legacy. Presently, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West and while the ranks of its converts are swelling, the available literature on the field is expanding as well. However, the sources on women, especially African American females, are still both limited and somewhat biased. This can be attributed to the fact that in many scholarly circles the Nation of Islam had not been fully examined as a major participant in African American and religious history and that many of the early participants were reluctant to discuss their experiences. To fill that void, this research became necessary. In it, attention was paid to the use of traditional historical methodologies for collecting data as well as the use of oral narratives to either critique, confirm, supplement, or clarify some of the previously published literature on the Nation and the Black Muslim experience, with particular attention paid to the female Muslim.

This dissertation proposes an analysis of the consonants C/k/ and G/g/ from Vulgar Latin to the five Romance Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian in the initial, medial, and/or ending positions up to the 12th century. This study examined the evolution of C/k/ and G/g/ in each language while noting the history and cultures that impacted their evolution. I discuss how the spoken language of Italian evolved slowly from the late Vulgar Latin of the Empire, in close contact with the universal standard of Medieval Latin, yet is consistent with the rest of the languages in this study when it comes to consonants /b/ d/g/ being pronounced as plosives when they occur at the beginning of the word. I examine the similarities that persist in Romanian and Italian, in spite of Romanian's isolation from the other Romance languages. I selected these consonants based on the conjugation irregularity of Romance verbs. The findings reflect a consistent conclusion taking into account scribers' errors, political reformations and numerous wars: Relative to all the languages in this research: initial consonants, single or followed by another consonant, remained unchanged; less resistance is offered by intervocalic consonants that either weakened or just disappeared; and final unsupported (preceded by a vowel) consonants or supported (preceded by a consonant) either remained or disappeared, up to the twelfth century. Research also included such variables impacting the languages as cultural concerns; non-contact with other Romance languages; and, geographical isolation.

This study traces the history of homelessness and identifies its causes. It also takes note of various responses to homelessness in America and to displacement in South Africa. Oral histories, taken from women housed in Atlanta, Georgia in a drug and alcohol abuse program and a women's shelter and in Johannesburg, South Africa in a squatters' camp and a women's shelter, are used to ascertain the extent of displacement among females, their perceptions of the responses to their various situations, and their feelings about what services are still needed. The study concludes with recommendations addressed to government agencies, public and prlvate organizations, and communities for the alleviation of homelessness and displacement among Africana women in Atlanta and Johannesburg.

The primary focus of this study was to combine traditional research along with new media technology to create an interactive tutorial on the Gullah culture. The study involved conventional historical and anthropological research on the inhabitants of St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Documentation of the culture followed, with the use of black-and-white and color photography, audio recording and digital video taping of interviews and events. Mixed-media was used to capture behavioral patterns and cultural ideologies within the culture's environment. The outcome was written text on the historical and anthropological significance of the Sea Island culture. A multimedia tutorial complemented the text as pedagogical units incorporating preexisting materials and data gathered during field research for this study. The conclusions to this study confirmed that familiarity with language and behavior of the Gullah people gave access to portions of the culture not documented previously. The result shows that more people can gain an understanding ofa marginalized cuhure with the use of specifically designed interactive tutorials incorporating a range of research and new media technology materials.

The three mayors and the respective cities studied in this paper were Mayor Emma Gresham Keysville, GA; Mayor Justine Brown Oliver, GA and Mayor Carrie Kent Walthourville, GA. The intent of this paper was to show that the three black women mayors chose to run for mayor because they felt that through their political position they could improve the lives of the citizens of their respective cities, especially the socioeconomic status of blacks in their cities and improve the cities in the important areas of: education, employment, housing and health care. The further intent of this paper was to address the apparent neglect of scholarship regarding black female mayors in rural Southern cities by performing a case study of the black women mayors in rural Georgia. None of the black women mayors studied in this paper were successful in improving the education or housing in their cities nor the socioeconomic status of blacks and somewhat successful in improving health care. This study addresses the neglect by scholars regarding black female rural Southern municipal politics. Further study is warranted to understand the impact of black women mayors in the rural South.

The literature on minority aging in the United States reveals a lack of adequate research data on minorities, especially on older black women. Members of different ethnic or minority groups are subjected to different socioeconomic problems throughout life and especially as they grow older. This study focuses on research collected during a 1996 study of the aging, health status and survival strategies of black females between the ages of 65 to 95, in a large versus small urban population. This study also employed quantitative survey questionnaire methodologies, to test the hypotheses that aging, health status and survival strategies impact the longevity of these women. Based on the analysis of the review of pertinent research literature and standard reference texts, a survey questionnaire was developed and tested. The survey instrument was administered to a prescreened, random sample of women in West Atlanta and East Macon, Georgia. One hundred and twenty surveys were administered (100%) were returned.