Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2020, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to discover why some Black Millennials of a large State University in Northeastern Ohio go to church and some do not. The design of this project was a five-point Likert-scale survey that was administered electronically through Survey Monkey. The participants of the survey were Black graduate students; as well as Black Millennials who accessed my personal Facebook. The survey indicated a strong need for preaching, teaching, and fellowship being critical to why the participants either did or did not go to church.

Committee: William Myers Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Spirituality

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2018, Educational Leadership

Many of the narratives, media images, and studies depicting the phenomenon of single Black mother are dangerously destructive and misrepresentative of this population. Add into that phenomenon the descriptor millennial and one finds the research is limited. There is need for intervention that will deconstruct the master narratives and decolonize the minds of all who have been affected by them. With Black feminist thought/womanism as a methodological approach and narrative inquiry as the research method, this qualitative study offers that intervention and serves as a space from which knowledge about the mothers being studied is produced by the mothers being studied. One-on-one semi-structured interviews, video group chats, and group texts were used to gather these counter stories from the five single Black millennial mother participants. Choice emerges as the foundational tenet for a “I got this” philosophy that acts as a guiding principle for the behaviors of these intellectuals from “outside academia” (Walker, 2009, p.20). Choosing to embrace single motherhood, secure their children, self-define, determine their own worth and destiny, give and accept support represent a few of the methods the single Black millennial mothers employ to undergird their sense of self-efficaciousness as first teachers to their children.

Committee: Kate Rousmaniere Ph.D (Committee Chair); Denise Taliaferro Baszile Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tom Poetter Ph. D. (Committee Member); Sherrill Sellers Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2022, Doctor of Ministry Program

This project discovered the financial knowledge and actions of participants at New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Greater Cleveland vicinity. A five-point Likert scale survey was distributed to twenty-seven African American millennials. The major findings for knowledge were the importance of a checking and savings account. The major findings for actions revealed owning a vehicle and having a checking account. Finally, comparative analysis revealed the unchurched were informed and participated more in financial matters juxtaposed to the churched. Likewise, the Greater Cleveland vicinity was informed and participated more in financial matters juxtaposed to NMZBC.

Committee: William Meyers PhD (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; Black Studies; Minority and Ethnic Groups

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

Religion has always been racialized in America, yet little research centers the contemporary experiences of Black young adults. The present study extends this body of literature through an assessment of young Black Christians and how they make sense of their intersecting racial, religious, and political lives. Drawing on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 65 Black Christian Millennials (born between 1981-1996) and quantitative data from their responses to two surveys, the Duke University Religion Index and the Social Justice Scale, this project examines the complex ways their religious lives differ from both white Christian Millennials and older Black Christians amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter Movement. Specifically, using Wilde's theory of Complex Religion as a framework, I analyze how perceptions of race and inequality inform their behaviors surrounding religious expression, identity construction, and political mobilization. Exploring the experiences and meaning-making processes of this generational cohort contributes to understandings of how religion remains a strong structural force in the lives of many racial minorities, despite macro-theories like secularization and hyper-focused attention to white Christian Nationalism, that together might suggest otherwise. Results indicate that recent shifts in the socio-political climate and culture have had major implications on Black Christian Millennials and the ways they “do religion.” First, respondents report convoluted engagement with religious institutions, sharing narratives about performing their faith both in and outside of the church in ways that are distinct, particularly through the use of new media and technology and other individualized forms of expression. Second, study participants report engaging in a process I refer to as “strategic identity construction” to formulate identities as “woke” Black Christians in order to reconcile tensions between their racial realities and religious beliefs (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Earl Wright II Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Sandra Barnes Ph.D. (Committee Member); Derrick Brooms Ph.D. (Committee Member); Annulla Linders Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology