Black Experience Research Articles

Black Girls Run Too: A Content Analysis of the Black Girls Run National Facebook Group

Background Recent evidence suggests that 59%-73% of Black women are not reaching recommended targets for physical activity (PA). PA is a key modifiable lifestyle factor that can help mitigate risk for chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, which disproportionately affect Black women. Web-based communities focused on PA have been emerging in recent years as digital gathering spaces to provide support for PA in specific populations. Objective The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the Black Girls Run (BGR) Facebook page, which is devoted to promoting PA in Black women and has over 230,000 followers. Such data can inform future social media–based interventions. Methods We collected 397 posts and associated engagement data from the national BGR Facebook page for the 6-month period between June 1 and December 31, 2021. We then conducted a content analysis of these posts and examined which types of posts elicited the most engagement. Results The content analysis revealed 8 categories of posts: shout-outs (30.7%), goals or motivational posts (16.3%), announcements (15.9%), sponsored posts or advertisements (13.6%), health-related posts (11.0%), the lived Black experience posts (5.79%), self-care posts (3.78%), and holiday-related posts or greetings (2.02%). These 397 posts attracted a total of 55,573 engagements. Of these, 33,560 were “reactions” (eg, likes) and 5082 were shares. Shout-outs elicited the highest engagement (22,268 engagements), followed by goals or motivational posts (11,490 engagements). Conclusions The majority of content on the BGR Facebook page (62.9%) was focused on celebrating member achievements, motivating members to become active, and announcing and promoting active events. This content also attracted 75% of the engagement on this page. BGR appears to be a rich web-based community that offers social support for PA as well as culturally relevant health and social justice content. Web-based communities may be uniquely positioned to engage minoritized populations in health behavior. Further research should explore how to best leverage web-based communities in interventions to increase PA and other lifestyle behaviors. Conflicts of Interest None declared.

The 1619 Project Forum

Why has the American Historical Review commissioned nineteen scholars to review the 1619 Project? There is no precedent in the history of the journal for a review forum of this scope and magnitude. Without question, the 1619 Project has become a very public flash point within academic and public debates centered on the work history does in the world. Its creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones, won a Pulitzer Prize for her lead essay that opened the project in an August 14, 2019, special issue of the New York Times Magazine.1 And some historians of the United States credited the 1619 Project with opening up new ways of looking at the American past and with helping to give the work of academic historians on slavery a broader audience. But many specialists in early American and antebellum history offered sharp criticism of the project for what they termed interpretive overreach and factual slippage. “Was slavery really the salient cause of the American Revolution?” some of them asked. For other American historians, the 1619 Project did not go far enough in its efforts to reconceptualize the larger meanings of the Black experience in North America.

“The curriculum brings equity to the forefront”: Pediatric residents’ perspectives and experiences in a longitudinal EDI curriculum

BackgroundThe Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Common Program Requirements include training in caring for diverse populations and understanding social determinants of health. Our large pediatric residency program implemented a longitudinal equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) curriculum. ObjectiveTo explore pediatric residents’ perspectives and experiences in our longitudinal EDI curriculum. MethodsWe applied the holistic framework by Haji et al. to characterize the effect of our EDI curriculum. We conducted 4 focus groups from November 2019 to September 2020 with trained facilitators using a structured question guide. We approached all eligible senior residents (n = 87) via email to participate. Project members coded written notes and transcripts and analyzed data using inductive thematic analysis. Results26 pediatric senior residents participated either in person (n = 13) or online (n = 13). Themes emerged from domains of knowledge, attitudes and behavioral change. These included having: (1) increased knowledge surrounding EDI issues, (2) a framework and language to better engage in EDI efforts and (3) increased confidence interrupting bias and microaggressions. Additional themes demonstrated: an increased need for EDI education at the institutional level, the unique experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) trainees, and systemic barriers to equitable care. ConclusionA longitudinal EDI curriculum has the potential to influence individual trainees, their work, and perceptions of the broader institutions in which they operate. Residents recognized and valued the curriculum and felt driven to use this knowledge to ensure that institutional policies and practices led to equitable clinical care.

Aside from Ontology, Toward Blackness

ABSTRACT This essay argues that Victor Anderson’s Beyond Ontological Blackness anticipates some of the key debates and concerns within contemporary black studies. Anderson’s groundbreaking text exposes tendencies within African American cultural thought to essentialise blackness, to ascribe totalising qualities to black life and limit possibilities for fulfilment and transcendence. He responds to these often-unexamined commitments to ontological blackness by turning to a postmodern conception of difference and plurality. I show how Anderson’s concerns resonate with authors like Fred Moten, Nahum Chandler, and Michelle Wright, thinkers who re-imagine blackness in a manner that circumvents pure beginnings (Chandler and Moten) and accounts of black experience that unduly prioritise slavery and the middle passage (Wright). My basic claim is that black studies and related fields should continue thinking about blackness, non-being, and differentiation, enduring problems that Anderson’s work provides a guide to confront.

“To Be Young, Gifted and Black”

Background and Context: Inspired by a photograph of the groundbreaking playwright Lorraine Hansberry that appeared in the New York Times following her unanticipated death in 1965, Nina Simone, pianist, singer-songwriter, and civil rights activist, carefully crafted “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” a song that later became the anthem of the 1970s Black Power Movement. Like Hansberry, Simone sought to encourage cultural and ethnic pride among young African Americans who found themselves at the crossroads of an identity crisis and a national dismissal of their existence, both funded by racism. Today, African Americans attending predominantly White institutions (PWIs) continue to grapple with these challenges. Purpose/Objective/Research Question or Focus of Study: For this study, we aim to amplify the lived experiences and ontologies of Black music education doctoral students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) and to identify and confront racialized structures, including dominant narratives that suggest Black folk and their epistemologies are inferior. We seek to add to current scholarship written by Black scholars about Black experiences, while also honoring Black music educators, music teacher educators, and scholars who have come before us and who will follow by speaking truth to power or rather “telling it like it is.” Research Design: We employ storytelling, a key tenet of critical race theory (CRT), to share our experiences of grappling with racialized encounters in four predominantly White doctoral music education programs, highlighting how these experiences impacted our Ph.D. journeys and how we wrestled with them. To examine our experiences, we use CRT in its entirety alongside musical renditions of “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone, Donny Hathaway, The Heptones, and Aretha Franklin. Data detailing our experiences were collected through five 90-minute semistructured focus group conversations. Using CRT a priori codes and emergent codes, we delved into our narratives and how our intersectional identities along the lines of race and gender compounded the oppression we endured. Conclusions/Recommendations: Our research suggests that Black doctoral students in music education encounter a wealth of racialized structures along their journeys to degree completion. Not only did we grapple with identity politics, but we also wrestled with our White professors’ and peers’ “imagined cultural superiority” (Calmore, 1992, p. 2131). Among our efforts to realize our pathways forward, resistance and counterspace became salient for us in seizing our liberation and defying racism. Because PWIs continue to evade their responsibility in confronting their own racist social order, we fear that African Americans and other students of color will have no choice but to continue to negotiate spaces that are racially hostile and unjust. When PWIs decide to truly become antiracist, their agendas will include, but will not be limited to, reimagining admission and audition policies and practices, dismantling curricula that propagate the functions of Whiteness as property, and terminating racist social agents.

I’m Free Because I’m a Fugitive—I’m a Fugitive Because I’m Not Free

I’m Free Because I’m a Fugitive—I’m a Fugitive Because I’m Not Free

Toward a socially just diversity science: Using intersectional mixed methods research to center multiply marginalized Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

Plaut's breakthrough 2010 publication on diversity science-the study of meaningful human differences-set in motion a generative field of theory and research. Yet, to move diversity science forward, innovative methods that explicitly center the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who encounter multiple forms of marginalization must be adopted. One such approach is intersectional mixed methods research-a methodological approach that uses intersectionality theory to guide the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods within a single study. We argue that intersectional mixed methods research includes four tenets: (1) research questions prioritize multiply marginalized BIPOC individuals, (2) the multiple realities of BIPOC individuals are honored and embraced, (3) identity-related variables (e.g., self-reported discrimination) are studied alongside systems-level variables (e.g., structural racism), and (4) scholars engage in critical reflexivity. We also propose that intersectional mixed methods research can advance scholarship on multiply marginalized BIPOC individuals by fulfilling one of five purposes: Triangulation, complementarity, expansion, development, and initiation. We close with a discussion of tensions and recommendations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The Lived Experiences of College Students Overcoming Colorism: Perspectives from the Midwest

Colorism is a global phenomenon that has disenfranchised people of color, even from the most privileged backgrounds, for over a century. Skin complexion discrimination is an important factor to consider when examining the experiences of Blacks in America. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of college students and the impact that colorism has had on them. The study was conducted at a midsized university in the Midwest. A total of five focus groups were conducted, and a brief survey was given to undergraduate participants (N = 14), ages 18 – 25, in order to gather information about participants’ experiences throughout their lifetime regarding skin complexion (Colorism not racism). The survey assessed self-perception of skin complexion, satisfaction level with skin complexion, and life satisfaction. The findings revealed five major themes: Gender matters, mate selection bias, family dynamics, media, and resilience. Limitations and future research will be discussed.

Navigating a White, Male Space: The Lived Experiences of Black, Female Ice Hockey Fans

With few exceptions, researchers have seldom explored the experiences of any female sport fan who may be identified as a member of a racial minority. Given related calls for further research, an examination into the lived experiences of ice hockey fans who identify as Black and female was undertaken. Interviews with 18 such fans revealed that the sport and its fandom were akin to ‘White spaces’: therein, participants were keenly aware of their minoritized place; subject to racial and gender stereotyping and discrimination; and prone to experiencing exclusion and trepidation. Conversely, interactions with the Black Girl Hockey Club, an organization devoted to making ice hockey more diverse and accessible, provoked feelings of belongingness and validation; and afforded a means through which interviewees could deepen their engagement with the sport. The research participants’ lived experiences ultimately point to the need for organizations and managers to construct more inclusive spaces.

Spitting at Jim Crow

Spitting at Jim Crow

Project Review: ‘Making Room for Abolition’, by Lauren Williams

This review positions Lauren Williams’ installation ‘Making Room for Abolition’, shown in ‘Monolith’ at Red Bull Arts in Detroit, as a speculative design project that presents a two-fold critique: one directed at US society and the other, at speculative design itself. As a discourse and practice, speculative design offers a model for designing in socially-oriented, post-capitalist contexts, but it has yet to fully unmoor itself from colonialist ideology. I present common critiques of speculative design—specifically: the lack of attention to race- and class-based struggles, the assumption that time is absolute, and its stance that preferable futures must be plausible—to show how Williams addresses these shortcomings while centering Black experiences and imagination in a dream of abolitionist futures.

Respecting the Manning Family: Jane Manning James and Her Family in Wilton, Connecticut

Respecting the Manning Family: Jane Manning James and Her Family in Wilton, Connecticut

‘For a good [civic] purpose?’: Black immortal teachings of citizenship

Black experiences and discourse concerning citizenship are unique. Moreover, Black access to full citizenship is often a matter of life and death. The civic purposes driving this pursuit are often negated in conventional curriculum and pedagogy, especially in early childhood settings. Still, it is essential for educators and policymakers to understand the civic purposes that initiate and sustain civic engagement. The purpose of this study is to amplify the voices of young Black boys in regards to US citizenship. By employing notions of in the wake/wake work as the theoretical framework and curricular and pedagogical resuscitation (CPR) as the methodology, this study unearthed the power of children to examine the complexities and ironies of citizenship. More so, these first- and second-grade students linked Black citizenship to fundamental issues of life, death, and purpose. Ultimately, the authors call for instruction reflecting how for students, especially Black students, honorable civic purposes striving for full citizenship remain valued, respected, and enduring.

NARROWING THE DISPARITIES GAP IN LTSS: POLICY AND PRACTICE

Abstract Access to and the quality of long-term supports and services (LTSS) are not equitable for all older Americans. Disparities have been documented qualitatively and quantitatively for marginalized racial and ethnic communities and LGBTQI+ communities but the specific causes of gaps in equity differ by community, locality, and state. To be effective, policy solutions must be grounded in the lived experiences of Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and LGBTQI+ older adults in those communities. This symposium showcases how community-based research can be employed to understand the root causes of inequities in LTSS access and care affecting older adults of color and LTGBTQI+-identifying older adults and presents community-grounded policy solutions to remedy those inequities. Papers 1 and 2 use participatory research methods to understand barriers to equitable LTSS care access and quality and develop locally grounded solutions to those barriers. Caldera (Paper 1) shares results from a study of Cook County, IL nursing home residents and their caregivers focused on racial and ethnic disparities in access to and experiences with nursing home care. Hado (Paper 2) presents findings from research in Georgia and New York examining disparities in access to and experiences with HCBS for older racial and ethnic and LGBTQI+ communities. Fashaw-Walters (Paper 3) discusses the how systemic racism is at the root of inequities in LTSS access for communities of color and shares actionable recommendations aimed at ending racial and ethnic inequities in LTSS policies.

Social Justice as Ontology: The Intersection of Black Evaluators’ Identities, Roles, and Practice

Violence, marginalization, oppression, exploitation, erasure, and injustice are cornerstones of the Black experience in the United States. Despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, Black people have worked diligently and competently to earn spaces within the present-day professional arena. While the experiences of Black professionals have been investigated in multiple fields, little is known about Black evaluators. This study aimed to investigate Black evaluators’ experiences in an attempt to understand the intersectionality of their identities, roles, and practice and to ensure voices and contributions of Black evaluators are highlighted. We conducted 26 interviews with Black evaluators across academic, government, nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sectors. We found race and advocate for social justice are central to Black evaluators’ identities, roles, and practice. We developed a thematic framework as a result of our analysis and interpretations of the ways in which Black evaluators’ identities impacted their perceptions of their professional role and practice.

The (Power) Struggle: Experiences of BIWOC Correctional Officers at Rikers Island Jail

To understand the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) correctional officers (COs) with justice-involved individuals and other staff, we draw on interviews with 15 BIWOC COs at Rikers Island. Despite power differential between COs and justice-involved individuals, participants described relatability through their shared backgrounds and upbringings. We found that relatability minimized the distance between them and may be particularly beneficial for confined persons of color. Nevertheless, hierarchical power dynamics shaped power struggles between BIWOC COs concerning mutual respect and professionalism in the workplace, coupled with power differentials reinforced by BIWOC supervisors in their decision-making.

No Booster for Us! An Understanding of HBCU Students’ COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Hesitancy

This exploratory study examines COVID-19 booster vaccine hesitancy among African American college students at a four-year Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Maryland. Although limited in scope, this research has implications for students at other HBCUs because of the shared history and culture of the “Black experience” in the United States. The study was conducted using focus groups. Key findings lie in the areas of self-efficacy, gender, and health status couched in the context of African Americans’ generational distrust of government and science to serve their best interests. In terms of self-efficacy, the students stated by taking the initial vaccines, they had done enough to ward off severe COVID-19. A concern by gender was voiced about purported side effects of the vaccine experienced from the initial doses. Certainly, as with many young adults of all races, the students in the study had a sense of invincibility regarding their health. Overall, the findings indicate that government and health organizations need to work more purposively by listening to the young African Americans they seek to serve. This in turn could lead to the creation of more effective health messages to reach demographics and communities who view themselves as outliers from the larger society.

Being and becoming: A psychobiography of James Baldwin.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) was a prolific African American author and activist whose writing centered primarily on race, sexuality, and religion. Baldwin's lived experiences and breadth of knowledge provided him with a unique perspective of the Black experience in America, a theme he frequently revisited in his work and the impetus for his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement METHOD: This article presents a psychobiographical application of Queering Black Racial Identity Development to conceptualize the life story of James Baldwin. This study explores the life of James Baldwin, highlights his influence as a historical figure and agent of social change, and explores the "why" of his life and behavior. Specifically, his decision to return to the United States during the Civil Rights Movement and possible reasons he avoided politicizing his sexuality in the same way he did his racial identity. As an African American, nonheterosexual, male author and Civil Rights activist, Baldwin's intersectional identities played a significant role in his decision to dedicate his life to writing and activism. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Irish Whiteness and the Nineteenth-Century Construction of Race

Much Victorian Irish studies has followed the Americanist Noel Ignatiev's famous claim that the Irish “became white” upon migration to the United States, whereas they had not been in the context of the United Kingdom. This article argues, in contrast, that an emphasis on the undeniable racialization of Irish poverty and politics can distract us from an important truth: nineteenth-century Irish people, in Britain and Ireland as well as in the United States, were broadly understood as white, and “Celticness” was not in any serious or widespread way treated as equivalent to Blackness, although that did not stop some nineteenth-century Irish advocates from drawing that misleading analogy. Drawing upon cultural and anthropological work of the mid-nineteenth century, from Robert Knox, Thomas Carlyle, and John Mitchel to Charles Kingsley, Matthew Arnold, and the caricaturists ofPunchto Frederick Douglass, this article proposes that the implication that nineteenth-century Irishness was cognate to Blackness—or the Irish experience a version of the Black experience—represents the epistemological and ethical error that Frank B. Wilderson III has called “the ruse of analogy” that we must interrogate more critically lest we, in Wilderson's formulation, enact a “mystification, and often erasure, of Blackness's grammar of suffering.”

Black Brazil in jazz-age Paris

This study illuminates franco-lusophone artistic and political dialogues during the 1920s and 1930s by uncovering the life and work of Elsie Houston (1902–43) – a mixed-race, Brazilian, classically trained soprano, folk artist, Trotskyist, and folklorist. Houston performed Afro-Brazilian and South American indigenous folk songs in the operatic mode in Paris from 1926 to 1937. I examine Houston’s involvement with the Parisian artistic and political avant-garde. Houston was enmeshed in transnational modernist and surrealist networks in the French capital. In addition, Houston was connected to a network of black Atlantic artistes and intellectuals, and her trajectory therefore provides new perspectives on the black experience in interwar France. This article opens the door to an underexplored history of race, culture, and society in Paris, centring Brazilian identity.