scholarly journals This [Black] Woman’s Work: Exploring Archival Projects that Embrace the Identity of the Memory Worker

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Chaitra Powell ◽  
Holly Smith ◽  
Shanee' Murrain ◽  
Skyla Hearn
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Predominantly White Universities ◽  
Archival Profession ◽  
Woman's Work

Archivists who work on African American collections are increasingly more aware that traditional sites of African American agency and autonomy are becoming more unstable. The need to capture the perspectives and histories of these institutions is urgent. The challenges become more acute when communities recognize the need to preserve their legacies but do not have the resources or support to make it happen. African American material culture and history remains at risk of co-optation from large institutions and individuals seeking to monetize and profit from collecting Black collections. Endemic in that process is the risk of these institutions controlling the narrative and inadvertently or deliberately erasing the narratives of these diverse communities from that community’s perspective. Cultural memory workers focused on African American collections face numerous challenges: the risk of losing the materials or communities themselves; partnering with organizations and administrations with differing, and perhaps conflicting agendas; working on projects with limited or term funding; and the emotional labor of being a person of color in a predominantly white field trying to support communities that can often reflect their own experiences. How can libraries, museums, and archives bring these communities into the world of archives and empower them to protect and share their stories? How can archivists, particularly those of color, find support within their institutions and the archival profession, to accomplish this work of preserving African American cultural heritage? How can archives support genuinely collaborative projects with diverse Black communities without co-opting their stories and collections?The authors will address these questions in this article, discussing their experiences working with a variety of institutions—predominantly white universities, Black colleges, churches, neighborhoods and families. The authors also include their reflections from their National Conference of African American Librarians panel presentation in August 2017 on these related topics.

Controversial Blackness: The Historical Development & Future Trajectory of African American Studies

Daedalus ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Biondi
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Black Studies ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
African American Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Diaspora Studies ◽  
The Road ◽  
History Of

The forty-year history of African American studies has led some scholars to take stock of its roots and its future. This essay examines the field's unexpected origins in black colleges, as well as at predominantly white ones, and assesses the early debates and challenges along the road to academic incorporation. Biondi takes up such questions as: Did the field's origins in the Black Power movement jeopardize its claims to academic legitimacy? If black studies is a discipline, what is its methodology? As an outgrowth of black nationalism on campus, to what extent was black studies U.S.-centric? How did the field relate to the rise of diaspora studies and black feminism? Who takes black studies classes and to what extent does the field retain a political mission? The essay concludes that African American studies remains a vital and dynamic field as it moves into the twenty-first century.

scholarly journals A Link To The Future: A Pilot Study Look At How Historically Black Colleges And Universities With Journalism And Mass Communications Units Use The Internet In Recruiting

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Crawford, II
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
African American Students ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
The Internet ◽  
White Institutions ◽  
American Students ◽  
The 1960S

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have had the ability to recruit African-American students since the 1860s by stressing a sense of inclusion and family through their mission statements and community outreach. There was little to no competition for African-American students from predominantly white institutions until integration was fully implemented a hundred years later in the 1960s. HBCUs, by their standing in the community, have been a gateway to first generation college students, regardless of race or social class status and "many continue to have 'open' admissions policies, welcoming all who wish to attend college, regardless of previous academic performance. Today, HBCUs have to actively recruit students students that can now apply and enroll in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) with the use of technology that includes the Internet. How has the digital divide changed from its classification in the 1960s? How are African-Americans using the web and are HBCUs using the Internet to inform, recruit and enroll African-Americans today? This pilot study looks at HBCUs that have Journalism/Mass Communications units to examine if their websites have a good sense of usability and interactivity for African-American students looking to go to college, primarily as first-generation students.

What Do We Know about the Motivation of African American Students? Challenging the "Anti-Intellectual" Myth

2003 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
KEVIN COKLEY
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
African American Students ◽  
Academic Motivation ◽  
Black Colleges ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
African American College Students ◽  
Predominantly White University ◽  
American Students

In this article, Kevin Cokley challenges conventional wisdom about African American college students and the factors underlying their academic underachievement. In this quantitative study of students attending three historically Black colleges and universities and one predominantly White university, Cokley reviews and integrates existing research on the academic motivation and academic self-concept of African American students. He then introduces self-determination theory as an additional motivational framework to understand African American students' motivation. While Cokley finds that African American students are intrinsically highly motivated, this motivation is not related to how they perform academically or to their academic self-concept.

Facilitating Healthy Ego Development in African American Female College Students Attending Predominantly White Universities

NASPA Journal ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Johnson-Newman ◽  
Herbert A. Exum
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
African American ◽  
Predominantly White ◽  
Ego Development ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
African American Female ◽  
Female College ◽  
Predominantly White Universities ◽  
Developmental Intervention

This article presents a review of several common emotional and developmental challenges faced by African American female college students who attend predominantly White colleges and universities. The authors suggest that these challenges can be addressed through programs that promote these students' psychological growth and maturity. A cognitive-developmental intervention strategy, base primarily on Loevinger's theory of ego development, is outlined.

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