African American Visual Culture

“Always a Partner in Crime: Black Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective Film.” The Journal of Popular Film and Television 32:1 (Spring 2004): 20-9.

by Philippa Gates

Review of ‘Queer in Black and White: Interraciality, Same Sex Desire, and Contemporary African American Culture,’ by Stefanie K. Dunning

by Benjamin Grimwood

‘Black Camera’ 3, no. 2 (2012): 217-219

Portraiture & the Harlem Renaissance: The Photographs of James L. Allen

by Camara Holloway

M.A. Thesis Abstract: Curatorial Perspectives and Exhibition Strategies: Quilts in the Museum and their Potential for Inclusive Discourse

by Flavia S. Zuniga-West

MA Thesis Abstract

This thesis will trace the development of inclusive categorization and exhibition techniques over a 30 year span and... more This thesis will trace the development of inclusive categorization and exhibition techniques over a 30 year span and explicate the use of vernacular items like quilts as they enter the museum, especially the art museum, and facilitate the narrative of three disenfranchised and previously voiceless groups – women, African-Americans, gays-- into the American story.  Ultimately, the relevance of this discussion will demonstrate that the social evolution within the United States has altered the museum and the recognition of the multiple social movements and people who have contributed to the history of America. Quilts provide a vehicle by which museums as social servants can reach toward diverse audiences through accessible exhibitions, and provide validation and support for underrepresented groups.

Stand In Awe: A Parable About Love, Youth, & Change

by Horace Columbus Neal II

Draft N: December 9, 2011 - It is finished.

This is a simple three-page short story that calls for a reflection on the core need of today's troubled youth. In 36... more This is a simple three-page short story that calls for a reflection on the core need of today's troubled youth. In 36 CE, a group of rowdy, Cushite-Hebrew youths go to see the Roman crucifixions, hoping to have some fun taunting the victims. Their encounter at one man's cross causes them to stand in awe. Notes and images follow the narrative to aid the readers' conceptualization of some of the story's themes. The story is thematically multilayered to facilitate productive discussions on a number of topics.

Accidental Blaxploitation: The Liberation of L.B. Jones and the Sexual Politics of the Pre-Civil Rights South

by Sharon Joseph

I will be presenting this paper at the 2012 SCMS conference.

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970) was the last film directed by Oscar winning director, William Wyler, The film is... more The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970) was the last film directed by Oscar winning director, William Wyler, The film is now better remembered as part of the blaxploitation cannon, instead of the last film of one of classical Hollywood’s most honored directors.

The Ultimate Penultimate in 'The Color Purple'

by Diepiriye Kuku-Siemons

Popmatters.com

In a true Holly wood ending, Shug’s story would have ended when she burst into the church to face her father -- her... more In a true Holly wood ending, Shug’s story would have ended when she burst into the church to face her father -- her community, kids, kin and parish. “Reverend Lee, do it to me,” she would have said in the typical Hollywood version, if not for the strong narrative of Alice Walker’s story. And we know what “it” means. “Do it,” is the most middle-school euphemism for f*cking.

You Can't Turn a Ho into a Housewife: Basketball Wives and the Politics of Wifedom

by Racquel Gates

“Is There an African American Graphic Novel?” In MLA Approaches to Teaching the Graphic Novel, ed. Stephen Tabachnick. 2009. 69-75.

by Michael Chaney

Heartfelt Thanks to Punch for the Picture: Frederick Douglass and the Transnational Jokework of Slave Caricature

by Michael Chaney

“Heartfelt Thanks to Punch for the Picture: Frederick Douglass and the Transnational Jokework of Slave Caricature.” American Literature 82.1 (2010): 57-90.

Picturing the Mother, Claiming Egypt: My Bondage and My Freedom as Auto (bio) ethnography

by Michael Chaney

from African American Review 35.3 (2001): 391-408. A later version also appears as a chapter in Fugitive Vision

Drawing on History in Recent African American Graphic Novels

by Michael Chaney

from MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States 32.3 (2007): 175-20

A Review of African-American Seminal Research

by Onyx Taylor

This paper will be presented during the scholar-to-scholar session of the National Communication Association's 97th Annual Convention in New Orleans November 17-20.

This review of African-American seminal research seeks common themes among research and how the themes are related to... more This review of African-American seminal research seeks common themes among research and how the themes are related to media representation of African-American communication. Common themes among research are identified and grouped into three different groups based on how the research relates to African-American self-identification, self-actualization and internalization. The groups are named metaphorically named as to represent different aspects of African-American hair politics: good hair, nappy hair and natural hair. These three groups represent Higgins (1987) concepts of self; actual self, ideal self and ought self.

Exhibition: "Shadow and Substance: African American Images from the Burns Archive"

by Modupe Labode

I curated this exhibition, based on images from the collection of Dr. Stanley B. Burns, for the Indiana State Museum.  The exhibition traces African American history through photographic images. The exhibition ran at the Indiana State Museum from February-May 2009.  It has since been exhibited at the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, from January-March 2010.

Essay: "Return of the Repressed"

by Shawn-Marie Garrett

Published in THEATER 32.1 (2002).

The essay addresses the return of blackface and minstrelsy-derived tropes in contemporary experimental performance and... more The essay addresses the return of blackface and minstrelsy-derived tropes in contemporary experimental performance and visual art.

Black-Audience Westerns and the Politics of Cultural Identification In the 1930s

by Julia Leyda