Black History Research Articles

African American History and the Short Story: James Mcbride's “The Under Graham Railroads Box Car Set”

ABSTRACT James McBride's first volume of short stories, Five Carat Soul (2017), depicts the relationship between history and the short story, setting white and black histories on a collision course. Its lead story, “The Under Graham Railroad Box Car Set,” explores how the value of an episode in history may be alternatively constructed, stifled, commodified, or recast in terms of African American experience and genres in order to underline the fact of slavery as a living force in American culture.

‟Un-sung heroes of Afro-American historiography”: The Case of Joel Augustus Rogers

Joel Augustus Rogers, an African American journalist and self-taught historian born in Jamaica, produced an impressive number of articles in various papers as well as several books. After he died in 1966, his name and works fell into oblivion, which explains why in 1975, historian W. Burghardt Turner listed Rogers among the “un-sung heroes of Afro-American historiography.” Thanks to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and a handful of other scholars, Rogers has been “rediscovered” over the past decade. As a self-taught historian who sought to popularize black history, Rogers was largely ostracized from the American academic mainstream. This made it all the more difficult for him to find publishing venues and partly explains why, like many of his predecessors and a few of his contemporaries, Rogers turned to self-publishing. After a brief overview of Rogers’ career, I will examine his methodology and sources, and his use of collective biography in two of his early works of history, World’s Greatest Men of African Descent (1931) and World’s Greatest Men and Women of African Descent (1935). The essay will demonstrate the ways in which Rogers inscribed himself in a long tradition of amateur black historians and how he differed from them.

Black Psychiatrists Link History of Structural Racism to Current Outcomes

Black Psychiatrists Link History of Structural Racism to Current Outcomes

‘This is what a radical intervention could look like’: an interview with Barbara Ransby

An interview with Chicago-based Black historian, activist and writer Barbara Ransby in July 2020 as to how to understand the significance of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) uprisings across the US. Ransby defines the movement and the forces that made George Floyd’s murder a pivotal point for so many people, bringing them on to the streets in over 500 locations. She explains the gestation of the movement against ‘racial capitalism’ from 2012 onwards and its current political formation as made up of an array of forces. The largest most organised coalition is the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL). She traces the white Left’s unwillingness to see the Black working class as now the defining point of class politics and addresses issues of police violence, incarceration and white supremacy. Organic solidarity is developing between progressive groups around an abolition agenda, which is simultaneously about dismantling the carceral state and building new institutions.

“If she runs away, i’ll get to whip her”: anti-black humour and stereotyping in school

This paper theorises empirical findings from a school in the north of England in order to contribute to theoretical understandings of racial microaggressions, particularly micro-assaults. In so doing, the paper argues that during the teaching of Black History, micro-assaults were articulated as racist humour and stereotyping, to increase tolerance for disparaging Black people and for justifying their unequal treatment. White teachers and their students were complicit in engaging in anti-Black racist humour and stereotyping, but from a Critical Race perspective, the paper argues that Black students’ participation is best understood as a coping mechanism for reducing Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) as a consequence of Mundane Extreme Environmental Stress (MEES).

Zora Neale Hurston and Questions of Scholarship

Zora Neale Hurston and Questions of Scholarship

El migrante negroafricano ante el mito de los grandes relatos en El metro de Donato Ndongo y Nativas de Vi-Makomè / The Black African migrant faced with the myth of the great stories in Donato Ndongo’s The Metro and Nativas by Vi-Makomè

Las migraciones hoy en día se han convertido en un gran desafío de la vida política, social e imaginaria del Tout-Monde. Por lo mismo, hay una innegable acentuación de las migraciones intraafricanas, transafricanas y transcontinentales. A las migraciones Sur-Sur, se añaden las migraciones hacia Europa que siguen captando más la atención de los medios de comunicación. Si la migración masiva está bien difundida en el mundo, despierta recuerdos dolorosos en el caso particular del migrante negro africano postcolonial. El objetivo general que se pretende aquí es poner en tensión, a través de las dos novelas El metro y Nativas, de Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo e Inongo Vi Makomè respectivamente, el mito del “gran relato” de la proeza sexual supuestamente vigorosa del Negro. Otro cometido mayor de este artículo es contribuir modestamente al trabajo de desmitificación de la figura (sexual) del migrante negroafricano en Europa/Occidente. La elección de estas dos novelas tiene aquí una doble importancia. La primera es que pertenecen a la categoría de las novelas llamadas novelas de migración (que se inscriben plenamente hoy en día en lo que se puede llamar la “littérature-monde”). En segundo lugar, son novelas que sacan a la luz una gran parte de la problemática de las migraciones, de las “migrances” en general y, particularmente, la del advenimiento del migrante negroafricano postcolonial. Este estudio se ha basado en gran parte sobre las formulaciones teóricas de Victorien Lavou Zoungbo a través de su libro Outsidering… (2007), en el que aborda ampliamente la problemática del “gran relato del vigor-proeza sexual del negro”. Sus formulaciones teóricas en las que propone una articulación dinámica y operativa de la historia de los negros en las Américas parecen encajar bien con la problemática de la “presencia-historia” de los migrantes negro-africanos en Europa. El estudio ha mostrado que el mito de los “grandes relatos” (particularmente el vigor-proeza sexual del Negro) puede ser un factor de rechazo visceral o de integración “exitosa” de los migrantes negroafricanos en Europa/Occidente.

Black Music is American Music: Learning Underrepresented Aspects of Black History in College through Critical Race Media Literacy

The New York Times 1619 Project materials on American popular culture were presented to college students at a Historically Black University & College (HBCU) and Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Guided by Critical Race Media Literacy, we employed quantitative and qualitative analysis to explore the knowledge-based and emotional responses to Black historical media. The findings suggest that HBCU and PWI students had similar levels of prior knowledge. HBCU and PWI students experienced disparate emotional responses to the material. Overall, both HBCU and PWI students’ knowledge increased on this topic following the study as the content is underrepresented in education and popular culture.

Fast Forward and Rewind: Voices of Women Photographers

Revisiting an archive of women’s voices talking about the reasons they create work using photography, reveals more than just the questions asked, the topics discussed, and the words spoken, but whose narratives are being told and who is missed. Each photographer has a different story to tell, but they are all linked by gender and tenacity. Some were drawn to using photography as a political tool, others to find a new language to interpret the world around them, still others as social commentary. All the interview extracts are from my archive of artist interviews that now number over 1,600 and which I began twenty-five years ago. From the 96-year-old Dorothy Bohm to the New Zealand feminist Alexis Hunter, who sadly died in 2014. From Violeta Bubelytė working in Lithuania to the German photographer Steffi Klenz working in Britain, from the African American Nona Faustine and her personal interrogation of black history in New York to Haley Morris-Cafiero and her engagement with Fat Shaming and the Internet.

Representation of Black History in Archives: A Collection-Centered Quantitative Analysis of the Billups-Garth Archive

AbstractThis pilot study presents a collection-centered quantitative analysis of Black history resources available at the Billups-Garth Archive in Columbus, Mississippi. The Archive’s inventory lists for its record series and control files for its manuscript collections were assessed in order to determine the percentage of extant Black history resources in relation to the collection’s total holdings. Relevant collections were then evaluated to determine their mediums, subjects, and provenance. The results showed a dearth of collections related to Black history and indicated that very few were created by the Black community. Results also showed that most relevant resources were made up of textual documents as well as documents relating to everyday life and education. Overall, this study demonstrates how collection analyses may be undertaken to identify collection biases and collection deficiencies, especially deficiencies in representing the histories of marginalized communities.

“He Was Shot because America Will Not Give Up on Racism”: Martin Luther King Jr. and the African American Civil Rights Movement in British Schools

This article examines how Martin Luther King Jr. and the movement with which he is often synonymous are taught in UK schools, as well as the consequences of that teaching for twenty-first-century understandings of Britain's racial past and present. The UK's King-centric approach to teaching the civil rights movement has much in common with that in the US, including an inattention to its transnational coordinates. However, these shared (mis)representations have different histories, are deployed to different ends, and have different consequences. In the UK, study of the African American freedom struggle often happens in the absence of, and almost as a surrogate for, engagement with the histories of Britain's own racial minorities and imperial past. In short, emphasis on the apparent singularity of US race relations and the achievements of the mid-twentieth-century African American freedom struggle facilitates cultural amnesia regarding the historic and continuing significance of race and racism in the UK. In light of the Windrush scandal and the damning 2018 Royal Historical Society report on “Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK History,” this article argues both for better, more nuanced and more relevant teaching of King and the freedom struggle in British schools, and for much greater attention to black British history in its own right.

I need to know my past: Black fifth-graders on race and racism

PurposeThis research study focuses on fifth-grade African American students who attend an all-Black charter school whose administration and teachers are committed to providing Black history instruction throughout the year. To fulfill the school's mission, the teachers integrate additional resources into the curriculum that includes lessons and activities about Black history. Therefore, the study sought to answer the following question: How does learning Black history throughout the school year impact African American fifth-grade students' self-esteem and positive self-image? The authors examined student work, conducted observations and listened as the participants engaged in critical discussions about race and racism.Design/methodology/approachWay to Go (WTG) is a K-12 public charter school located in an urban mid-size city in Florida, with a 100% Black student population; all WTG students receive scholarships and free lunch. The 15 participants in this study self-identified as African American fifth-grade students. The authors conducted a qualitative research study that included 13 observations, an analysis of five student work samples and a focus group interview with seven students. They used interpretative phenomenology to gather African American fifth-grade students' experiences and their interpretations of these experiences (Moustakas, 1994) while acquiring information about Black history.FindingsThe themes that emerged are it's time to go, unsung heroes and Black history is exciting. In the first theme, they learned why Blacks migrated from the South to northern cities and understood why it was time for them to go. Next, they explored the history of unsung Blacks who inspired them to think about a variety of careers to pursue. Finally, they were excited to learn Black history because they understood the importance of learning this history in order to grapple with current events, and they recognized that knowledge of this history would improve their self-worth and life choices.Originality/valueWTG charter school exemplifies what schools should attain for regarding the teaching of Black history. Since elementary school provides the foundation for learning, it is the best time to teach African American students about self-esteem and what it means to be proud of their Blackness. The fifth-graders in this study exemplified how African American students take pride in their history and have a positive sense of self-worth when taught Black history. Black history lessons and activities such as the ones utilized in WTG school will benefit African American students and contribute to their success as students.

Militarization of Electoral Process and Political Participation in the 2019 General Elections in Rivers State, Nigeria

Africa has encountered colossal challenges in its quest for democratization; one of which has been the militarization of politics. Though Nigeria is gradually shedding the black history of militarism that spanned the 1960s-1990s and embracing democratization, militarism still lingers, remaining a ghost that has haunted the country's democracy venture. This scenario has prompted Ntalaja to argue that democratic process in Nigeria is bedeviled by poor party politics as a result of not only excessive westernization of the concept ‘democracy', but also the politicization of the higher echelon of the military profession among others. Although the 2019 general elections have come and gone, but the credibility of the entire process received a lot of criticisms based on how those allotted different roles by law and the relevant authorities conducted themselves. Amidst the raging bubbling anger among Nigerians over the involvement of military in the 2019 general elections, many political analysts dug into how due process was subverted in some states across the country during the elections. Rivers State, the oil and gas capital of Nigeria, is one of the states embroiled in controversies associated with the elections whose process was suspended and declared inconclusive by INEC due to the sheer number of military personnel on duty during the elections and the partisan role they played. This paper by employing the post-colonial state theory argues that the involvement of the military in Rivers state 2019 General Elections is a reflection of the authoritarian character of the Nigerian state. The findings revealed that military presence in Rivers state in the 2019General Elections accounts for the low voters' turnout in the state. The paper depended on documentary method and utilizes content analysis. This paper recommended among other that in spite of the non-tolerant nature and behavior of the political elites, the military of whatever status or nature be kept from being part and parcel of the electoral processes by allowing the civilian authorities to conduct and carry out the entire processes at all levels.

CHILD BEDTIME HISTORY FOR GROWN UP PEOPLE: RACE, RACISM AND POWER IN BRAZILIAN HISTORY

Abstract: The history of blacks in Brazil is “a story to rock great people” as it is referred to by the 2019 plot of the Samba School Estação Primeira de Mangueira. Seen and told from the historical perspective and the interest of a layer of society, when we hear the history of black people in Brazil, we understand the dangers and the contours of a “unique history”. When we try to strip the lines of this story, we understand the strength, the weight and the power of the expression “Brazilian racism”. This study is characterized as bibliographic, developed from reading reviews. It aims to provoke a discussion about race, racism and power relations in Brazil. Keywords: Race; Racism; Power.

Make Black history core to degrees, tie tenure to anti-racism efforts.

Make Black history core to degrees, tie tenure to anti-racism efforts.

Schooling, education, and the reproduction of inequality: understanding Black and Minority Ethnic attitudes to learning in two London schools

ABSTRACT The argument here places the personal reflections of BAME students and educators at the forefront in this discussion of racial inequity in the British educational system. The contributors are stakeholders who have an investment in schooling, either as student or educator, that cannot be reduced to the four walls of the classroom. It features interviews and personal communications that shed light on what needs to be done to correct disparities in educational outcomes for BAME students. Emphasis is placed on the quality of their contributions and the importance of having a positive black presence in their teaching and learning environments. It features candid reflections on the rights or wrongs of having a Black History Month (BHM) celebration, especially in the wake of the introduction in 2008 of Black History as the ‘Slave Trade’ in the National Curriculum, which many considered, and still believe was ill thought through at the time.

Cultural Community Wealth: Project Pride (People Re-Collecting Insightful Data Effervescently) a Commemorative MEmorial Black Collective in Trenton, NJ

Presently, an insurgence is taking place in which Blacks are reclaiming Black bodies, Black community history, and Black responsibility. I employed the theoretical concepts of Cultural Community Capital and the conceptualization of two vectors-the vector of similarity and continuity, and the vector of difference and rupture. I positioned genealogy as a collective familial history that is integrated and aligned through ancestral roots and development as—“We as one, a village, are one.” Using narrative inquiry, I collected the stories of four Elders and showed how they positioned their bodies, their communal spaces, and their histories as an ancestral community family in relation to the city of Trenton, New Jersey. I define Elders as those 65 and older who serve as present-day sites of wisdom and historical knowledge and chose them as a sign of respect and honor. This paper provides a unique positioning as it gives voice to Elders (ages 68–99) and provides insight into the intricacies and dehumanizing components of enslavement coupled with a determination to thrive. These are stories that one will never experience through White-washed, indoctrinated, and sanitized history books.

The paradox of Haiti in African Diaspora Studies

ABSTRACT This article is grounded on the premise that any critical discussion of the formation and intellectualization of the African Diaspora as discourse and field of study must confront the place and displacement of Haiti as a constitutive element of global black diasporic identity and consciousness. Since one of the tenets of African Diaspora Studies is the examination of the impact of displaced peoples of African descent, hence the significant tropes of displacement in African Diasporic literature, I argue that further research on Haiti in the field that attempts to tackle the paradox of Haiti would do well to consider the notion of Haiti as both displaced subject and object of intellectual inquiry. Such perspective not only contributes to critical investigation into global discourses of racialization and the erasure of global black histories, but also, more broadly, articulations of displacement in Diaspora Studies.

Community engagement: Leveraging library online tools to support local historical organizations

Among Floridians, Jacksonville is known as the “First Coast.” It is a reference to the fact that Northeast Florida has some of the oldest European settlements in North America. The numerous local historical organizations are forever challenged to preserve and share the rich history of “all that is Jacksonville–including early settlers, 19th- and 20th-century urban planning and architecture, civil rights and Black history, city governance, and our national parks heritage.” They often do not have the resources needed, but local academic libraries are rich in resources and tools that can benefit organizations outside the library and help bring more awareness to the organizations and the collections they have. As the role of academic libraries continues to evolve with technological changes, libraries are continuously looking for ways to reinvent themselves and expand their role within their university and throughout the greater community.

Black feminist history now

Black feminist history now