從一九六○年代開始到七○年代初期，黑人性別變成種族論述的焦點。當時的黑人民權運動和後來黑權運動的男性領袖們聲稱黑人男性唯一真正受種族壓迫的受害者，不僅為白人也為那些堅強，獨立，自力更生的黑人女性所閹割，於是黑人問題等同於黑人男性的問題。他們主張黑人男性必須先獲得救贖，黑人種族才能得到救贖，因此，重新建構真正的黑人男性成為解決黑人問題的首要之道。黑人男性領袖們因而提倡重建父權社會，回歸傳統的性別特色，如此黑人男性才能重獲失去的男性尊嚴及權力，黑人族群也才能夠從種族壓迫的桎梏中解放。然而，此充滿男性沙文主義的論調受到莫莉森等黑人女作家及黑人女性主義者的質疑和批評。本文以莫莉森的三部小說（蘇拉，所羅門之歌，摯愛）為研究主體，藉由分析莫莉森的黑人男性角色來探討黑人男性在內化和追求白人男性定義的過程中，不僅造成其本身悲劇也破壞了與黑人女性的關係。莫莉森呼應黑人女性主義者主張黑人男性想突破困境唯有揚棄西方的性別角色重新建構具非洲意識的黑人男性特質，兼容兩性優點，拒絕西方父權思想並平等對待女性。如此，黑人男女才可能建立良好，永續以及和諧的互惠關係，為彼此也為黑人民族帶來救贖的希望。 / From the 1960s to the early 70s, black gender became the specific site for the discussion of race. At that time, black male leaders of Civil Rights Movement and Black Movement named the black man as the sole victim of white racism, because he was seen to be emasculated both by the white and the strong, independent, and self-sufficient black women. Hence, black people's problem was seen in terms of black masculinity. Therefore, black male leaders claimed that black men had to redeem their manhood so that black race could be redeemed. As a result, the reconstruction of a true black man was regarded as the only solution to the problem of black people. They advocated recuperation of partriarchy and a return to traditional gender roles. They asserted that only by doing so would black men reclaim their manhood and black people would be able to liberate from the bondage of racial oppression Nevertheless, the chauvinist philosophy permeating in the movement was questioned and criticized by Toni Morrison, other black women writers and black feminists. This thesis will focus on the examination of Morrison's black male characters in three of her novels-Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. Through an analysis of her black male characters, it attempts to show that black male's internalization of white gender ideology and his efforts to attain white masulinity not only lead to his own tragedy but ruin his relationship with black female. Therefore, Morrison echoes black feminists, asserting that the only way out for the black male is to reject white gender roles and patriachal attitude and to reconstruct his manhood in a nonpatriarchal fashion which stresses the black woman as his equal partners. Until then will black men and women be able to form nurturing, enduring and harmonious relationships which may empower black people to redeem their whole race from white racism.

This work expands the understanding of the "culture of honor" that social psychologists maintain exists in the American South. Social psychologists attribute the higher incidence of violent crimes, especially murder committed by white men in the South as compared to Northern white men, to this "culture of honor." While social psychologists have restricted their work to white men, this work explores how this distinct culture has impacted the Southern black community while uncovering deeper ways in which the culture has affected the Southern white community. Using historically-based literature and film by African Americans, the work provides a more comprehensive look at the Southern "culture of honor." In the "culture of honor" notions of honor involve the entire community, with the family as the central unit of honor. Male and female family members possess significant responsibilities in regards to carrying and protecting family honor. Once familial honor is compromised or lost, a violent retaliation occurs. Legal and social institutions support the culture by assuming an apathetic attitude towards violent acts committed in defense of honor. The four works selected for this study allow for an insightful look into the Southern "culture of honor." While each work presents various aspects of the "culture of honor," they all contribute to a unique understanding of the culture. In Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, Bebe Moore Campbell illustrates the damaging affects the culture has on black and white families in the South. Ernest Gaines's A Gathering of Old Men depicts how Southern black men who, for decades, have been victims of violence at the hands of white men choose to assert their own toughness. The film Rosewood by John Singleton represents the film industry's contemporary depiction of strong, black male figures in the South. Finally, Michael Schultz's made for television film For Us, The Living celebrates the passion behind black men like Civil Rights' champion Medgar Evers, who refused to accept the violent "rule of retaliation" adhered to by Southern white men. From this study, the Southern "culture of honor" emerges as a much more complex institution than originally presented by social psychologists.

This dissertation examines how manhood is conceptualized by Black National Football League (NFL) prospects and explores how their characterizations of manhood are associated with their desire to become NFL players. This mixed-method study uses data collected by interviewing and surveying fifteen Black NFL draft prospects who were or would be eligible for the NFL draft between 2005-2016. The data are supplemented with existing literature and analyzed using the "Utamaduni Bwana" table of African cultural manhood in order to (1) culturally locate participants' conceptions of manhood, (2) identify the African elements within their conceptions of manhood, and (3) highlight the agency within their responses. In essence, this dissertation explores the significance of the NFL draft and the influence of colonization on Black NFL prospects' conceptions of manhood. This study found that Black NFL prospects' desire to reach the NFL is heavily associated with their attempt to reach manhood. The characteristics most commonly found in the participants' conceptions of manhood are strength, independence, and financial success; and their perceptions of NFL players contain hyper-expressions of these same characteristics. In addition, Black NFL prospects' conceptualization of manhood contain both African cultural elements and, as a result of colonization, hegemonic Western cultural elements. This dissertation makes an important contribution to sporting and gender literature by using an Afrocentric methodology to push beyond the normative investigation of Black-male athletes' identity and sporting goals. This study offers new and culturally appropriate questions regarding race, gender, and sports. / African American Studies

This dissertation intends to study the haunting power of the past¡Xthe legacy of slavery and the trauma of racism¡Xon the lives of African Americans in Toni Morrison fiction. In this dissertation, I attempt to examine how the aftermaths of historical and individual trauma affect the formation of ethnic identity and black subjectivity, how the traumatic history is haunting across generations, how the memory of the traumatic past is mediated and imaginatively portrayed through fictional characters and in what ways those characters respond to racism and imposed shame. Based on the theories of trauma, I view African American history as a prolonged history of trauma which haunts generations of blacks. The impact of the past is always present in a variety of ways. Among Morrison¡¦s fiction, I will only choose four of her novels as my major concern to elaborate the fundamental issues that Morrison consistently highlights. The first chapter attempts to investigate aesthetics, ethics and black female subjectivity in Morrison¡¦s The Bluest Eye and Beloved. In the novels, Morrison discloses the racist biases of white aesthetics, as well as its damaging impacts on reshaping the subjectivity of black women. For Morrison, the aesthetic judgment is inseparable from ethics. The second chapter tackles the problematic of racial haunting and the possibilities of working through historical trauma in Beloved. The writing of Beloved not only serves as a reminder as well as a symptom of historical trauma but also offers a way to heal collectively historical trauma. The third chapter is concerned with the issue of postmemory and the crisis of fatherhood in Song of Solomon. The main protagonist, Milkman, still has to work through the multi-ethnic past of his family which, though not directly his, yet haunts him nonetheless. Morrison emphasizes the need for African Americans to forge productive links between past and present. Unless Milkman confronts his past, both personal and collective, he will not know how to appreciate the beauty and power of African-American cultural heritage. The fourth chapter engages with the problematic of black manhood and black nationalism in Paradise. In this chapter, I endeavor to explore how the wounded black manhood is formed in response and in reaction to the historical oppressions of black men as a whole. Set in the sixties and seventies of America, Paradise is a critique to the biased gender politics of black nationalism at that time. It reveals Morrison¡¦s persistent concern with the plight of black men and the continuous victimization of black women.

The dissertation examines African American Freemasons throughout the South during the Jim Crow era. The secret nature of Prince Hall Affiliated Freemasonry (PHA) has hidden the contribution and activism of the organization and its members. I argue the organization is part of a web of networks that fought for civil and human rights for African Americans. Through PHA, members are cultivated into leaders, activists, businessmen; over the years, the members have created an initiatic identity that connected them to the African American community and humanity. The significance of my study is that I analyze PHA through a womanist lens and argue the organization has a diarchal gender relationship that allows women and men to take on leadership and activist roles that differed from the normative gender relationship of their time.