abstract: This study explores the eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century German dramatic genre Sklavenstücke (slave plays). These plays, which until recently have not received any significant attention in scholarship, articulate a nuanced critique of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade and thus bear witness to an early German-language discourse indicative of abolitionist currents.Tracing individual acts of German-language abolitionism, I investigate the correlation between abolitionist movements in the Euro-American space and German involvements in these very efforts. In this sense, I contest the notion of an absence of German abolitionist awareness in Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. My reading of these slave plays contributes to discussions about the transcultural nature of abolitionist discourse and defies the notion that abolitionist activism only emerged within the specific nation-states that have previously been the subject of scholarship. Challenging this layering both theoretically and analytically, then, requires an innovative shift that centers approaches rooted in Black thought and theories, which are the foundation of this study. These concepts are necessary for engaging with issues of slavery and abolition while at the same time exposing white paternalist perspectives and gazes. Plays of this genre often foreground the horrors of slavery at the hands of cruel white slaveholders, and characterize enslaved Black Africans as unblemished, obedient, submissive, hard-working, and grateful “beings” deserving of humanitarian benevolence. Based on these sentiments, an overarching discourse opposing slavery and the transatlantic slave trade emerged by way of German-language theatrical plays, theoretical treatises, newspaper articles, academic writings, travelogues, diary entries, and journal articles that negotiated the nature, origin, and legitimacy of Black African humanity around debates on slavery. Thus, my study demonstrates that these German-language literary contributions indicate inscribed socio-critical commentary and take up transatlantic abolitionist discourses, a dialogue that surfaced under the auspices of the Enlightenment. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation International Letters and Cultures 2020

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore Black transgender men's experiences navigating systems of racism and transphobia. To this end, I utilized a critical race theory and intersectionality theory framework to answer the following question: What are Black transgender men's experiences with power, privilege, and oppression? The ten Black transgender men and transmasculine people who participated in this study provided detailed and moving accounts of their experiences with systems of oppression. Six major themes were prominent throughout participant narratives: (1) developing an empowered view of self, (2) navigating double consciousness, (3) having a target on your back, (4) strategies of resilience, (5) culture of silence, and (6) finding quality care. Overall, participants offered insight and keen awareness of their intersecting racial and gender identities, as well as speaking intimately about how the shift from societal perceptions and identification as a Black woman to a Black man impacted their sense of self and views of the world. Additionally, implications and conclusions drawn from the stories of participants offer recommendations for counselors, mental health professionals, practitioners, and programs to consider implementing to provide culturally responsive and competent care to Black transgender men.

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In the past decade, many American high school graduates have been deprived of the cultural vocabulary that was once the fundamental and common possession of educated persons in past generations. This dearth of knowledge--also described as a lack of cultural literacy is a glaring problem, reflected quite noticeably in declining scores on standardized tests. This national paucity in cultural literacy has not left the Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School (in Roosevelt, New York) unscathed; therefore, this study assessed the needs of the students and devised strategies to meet those needs. In 1991, five workshops were conducted for teachers in the English/language arts department. Because the Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School, which comprises a predominantly Black, middle-class student population, has not escaped this national malady, this study utilized action research to improve teaching techniques and enhance cultural literacy. Using African-American culture as a vehicle, an effort was made to forge a link between Black culture (emphasizing the literary aspect) and other required materials. The main objective was, and still is to motivate students to learn, thereby improving their academic status and raising their test scores. In every field of endeavor--be it educational, or otherwise, it would benefit the leaders or staff members to make attempts to meet the students, workers, or members, where they are on their various intellectual and inspirational levels, tapping into their latent talents. With emphasis on collaboration and an action research approach, an effort was made to implement measures for solving the stated problem. Academically, this study offered students the opportunity to use their cultural heritage, their interests, and their talents as a catalyst to general "world knowledge." This rise in levels of cultural literacy may lead to greater feelings of self-worth, and eventual improvement in test scores on teacher-made tests as well as standardized tests.

This dissertation examines the class-, race-, and gender-based conflicts surrounding the 1990s privatization of an African American Public Housing development in New Orleans, Louisiana. The case illuminates how race, class and gender inequality is resisted and reproduced within the context of a post-segregation era, majority Black City. Drawing on Adolph Reed's Black Urban Regime theory, I conceptualize the struggle over privatization of Public Housing as a key expression of the racialized and gendered class relationship that makes up New Orleans' Black Urban Regime. The Black Urban Regime encompasses, on one side, Black officials that control the local State, along with their middle class allies, and the City's White corporate elite. On the other side is the City's Black working class majority, who often times are the electoral base of the Black Mayoral administration. To manage this contradictory relationship the Black political elite must appear to meet the redistributive, progressive agenda of its base, while simultaneously meeting the real neoliberal development needs of White corporate interests. Research for this single case study includes over forty in-depth interviews, a review of news articles, organizational and government documents, and observation of several public meetings dealing with various aspects of the St. Thomas privatization process The study's central finding is that non-profits, an understudied area of Urban Regime-informed works, were central to winning the formerly combative African American Public Housing residents to cooperate, rather than resist, privatization and removal. By engaging residents in a series of planning meetings and insider negotiations, the non-profits removed the female-led Black Public Housing residents from their key terrain and source of power, that of protests and disruption. In the past, disruptive actions won resident's power by undermining the racial, class, and gender legitimacy of the local and national levels of the State. In contrast, non-profits drew residents away from their historic source of power, and thus helped manage, rather than exploit, the Regime's contradictions. Finally, consistent with the extended case study method, the findings of this study are used to contribute and extend theories of urban politics, racism, and the practice of public sociology / acase@tulane.edu

This work is a qualitative inquiry into the lives and experiences of nine African American women faculty during various stages of the tenure process. This study finds that African American women faculty face challenges in the academy particularly as they relate to the unwritten rules and the institutional politics surrounding tenure. This work is weaved in African American feminist thought with the literatures on academic tenure and minority and women faculty experiences in the academy.

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