Queer people and people of color are two groups that are exposed to much stereotyping and discrimination in the United States. When these two identity labels coincide they sometimes conflict. In this study, five queer persons of color were interviewed on their identities and their life stories, to find out how they create their identities through narratives, negotiating and rewriting the meanings of social categories. Using Johnson's Quare term as inspiration,and analyzing the data with the use of Riessman's performative narrative analysis and Muñoz's Disidentifications, I find several common tropes of identity creation and performance as well as practices of resistance and disidentification. I then discuss the word Queer as used by respondents to label practices and attitudes that can be considered disidentifying.

Because of its trademark racial diversity, historians have often presented New Orleans as a place transformed by incorporation into the American South following 1804. Assertions that a comparatively relaxed, racially ambiguous Spanish slaveholding regime was converted into a two-caste system of dedicated racial segregation by the advent of American assumption have been posited by scholars like Frank Tannenbaum, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, and a host of others. Citing dependence on patronage, concubinage, and the decline in slave manumissions during the antebellum period, such studies have employed descriptions of the city’s prominent free people of color to suggest that the daily lives of non-whites in New Orleans experienced uniform restriction following 1804, and that the Crescent City’s transformation from Atlantic society with slaves to rigid slave society forced free people of color out of the heart of the city, known as the Vieux Carré, and into “black neighborhoods” on the margins of town. Despite the popularity of such generalized themes in the historiography, however, the extant sources housed in New Orleans’s valuable archival repositories can be used to support a vastly divergent narrative. By focusing on individual free people of color, or libres, rather than the non-white community as a whole, this paper seeks to show that free people of color were self determined in both public and private aspects of daily life, irrespective of governmental regime, and that their physical presence and political agency were not entirely eroded by the change in administration. Through evaluation of the geography of free black-owned properties listed in the city’s notarial archives, as well as baptisms, births, deaths, and marriages listed in archdiocese ledgers, I show that the family and community lives of free people of color in New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood appeared alive and well throughout the territorial period.

This study explores people of color-owned (POC) restaurants under the governance of Washington, DC (DC) who provide community programming. Since 2009 ‘sustainable’ legislative changes have affecting DC’s food industry, causing a change in operational costs and allowable materials to serve food. DC government’s acknowledgment of racial has informed its urban plan: racial equity is embedded throughout the approach to further develop the city. With documented barriers to success experienced by racial minority business owners and the potential for upcoming legislation to place additional constraints on restaurants, it warrants investigation to see what POC owners are doing in community programming and their experiences concerning recent urban policy which has affected DC’s food industry. A pragmatist approach complemented with Nadler & Tushman’s theory of organizational behavior and McMichael’s theory of contested development informed a content analysis and a case study design; the latter which employed observations and semi-structured interviews to gain insight on participants’ experiences. 19 POC-owned restaurants fit the study’s criteria: 12 displayed community programming within the scope of DC’s sustainability plan; 17 displayed community programming outside of the scope. The case study demonstrates the significance of businesses ownership of POC in DC, reflected contested development theory, and offered insights on how DC’s urban plan is understood by the staff of one restaurant. This work may inform practice to analyze the effects of environmental-focused policy on POC and equity goals, particularly within DC. Recommendations for future research, theory, and practice within equitable urban planning are included. / M.S. / This study explores the presence and experiences of people of color-owned (POC) restaurants under the governance of Washington, DC (DC) who provide community programming. A series of ‘sustainable’ legislative changes affecting DC’s food industry have occurred since the year 2009, resulting in changes in operations and what materials are allowed to serve food to customers. These changes include a fee on the use of disposal bags, a ban on the use of expanded polystyrene, commonly known as Styrofoam™, and in 2018, a ban on plastic straws. DC’s urban plan Sustainable DC 2.0 acknowledges disparities along lines of race in the city and aims to embed racial equity in its approach to further develop the city. With documented barriers to success experienced by racial minorities in the United States; DC’s uneven prosperity growth of white people compared to people of color, gentrifying conditions, and high property taxes; and DC Council’s introduction of a new policy which would further affect what is allowable to restaurants for serving, but also how and what food is to be prepared for organics collections; it warrants investigation to see what people of color are currently doing in the area of community programming and what their experiences are concerning recent urban policy which has affected DC’s food industry. A pragmatist approach complemented with a theoretical framework of Nadler & Tushman’s organizational behavior model and McMichael’s theory of contested development and sustainable transformation informed this work. The content analysis investigated the community programming of POC-owned restaurants and a case study employed observations and semi-structured interviews to gain insight on participant experiences. 19 restaurants were found in the content analysis: 12 restaurants displayed community programming within the scope of DC’s sustainability plan; 17 displayed community programming outside of the scope. The case study demonstrates the significance of businesses ownership of POC in DC, reflected McMichael’s contested development theory, and provided insights on how DC’s urban plan presents opportunities, successes, and challenges to one restaurant. Both the content analysis and case study showed a significant emphasis on engaging and supporting people of color, particularly the black community. This work may inform practice to analyze effects of environmental-focused policy on POC who own restaurants, and considerations of approach to working equitably in the area of urban planning, particularly within DC. Recommendations for future research, theory, and practice within equitable urban planning are included. This thesis provides insights to individuals engaging in equitable urban development in practice and research. It also will be useful to those engaged in qualitative research methodologies, as it describes how the focus and timeline of this study pivoted due to the occurrence of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Educational policymakers have used tracking to instruct students in a variety of subjects, including mathematics. Tracking, which has also been called ability grouping, is a process by which students in the same grade are placed into different classes based on academic ability. Few educators and sociologists have looked at the process by which students are placed in different mathematics tracks. The research design of this study focused on accumulating, evaluating, and reporting the understanding and observations of 12 teachers and 4 counselors as they discussed their knowledge and involvement in the mathematics placement procedures from the intermediate and middle school levels in northern Utah. The data revealed that in addition to the official placement policies there were other factors that influenced the math placement. Those factors were teacher input, parental participation, and student involvement in the educational process. Educational administration, counselors, and teachers can use the results of this study to create more equitable placement policies and procedures for all students.

This applied dissertation was a quantitative, data-mining analysis to determine the effects of mentoring on career advancement after employees participated in a 1-year formal leadership mentoring program. The company in this study developed a formal leadership mentoring program as part of its talent development and succession planning strategy. Company leaders selected mentoring participants from an internal pool of diverse high-potential leaders to participate in the leadership mentoring program. This study implemented a quantitative, data-mining research method technique to analyze the company’s data on the formal leadership mentoring program from a monitored system. The purpose of data mining was to review and analyze career-progression results of women and people of color to see if employees were advancing in careers as all other mentoring participants who participated in the 2009 and 2010 mentoring program classes. Quantitative data-mining results showed that, in 2009 and 2010, the total population was 105. Mentees who were women and people of color represented 79% of employees who remained at the company. In addition, 13 women of color were promoted at the study company after attending the leadership mentoring program. Company leaders selected mentoring participants from an internal pool of diverse high-potential leaders to include Black-African Americans, Asians, Hispanics-Latinos, and Whites. This data-mining study provided valuable to mentoring, career advancement, and succession planning for the leadership that could provide confirmation for the need to offer formal mentoring programs to increase the numbers of women and people of color in middle- and senior-level management positions.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) report decreased sense of belonging compared to White students (Hunn, 2014; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Museus et al., 2018; Strayhorn, 2019). The study aimed to answer, "What are the daily lived experiences of BIPOC students at a PWI?" and "How do BIPOC students at a PWI describe feelings of belonging (if at all)?" The study was conducted at a private, religiously affiliated, PWI, in the Western United States. The University Belonging Questionnaire (Slaten et al., 2018) was used to sort students' feelings of belonging. Female participants who endorsed high belonging and low belonging were invited to focus group interviews. A total of 10 participants comprised of graduate and undergraduate students of varying ethnicities and races participated. A focused multiperspective interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) design was employed for this study. In total, there are five context-related themes describing how students navigate their experiences: Cultural Worlds, Support System, Religion, Academics, and Classmates. Both focus groups felt similarly about the importance of friends/family as a support system. The high belonging versus low belonging focus groups felt differently about belonging, discrimination, being a spokesperson, being a chameleon, religion, professors, and their classmates. Those in the HBG reported feeling connected to peers and faculty. The LBG reported feelings of isolation related to feeling othered by peers and faculty. Based on this study's findings, several recommendations are offered. Educators should strive to create environments where mentor-student relationships are fostered, microaggressions are lessened, and the larger community campus values BIPOC students. These efforts will better support BIPOC female students as they navigate their experiences in higher education settings, particularly in PWIs.

Background: Much of the literature on transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) experiences in counseling focuses on White experiences with few recommendations for trans people of Color (TPOC). Research suggests mental health care providers lack intersectional sensitivity with TPOC, lack knowledge of TGNB issues and engage in microaggressive behaviors, notably with Queer-identified clinicians. Aim: To explore issues of power and privilege in the counseling relationship with Queer-identified clinicians and apply the multidimensional model of broaching behavior with TGNB clients of Color. Method: A critical review of conceptual and empirical literature focusing on the interaction and impact of client and clinician race, gender, and sexual/affectional identities in the counseling relationship is presented. Informed by the authors’ counseling experiences and respective positionalities as a Black Queer ciswoman and a White Queer transman, the multidimensional model of broaching behavior is applied to a composite case vignette. Results: The model provides a practical tool to facilitate critical conversations of power, privilege and identity in the counseling relationship. Conclusion: With a dearth of scholarship addressing the role of cisgender or White privilege in the counseling relationship, this article outlines strategies to broach issues partially-shared identities with TGNB clients of Color. Recommendations for culturally informed counseling practice, supervision and research are also provided.

People of Color (POC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ) people have experienced disembodiment due to the Christian dualism in the white Evangelical Protestant (WEP) church and its liturgies. The project first analyzes how this Christian dualism interacts with white supremacy and homophobia within the Sunday liturgy. Then, the project describes how disembodied liturgies significantly harm POC and LGBTQ people. As a response, a theology of embodiment can bring healing to POC and LGBTQ people by implementing embodied liturgies at Table San Diego, a multiracial, LGBTQ-affirming congregation attempting to integrate the Christian faith with the physical body, the lived experience, and social contexts. Addressing the racial, gendered, sexual, and classed experiences of the congregation across various social, political, economic, and religious climates requires a reimagination of the Sunday liturgy as an embodied experience. Liturgical research is drawn from the Black Spirituals, the Gay Liberation Movement, and Asian-American liturgies.

Louisiana's unique social and cultural history with its three-tiered racial system (rather than the biracial system that governed much of the United States) left the region and the history of its black inhabitants, outside of familiar narratives of United States black history. Marcus B. Christian, the self-trained intellectual, sought to research, and make public, the history of blacks in Louisiana. His career demonstrates the importance of training, economic status, and geographical focus in the production of African American history. Many of the stories he told, through writing and research, retrieved the largely forgotten history of Creoles of color. In fact, his own story was an extension of the black intellectual traditions of that Creole population. Even as his work revealed black Louisiana's unique culture, it also served as the foundation for Christian's own intellectual legacy, one with both material and intellectual dimensions.

Despite the popularity of free people of color in New Orleans as a research topic, the history of free people of color remains misunderstood. The prevailing view of free people of color is that of people who: engaged in plaçage, attended quadroon balls, were desperately dependent upon the dominant population, and were uninterested or afraid to garner rights for themselves. Contemporary historians have endeavored to amend this stereotypical perception; this study aims to be a part of the trend of revisionist history through an in-depth analysis of the co-plaintiffs in Boisdoré and Goulé, f.p.c., v. Citizens Bank and their case. Because Boisdoré and Goulé sue at critical time in New Orleans history, three decades after the Louisiana Purchase during the American transformation of New Orleans, their case epitomizes the era in which it occurs. In bringing suit, Boisdoré and Goulé attempted to thwart some of those forth coming changes.