Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Curriculum and Instruction (Education)

This exploratory and descriptive study illuminates the lives of African American female teachers who lived in the upper Ohio River Valley between 1875 and 1915. Existing current research depicts teachers in the South and urban North during this period. This study highlights teachers from northern, small to midsized cities in order to bring them into the historical record and direct attention to their contributions to education. The focus of this historical, intrinsic, embedded, single-case case study was on the social profile, educational opportunities, teaching experiences, and support networks of Pocahontas Simmons Peyton, Susie Simmons (Jones?), Bernadine Peyton Sherman, Mary Peyton Dyson, Anna Stevens Posey, and Elizabeth Jennie Adams Carter. Three additional themes emerged from the data. They involved inconsistent community attitudes, male-defined perspectives, and multigenerational connections and successes.The case for this study was bounded by time, place, race, gender, and occupation. The units of analysis were selected from a pool of 27 names using the maximum-variation purposeful sampling method. The central research question asked how the women operated within the educational systems of the three-state area of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and southeastern Ohio. The researcher employed multiple methods of data collection in order to triangulate the data and provide rich description of the women within the context of the bounded system. The findings suggest that these women were part of a tradition of exemplary service to education. Although they were unique, these women shared characteristics with teachers in other areas of the country. With one exception, they worked in segregated schools with poor to adequate resources. Each woman had a range of educational options open to her, but not all options were available in each location. The women were skilled at using support networks and their own abilities to navigate within the educational (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David F. Bower Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Rosalie Romano Ph.D. (Committee Member); Adah Ward Randolph Ph.D. (Committee Member); James O'Donnell Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; American History; Black History; Education History; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2015, Leadership and Change

This study is a leadership biography which provides, through the lens of Black feminist thought, an alternative view and understanding of the leadership of Black women. Specifically, this analysis highlights ways in which Black women, frequently not identified by the dominant society as leaders, have and can become leaders. Lessons are drawn from the life of Anna Julia Cooper that provides new insights in leadership that heretofore were not evident. Additionally, this research offers provocative recommendations that provide a different perspective of what leadership is among Black women and how that kind of leadership can inform the canon of leadership. Cooper's voice in advocacy, education, community service, and involvement in the Black Women's Club Movement are the major themes in which evidence of her leadership is defined. This leadership biography moves beyond the western hegemonic point of view and the more traditional ways of thinking about leadership, which narrowly identify effective leaders and ways of thinking about leadership development. The findings of this study propose an alternative view of leadership that calls attention to the following critical elements: 1. Black women carry the co-identifers, gender and race, which continue to be nearly nonexistent in leadership theories, discourse, and mainstream leadership literature. 2. The positivist view, as being the only legitimate knowledge claim, must continue to be challenged. 3. There is a need to correct and update our history, making it more inclusive of all human beings. This leadership biography centers on the notion that Cooper, as a quintessential leader, remains paradoxical. For the most part, she continues to be an unknown figure to most Americans, both Black and White. Yet, remnants of Cooper's ideology and leadership are prolific. It is precisely this dissonance between Cooper the undervalued figure and Cooper the scholar/activist leader that is being analyzed in this study. Under (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jon Wergin Ph.D (Committee Chair); Laurien Alexandre Ph.D (Committee Member); Barbara Nevergold Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Biographies; Black History; Black Studies; Continuing Education; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Gender; Gender Studies; Higher Education; History; Womens Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies

The purpose of this study is to depict the personal narrative of African American women as central to understanding how life experiences, gender, race and culture intersect to impact their educational expectations. To establish context, the broader purpose of this study is to understand the belief system and ideologies African Americans as a cultural group associate with education. Cultural group beliefs are important to address as these beliefs may factor into the motivation, efficacy and human agency of African American women who attain graduate degrees.

Committee: Vanessa Allen-Brown PhD (Committee Chair); Roger Collins PhD (Committee Member); Stephen Sunderland PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

This dissertation focuses on the development of the Lost Cause mythology in North Carolina between the 1880s to the 1920s. The Lost Cause is a racist and inaccurate view of the Civil War years promoted by Neo-Confederate Southerners. This dissertation argues that the Lost Cause developed primarily through the efforts of Neo-Confederate organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. These individuals built a compound-public space that united grassroots movements with official governmental figures to promote the Lost Cause mythology. The formation of this compound-public space and its impact on the Lost Cause provided the necessary cultural support for the development of a Democratic-backed white supremacist campaign in North Carolina in 1898 conducted to reduce the political power of Republicans and African Americans, and to re-establish Democratic hegemony. This dissertation explores the ways in which Neo-Confederates constructed the compound-public space including: the role of politics, gender, religion, education, the media, and Confederate monuments with the express goal of increasing the political power of the Democratic Party.

Committee: Joan Cashin (Advisor); John Brooke (Advisor); Stephanie Shaw (Committee Member); Paula Baker (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Black History; Education History; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Journalism; Mass Media; Modern History; Religion; Religious History; Teacher Education; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, EDU Teaching and Learning

Black women have a legacy of excellence as teachers, administrators, colleagues, and community members in the field of English language education. However, their expertise, perspectives, and voices continue to be underappreciated, under-researched, and therefore, too often unheard. Furthermore, given the ongoing impact of racism as a systemic force shaping U.S. society and the world, due to the global reach of U.S. culture and economy, Black women's personal and professional lives are necessarily affected. More specifically, Black women are regularly stereotyped and regarded as intellectually, professionally, and aesthetically inferior to their White and male counterparts. Therefore, this dissertation highlights the experiences of Black women teachers of English to speakers of other languages as counternarratives that can “shatter complacency, challenge the dominant discourse on race, and further the struggle for racial reform” (Solorzano and Yosso, 2002, p. 32). Researchers have published important work on the experiences of teachers of color who are Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and of Black women in education, but there is scant literature specifically centering the experiences of Black women in TESOL. Therefore, this dissertation attends to the following research questions: How do race, gender, and racism impact the personal and professional lives of Black women educators in TESOL? How can their counternarratives enrich the existing literature that examines relationships among race, gender, and racism for women of color, generally, and Black women educators, specifically? My research is grounded in Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Epistemology—intellectual traditions that definitively center Black and Black women ways of knowing and coming to know and understand the world, and that are unapologetically oriented toward racial equity and justice for all people. Critical race methodology guided my process of collecting, analyzin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carlotta Kinloch (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Education; English As A Second Language; Gender Studies; Multicultural Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2014, Educational Leadership

This narrative inquiry examines the role of spirituality in the professional practices of African American women in academia. Specifically, I conceptualize the tensions between intellectualism and spirituality as African American female faculty working in predominately-White universities negotiate them. Although there has been an increase in scholarship concerning spirituality and education in recent years, rarely have scholars looked at the ways in which African American faculty might use spirituality to address epistemic violence in the academy. The topic brings to bear a worthy discussion of the historical relationship between spirituality and intellectualism in the lives of African Americans as well as the intellectual warfare waged upon Black epistemologies in American educational institutions. African American women in particular, face a perpetuation of negative racial constructions through curricular, pedagogical, and administrative practices that has led many to believe that they had to choose between culture and intellectualism (Crane, 1994; Burrell, 2010). The narratives of the women in this study provide insights on how certain women navigate such choices. The purpose of this study is to explore how African American women faculty use spirituality to negotiate their relationship to knowledge in ways that transcend the negative effects of racism. The research question that guides this study is how do African American women use spirituality to navigate academia? This study is significant because it examines and analyzes a form of resistance that is important to educational struggles about what constitutes knowledge and how particular knowledge is used in oppressive ways. The narratives of these scholars substantiate the importance of spirituality in the lives of women and provide insights on how African American spirituality affects the intellectual strivings of Black women educators.

Committee: Denise Taliaferro Baszile (Committee Chair); Dennis Carlson (Committee Member); Sally Lloyd (Committee Member); Paula Saine (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Black Studies; Education; Educational Leadership; Epistemology; Gender; Higher Education; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Spirituality

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Leadership Studies

The purpose of this qualitative research life history study was to understand experiences and contributions to life satisfaction for single divorced women in leadership. Understanding the meaning one ascribes to life experiences assists leaders, employers and others to identify and target appropriate motivations. Five single, divorced African American women, ages of 40 to 55, working in leadership positions were interviewed as to how she assessed her overall life satisfaction; what she attributed to her life satisfaction; the factors that were most necessary or influential, i.e., extended family and friends, children, education, purpose, spirituality, and socioeconomic status, etc.; and, the extent, if any, other perceptions weighed on her life satisfaction. The research found of the divorced African American female leaders interviewed that life satisfaction or the lack thereof was highly related to locus of control and whether she believed she was living with purpose. Second, consistent factors attributed to the divorced female leaders life satisfaction which included education, family (parent or children) and friend support and purpose. Further, companionship and spirituality also emerged as being strongly influential or important to life satisfaction view as well. Last, in regards to others' perceptions on the divorced female leaders studied it was found not to be impactful on life satisfaction. Essentially, the study found that divorced African American female leaders who believed she was living her purpose were more satisfied while those not living on purpose either fully or at all were more dissatisfied with their lives. This research provides leaders and others valuable information to utilize while working with others as how leaders think, behave or feel is critical to the success and growth of the leaders themselves, the individuals they influence as well the organizations they lead. As one's satisfaction with life ultimately affects every aspec (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mark Earley PhD (Advisor); Joyce Litten EdD (Committee Member); Priscilla Coleman PhD (Other); Terry Herman EdD (Committee Member); Ardenia Jones Terry PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Aging; Black Studies; Counseling Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Personal Relationships; Welfare; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services

This qualitative study used Black Feminist Thought as the interpretive lens to investigate the perceptions and experiences of African American female doctoral students at predominately White institutions. Semi-structured interviews were used to gain an understanding of their experiences and the influences these experiences had on their academic persistence and overall well-being. Fifteen participants were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed to identify the emerging themes. The following seven themes emerged from the data: (a) outsider, (b) perception of tokenism, (c) shifting: the academic mask, (d) prove-them-wrong syndrome, (e) part of a bigger whole, (f) expectations versus reality, and (g) discouragement versus encouragement. A summary of findings is presented, as well as specific recommendations to specific individuals.

Committee: James Moore III PhD (Advisor); Anika Anthony PhD (Committee Member); Antoinette Miranda PhD (Committee Member); Kisha Radliff PhD (Other) Subjects: Academic Guidance Counseling; African American Studies; African Americans; Counseling Education; Higher Education; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, ED Policy and Leadership

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the leadership experiences of four African American women college presidents serving at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions. Three main inquiries guide the research. First, how do African American women college presidents “make sense” of presidential leadership? In the same manner, how does being a “woman” and “of color” influence and/or inform their crafting of a presidential identity? Further, what are the strategies or mechanisms they employ or display, which enable them to “perform” the presidency?A triangulated, interdisciplinary framework, consisting of Black Feminist Thought, an invention of ethos and “performance” as theory, provides the study with its theoretical backbone. Methodologically, it borrows elements from traditional and critical ethnography, while relying on the techniques of interviewing and participant-observation. Both methods are used to solicit the personal and professional narratives and testaments of each woman. Initial findings from this study suggest that the four African American women “make sense” of presidential leadership by recalling familial expectations; being aware of their raced and gendered realities; entering into personal and professional role model- and mentorships; relying on faith; and, developing value systems. Despite the (mis)conceptions and perceptions documented generally in the research on Black women professionals, these women invent presidential identities and ethoi by identifying as change agents and committing to their vocational purpose. In the same manner, while they “perform” the presidency in the most “traditional” sense (i.e., writing and giving speeches), they also become their “performances” by employing numerous rhetorical strategies and mechanisms that have been historically linked to the African American female experience.

Committee: Ada Demb EdD (Advisor); Adrienne Dixson PhD (Committee Member); Jacqueline Jones Royster PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Gender; Higher Education; Minority and Ethnic Groups

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Educational Policy and Leadership

The guiding purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the social, cultural, and educational worlds of Anne Moody, Daisy Bates, and Angela Davis from 1940-1970. The autobiographies served as cultural artifacts and historical narratives of specific times, events, and aspects in the authors' lives. In choosing to conduct the study using a qualitative paradigm, I was not only able to examine how these three African- American women navigated and negotiated the worlds of race, class, and gender during the period of 1940-1970, but was also able to offer descriptive details of the multiple meanings of their lived experiences during the Educational Reform, Civil Rights, and Black Nationalists/Power movements that took place during the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Utilizing the fields of educational anthropology, the politics of education, educational history, policy studies, the history of African American education and the qualitative research methods for education. This study examined the autobiographical works of Anne Moody, Daisy Bates, and Angela Davis as sites: (1) to explore the dynamics and impact of racial and school segregation and efforts toward racial and school desegregation, (2) to describe and understand the Higher Education experiences of the writers, and (3) to examine the cultural and social lives of the three authors.

Committee: Antoinette Errante (Advisor) Subjects: Education, History of

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Music Education

The purpose of this study was to write a history of three African-American women who made important contributions to music education between 1903 and 1960. The three women who are presented in this study are Emma Azalia Smith Hackley (1867 – 1922), Harriet Gibbs Marshall (1869 – 1941), and Lulu Vere Childers (1870 – 1946). Emma Azalia Smith Hackley established the Vocal Normal Institute of Chicago, Illinois. Harriet Gibbs Marshall founded the Washington Conservatory of Music and School of Expression in Washington, D.C. Lulu Vere Childers was responsible for developing the small music program at Howard University in Washington, D.C. first into a Conservatory of Music, and then into a School of Music. I gathered information for this thesis from both primary and secondary sources. For primary sources, I obtained information about Emma Azalia Smith Hackley from the Detroit Public Library, which has a collection of rare African-American music, drama, and dance materials, including those of Hackley. I also visited the University of Detroit Mercy Library to acquire rare newspapers that featured articles pertaining to all three women. In addition, I contacted the Moorland–Springarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, D.C. for information about Childers and Marshall. I used the following online databases as secondary resources: (a) Music Index, (b) WorldCat, (c) Music Educators National Conference, (d) ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, (e) Music Education Resource Base, and (f) Computer-Assisted Information Retrieval Service System. Implications for music education included the importance of raising the awareness of the significant contributions to music education made by the African-American women in this study. One of several suggestions for further research was that similar historical studies should be done about other African-American women and men in music education.

Committee: Vincent Kantorski (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Music