<p>In our society the media has presented itself as an important tool in shaping both the identities of groups and individuals. In film, and possibly more deeply in African American films, the prolonged emotional and multi-sensoral experience heightens this importance. In America, there has been a historical presence of stereotypical characters in Black film and television shows as early as the 1800s. My assertion is that African Americans who are exposed to media images with stereotypical African American characters are affected negatively in psychological and social respects. The impacts include but are not limited to self esteem issues, poor identity development, negative social perceptions from non-Black groups, and a diminishing of confidence in Black capabilities (e.g. professionalism, intelligence etc.). In addition, it is my assertion that African Americans can take control of stereotypical images in the media through the development of independent film projects. There is a hunger for palatable portrayals of African Americans, and the presence or absence of such portrayals is experienced severely by African American viewers. This research will take a historical look at stereotypical images, the difference in content when examining commercial and independent film releases, and the motivations of Black independent filmmakers to change the landscape of Black film. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study was examine a construct, relationship perceptions of the prot&eacute;g&eacute; by comparing t score means of the mentoring relationship and other proximal relationships-mother, father, peers, and teachers. The study targeted (a) Black adolescent males, (b) ages 12 to 17 years old, (c) enrolled in grades seven through 11 in school, and (d) involved a community-based mentoring program in suburban Washington, DC, which includes parts of Maryland. A nonintervention cross-sectional quantitative study design was used to examine the construct of perceived relationships of the prot&eacute;g&eacute; by comparing <i>t</i> score means from data collected using the Clinical Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (a context-dependent, Likert-type, scale composed of five relationship scales of 35 items each). Three research questions guiding the study were: How does the prot&eacute;g&eacute; rate the mentoring relationship compared with either parental relationship? How does the prot&eacute;g&eacute; rate the mentoring relationship compared with the peers&rsquo; relationship? and How does the prot&eacute;g&eacute; rate the mentoring relationship compared with the teachers&rsquo; relationship? The sample consisted of 13 Black adolescent males (<i>n</i> = 13). The mentoring relationship received significantly higher ratings than the proximal relationships with the exception of the father relationship. Adolescents 12 to 15 years old rated the mentoring relationship higher than the proximal relationships but shifted higher ratings to the parental relationship during ages 16 to17 years old. It was recommended that mentors be instructed regarding (a) role relationships, (b) proper boundaries, (c) collaborating with prot&eacute;g&eacute; in planning the mentoring experience, and (d) the importance of mutual respect. </p>

<p> The primary purpose of the study was to examine secondary data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman and College Senior Surveys to investigate factors shaping degree aspirations for African American female undergraduates partaking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the data and identify relationships between independent variables in relation to the dependent variable. The findings of the study reveal four key variables that were predictive of degree completion for African American females in STEM. Father's education, SAT composite, highest degree planned, and self-perception were positive predictors for females; while independent variable overall sense of community among students remained a negative predictor. Lastly implications for education and recommendations for future research were discussed.</p>

<p> In this dissertation, I analyze the historic and present social conditions of The United Methodist Church within the context of American culture. I also present strategies for reconciliation among estranged Black and White race groups, socioeconomic class groups, gender erotic predisposition groups, and ethnic groups other than Black and White. I use the theoretical lens of Black church interpretive traditions intersecting with Wesleyan theology. J. Deotis Roberts (1971/2005) proclaims, <i>"The black church, in setting black people free, may make freedom possible for white people as well. Whites are victimized as the sponsors of hate and prejudice which keeps racism alive" </i> (p. 33). The Black church is distinct from mainstream American church in that the Black church offers more upbeat and up-tempo worship, rhythmic preaching, gospel songs and spirituals through choirs with improvisational lead singers, call and response interaction between the preacher and the congregation, sermons that held justice and mercy in tension through hope, and worship experiences that are not constrained by time limits. From the Black experience in America, the Black church offers a profound response for existential predicaments related to "life and death, suffering and sorrow, love and judgment, grace and hope, [and] justice and mercy" (McClain, 1990, p. 46). I draw from the statements of priorities of United Methodist theorists (seminaries and theological schools) and practitioners (annual conferences) to critique collective expressed values and behaviors of United Methodists. Also, from congregations in the Western North Carolina (Annual) Conference of The United Methodist Church, I analyze narratives from personal interviews of pastors of congregations that have a different majority race composition than their own, of pastors of multi-ethnic congregations, and of congregants from multi-ethnic congregations. I suggest that the social history and present social conditions of The United Methodist Church are perplexing, particularly concerning Black and White relations. However, The United Methodist Church has the mandate, heritage, responsibility, organizational structure and spiritual capacity to contribute to substantive and sustainable reconciliation in the Church and in American society.</p>

<p> With the &ldquo;controlling images&rdquo; of the Jezebel, the Mammy, and the Sapphire constantly reiterated in movies, television shows, and popular culture, serving the interests of what bell hooks has identified as white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy, a consumer has to wonder if there is any way for Black women performers to thrive and empower other Black women while working within these constricting institutions. Although pop culture is the predominant cultural space where these controlling images and stereotypes have been reproduced there are many Black female entertainers who attempt to challenge and undermine such representations.</p><p> Scholars such as hooks and Patricia Hill Collins introduce us to the diverse forms of black feminists and black feminism by showing how black women from all walks of life produce and engage black feminist practice. In common cultural discourse, however artists such as Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Meshell Ndeogeocello are upheld as leading black feminist entertainers of our contemporary period while artists Nicki Minaj and Beyonc&eacute; are denounced as disempowering to black women and merely reproducing dominant racist, sexist, and hetero-normative stereotypes of black women.</p><p> Much Black Feminist scholarship has focused on Black women&rsquo;s resistance to the patriarchal, racist structures that continue to police and attempt to restrain Black women&rsquo;s bodies and freedom within material social and political realms, but less scholarship focuses on the ways in which Black female entertainers produce Black feminist knowledge and empowerment within the realms of pop culture.</p><p> The purpose of this study is not to show how Badu and Monae are the best examples of &ldquo;true&rdquo; Black feminism in the entertainment industry and how artists like Minaj and Knowles are tools of white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy. The purpose is to take the expansions of Black feminism that Collins, Davis, hooks, and several other Black feminist intellectuals, have articulated in order to reflect the broad ways in which Black feminism plays out in the popular music industry and to argue against the grain of critiques of popular culture to demonstrate how, despite its limitations, this realm of cultural representation and performance can be emancipatory for black women.</p>

<p> From 1880-1920 the United States struggled to incorporate former slaves into the citizenship of the nation. Constitutional amendments legislated freedom for African Americans, but custom dictated otherwise. White people equated power and wealth with whiteness. Conversely, blackness suggested poverty and lack of opportunity. Straddling the Color Line is a multi-city examination of influential and prominent African Americans who lived with one foot in each world, black and white, but who in reality belonged to neither. These influential men lived lives that mirrored Victorian white gentlemen. In many cases they enjoyed all the same privileges as their white counterparts. At other times they were forced into uncomfortable alliances with less affluent African Americans who looked to them for support, protection and guidance, but with whom they had no commonalities except perhaps the color of their skin. </p><p> This dissertation argues two main points. One is that members of the black elite had far more social and political power than previously understood. Some members of the black elite did not depend on white patronage or paternalism to achieve success. Some influential white men developed symbiotic relationships across the color line with these elite African American men and they treated each other with mutual affection and respect. </p><p> The second point is that the nadir in race relations occurred at different times in different cities. In the three cities studied, the nadir appeared first in Charleston, then New Orleans and finally in Cleveland. Although there were setbacks in progress toward equality, many blacks initially saw the setbacks as temporary regressions. Most members of the elite were unwilling to concede that racism was endemic before the onset of the Twentieth Century. In Cleveland, the appearance of significant racial oppression was not evident until after the World War I and resulted from the Great Migration. Immigrants from the Deep South migrated to the North seeking opportunity and freedom. They discovered that in recreating the communities of their homeland, they also created conditions that allowed racism to flourish. </p>

<p> This is a study of contemporary jazz culture in post-apartheid South Africa. It demonstrates that the significance of jazz can productively be understood from the perspective of listeners, complementing the necessary attention that has historically been afforded to the creators and performers of the music. It describes the rich social life that has emerged around the collecting and sharing of jazz recordings by associations of listeners in this country. In these social contexts, a semi-public culture of listening has been created, it is argued, that is distinct from the formal jazz recording, broadcast and festival sectors, and extends across various social, cultural, linguistic and related boundaries to constitute a vibrant dimension of vernacular musical life. South African jazz appreciation societies illustrate that collecting may be a global phenomenon but that recordings can take on quite particular social lives in specific times and places, and that the extension of consumer capitalism to places like South Africa does not always automatically involve the same kinds of possessive individualism that they do in other settings, and might even serve as a catalyst for new forms of creativity. The study demonstrates, moreover, that what is casually referred to as "the jazz public" is an internally variegated and often enduringly segregated constellation of scenes, several of which remain quite intimate and, indeed, beyond the view of the "general public." The study foregrounds how one specific dimension of jazz culture &ndash; the modes of sociability with which the music has become associated among its listening devotees &ndash; can assume decidedly local forms and resonances, becoming part of the country's jazz heritage in its own right and throwing into relief the potential breadth, range and contrasts in the ways that jazz writ large can be figured and recontextualised as it is vernacularized around the world. The study recognizes the significant role that jazz appreciation societies play in creating culturally resonant grassroots social settings for this music, documents and analyses the creativity with which they do so, and considers the broader implications of their contribution to the musical elaboration of public space in contemporary South Africa.</p>

<p> Preschool expulsions have gained new attention in the early child care field. The disproportionate rate of Blacks boys that are expelled or "pushed out" from their child care settings suggests particular concern for exploration. Behavioral problems in early childhood have negative outcomes later in life (Keane &amp; Calkins, 2004); therefore, it is imperative that educational systems create equitable, non-disciplinary practices, which do not marginalize or shame Black boys. This study captured the experiences of five parents of Black boys that were expelled or pushed out of multiple child care settings, as well as the temporary and lasting effects of the expulsions or "push-outs" on the entire family. One center director of a state-funded preschool and one head teacher of a private center also participated. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, focus groups, and on-line temperament profiles. Grounded theory was used to code the data in terms of the study's conceptual framework, including relationships between parent, child and teacher/provider, Critical Race Theory (CRT), neurobiological considerations, gaps in teacher/provider preparation, and the high-stakes accountability movement. The social construction of Black boys and learning in early child care settings was also explored. Expulsions or push-outs had several negative impacts for parents, the boys of this study and their families. However, through these hardships, parents learned strong advocacy skills and showed resiliency. Implications for providers and policy are discussed.</p>

<p> African American women leaders (AAWLs) experience obstacles and barriers in their quest to ascend to the highest leadership levels in U.S.-based organizations. These obstacles include intersectional oppression in the form of gendered racism, outsider status, invisibility, tokenism, stereotypes, and subordination. In the face of these challenges, AAWLs have ascended to the highest levels of leadership in U.S. workplaces. Many studies on AAWLs explore the coping mechanisms and relational strategies employed to enter, execute, and succeed in workplace leadership roles. This study explored their emotional intelligence; the non-cognitive traits, skills, and abilities that enable AAWLs to create success in their lives. This study enables comprehension of the emotional mechanisms African American women (AAW) use to lead in the face of obstacles to their ascension to high-level leadership roles. </p><p> Forty-two AAWLs, who have held leadership positions for a minimum of 3 years at the director level or three levels from the top of an organization, participated in this mixed-methods study. The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was administered to these leaders to assess their emotional-social functioning. Bar-On's (1997) model of emotional-social intelligence served as the basis for this 133-item, self-report inventory. To complement this quantitative assessment and to insert a Black feminist approach to the research, AAWLs participated in teleconference-styled focus groups in which they revealed their self-defined perceptions about their emotional intelligence and the ways those emotional-social traits, skills, and abilities create success in their leadership experience. </p><p> Emotional-social functioning of the African American women leaders (AAWLs) in the study was atypically advanced. Assessment results revealed assertiveness and independence as strengths. These leaders perceived themselves to be successful, but identified interpersonal relationship-building as an opportunity for growth. This exploration of the emotional intelligence of AAWLs expands our understanding of the non-cognitive abilities, skills, and traits employed by these leaders in their efforts to navigate complex organizational dynamics and to fulfill high- level leadership roles. </p><p> Keywords: African American women, emotional intelligence, leadership</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1998. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 59-07, Section: B, page: 3677. Adviser: Christine Zalewski.